First Run Film Festival | Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
Dana Hammond and Family
Saeng-il (Birthday) - Jennifer Suhr
11:04 min
On the cusp of adulthood, 18-year-old Jae Lee finds himself at a crossroads with his father when he is invited to his crush's birthday party.
The Sailor - Raquel Cedar
19:17 min
Icmad, a sailor on a tanker ship, returns from one of many extended tours to discover that his family is better off without him.
Say Grace Before Drowning - Nikyatu Jusu
17:00 min
After meeting her African Refugee mother for the first time in six years, 8 year old Hawa is forced to coexist with a woman teetering on the brink of insanity.
Set in Grey Matter - Logan Lamson
9:00 min
Seeking to maintain cleanliness and control, Minnie, the matriarch, combats the outpouring of "dust" from her daughter, her husband, and her over-thinking mind.
The Sheol Express - Ryan Patch, Michael Koehler
28:00 min
Tired of traveling the underworld, Owen Turner boards The Sheol Express, a fantastical train that ferries souls to their final resting place at the End of the Line. Once aboard, Owen must choose where to disembark: at the End of the Line or at the second-to-last stop near the alleged paradise of Araboth.
Shudder House - Joey Dello Russo
14:52 min
On a wealthy rural estate in 1951, a boy named Robby trudges through a meaningless childhood. Training on classical piano is his only chore dictated by unloving parents. But when a Southern farmhand named Emma returns to the farm with a guitar in hand, Robby faces his only opportunity to grow and feel beyond his boyish blues.
Six '55 - Ruth Du
15:00 min
A historical interpretation of the first night Allen Ginsberg recited his poem Howl in San Francisco 1955.
Skwobble - Ashish Ghadiali
14:00 min
A funky globalised rom-com about an unlikely teen romance that blooms across a scrabble board, featuring music from 'Disintegration' by The Cure.
Space-Age Rumrunners of the Roaring '20s - Elliott DiGuiseppi
24:03 min
Two bright-eyed youngsters con their town's local Rum-runner into funding the construction of a spaceship in prohibition-era New Jersey.
Speech Act - Emmeline Wilks-Dupoise
14:30 min
Anna experiences sudden loss but avoids communicating grief in the presence of a close friend.
Stereopsis - Joseph Singer
16:00 min
Three-year-old Jake is kidnapped by his grandparents and great aunt, who don't believe that he is safe in his father's care. Five years pass and Jake wants to know why his dad has not returned for him. Characters in an old stereoscope occupy his world, offering friendship and advice in his search for his father.
Stranger Things - Eleanor Burke, Ron Eyal
77:00 min
SPECIAL PREVIEW SCREENING: Oona, a young woman dealing with the loss of her mother, reaches out to a stranger: Mani, a mysterious homeless man of Middle-Eastern origin, whom she invites to stay in her garden shed. Despite the space between them, Oona and Mani gradually form an unusual intimacy.
The Sunset - Misha Sundukovskiy
15:00 min
The Sunset is a story of a Chinese teenager growing up in San Francisco and caught between his traditional older brother and the white kids from the neighborhood.
The Survival of the Family Unit - Kevin Huang
20:00 min
After years of enduring his father's cold discipline, a son decides to rid his father by poisoning him. But, just as soon as his plan starts to take effect, the son begins to see his father for the first time as a human being.
Suu and Uchikawa - Nathanael Carton
11:30 min
An elderly Japanese man and his young Burmese partner find their union at threat when the immigration services discover that she resides in Japan illegally.
