IVY FILM FESTIVAL
march 30 April 6
Letter from the Directors We are proud and honored to welcome you to the 20th Anniversary of the Ivy Film Festival. In a time filled with staggering isolation, film has the ability to provide an escape to another world and provides a comfort needed more than ever. Given the social unrest and reckoning in our country today, this powerful medium can also deliver messages to the masses through storytelling, influencing hearts and minds by unpacking complex and layered narrative; often starting conversations to raise awareness about critical issues facing our nation during this time. Last spring, in the face of COVID-19, we were compelled to reimagine our festival as a virtual event. What we never anticipated, however, was that our 2021 festival would also be hosted online. When it became apparent that this would be the new normal, the eleven Ivy Film Festival departments sprung into action, devoting their entire academic year to bringing Ivy Film Festival (IFF) to your living rooms. This 20th anniversary festival represents our passion, enthusiasm, and continued commitment to student filmmaking and storytelling -- because, to the 130 members of IFF, this is much more than a just film festival. This March marked the one year anniversary since the world unraveled under the weight of the pandemic and Brown University shut its doors. The events that occurred over the last year, from the cultural awakening of the Black Lives Matter movement to the recent 2020 election, challenged us to look inwards and examine how Ivy Film Festival can do better to serve the Brown campus and the Providence and greater creative community. In response, we formed a new department, the Diversity & Inclusion team, whose goal is to ensure IFF is a more inclusive and accessible space. Thus, this festival marks the start of our continued dedication to progress and change as an organization. 2021 also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the festival, commemorating the festival’s mission of honoring and elevating student voices and filmmaking. The Programming, Screenplay, and New Media teams meticulously curated a selection of beautiful stories of young voices, and the Official Selection consists of three blocks: Endurance, Remembrance, and Defiance. Additionally, we are honored to have the continued participation of Creative Artists Agency, who will award our Grand Jury Prize winner with a CAA meeting. The agency’s support elevates the Official Selection to new heights.
As we tune in to Ivy Film Festival from our homes around the world, we hope this festival brings you the same communal excitement of being back in a movie theater. To those of you who attend Brown and RISD, we hope our festival provides some sort of semblance to the shared community we feel in IFF’s home of Martinos Auditorium in Granoff. And lastly, to the team members and coordinators of Ivy Film Festival, we are eternally grateful. Without you, this festival would not be possible. While Ivy Film Festival remains free and open to the public, in lieu of an admission price, we invite you to join us in supporting the Rhode Island Free Clinic and New Urban Arts. The Rhode Island Free Clinic mobilizes vital health resources for RI’s uninsured adults, from COVID-19 health concerns to vaccination distribution and care for patients with chronic conditions. The New Urban Arts Initiative is a year-round out-of-school program that provides low-income youth in communities of color access to high-quality, creative learning opportunities. We are grateful for any contribution. Thank you for your support of Ivy Film Festival. At the end of the day, IFF is the home of 130 students who are passionate about film and storytelling. We hope you enjoy the festival as much as we enjoyed making it.
With love, Grace Attanasio ’22, Jessica Dibble ’21, Sasha Pinto ’21, Claire Zhang ’22
CONTENTS 1
Our Team
2
Partnerships
3
Schedule
4
Digital Speakers
5
Panels
6
Grand Jury
7
Official Selection
8
Screenplay Official Selection
9
New Media Official Selection
10
Special Thanks
From top left, Claire Zhang ‘22, Grace Attanasio ‘22, Sasha Pinto ‘21, Jessica Dibble ‘21, Lucas Gelfond ‘24, Chloe Khosrowshahi ‘22.5, Georgia Salke ‘23.5, Lara Weyns ‘22, Fiona Campbell ‘22, Jane Attanasio ‘22, Rachel Carlson ‘23, Vivian Chun ‘23, Catherine Kasparyan ‘22, Andrew Rawlings ‘23, Miya Matsuishi ‘23, Emma Weiss ‘21, Becca Wachter ‘21, Alex Reice ‘21, Ellie Koschik ‘21, Katie Friis ‘21, Jeewon Shin ‘21.5, Ambika Miglani ‘21, Sofie Jimenez ‘21, Erin Simshauser ‘21, Katrina Wardhana ‘23, Alisa Caira ‘22, Amanda Tung ‘21
OUR TEAM Directors
Events
Outreach
Grace Attanasio Jessica Dibble Sasha Pinto Claire Zhang
Coordinators Alisa Caira Jane Attanasio Lucas Gelfond
Coordinators Jeewon Shin Lara Weyns Sofie Jimenez
Branding
Sloane Kratzman Aastha Kannan Hadley Benjamin Adi Thatai Vincent Rougeau Anna Davis Lola Hakim Ben Singer Sophie Morganstern Emily Pluhar
Chloe Irving Hollie Kutscher Callie Zola Michael Yeh William Kanders Georgia Chan William Blythe Jenny Lange
INdustry
Coordinators Chloe Khosrowshahi Fiona Campbell
Coordinator Katrina Wardhana Joey Han Manon Crespin Marcus Soltzberg Rada Singhasaneh Katia Rozenberg Kimaya Sarin Joyce Tullis Ivery Chen
BUsiness Coordinators Amanda Tung Ellie Koschik Louisa Miller Charlotte Everett Brandon Ko Mara Fong Claudia Leopold Ashely Lin
Coordinators Becca Wachter Georgia Salke Rachel Carlson Charlotte Wall Opeyemi Olagunju Ivy Hobson Fiona Tarses Nina Fletcher
new media Coordinator Ambika Miglani Victoria Xu Mikey Abela Rachel Okin Jeff Katz Njari Anderson Connie Liu Malique Bodie Ethan Asis Manya Kalra Kyra Douglass
Programming
Afia Akosah-Bempah Ben Shrock Bianca Auriemo Emily Chen Isobel McCrum Jack Waters Kaela Hines Kaiti Yoo Luca O’Donnell Max Niles Miya Matsuishi Mohammed Akel Nitya Velakacharla Portia Tieze Quinn Coleman Ricardo Gomez Stefan Peyron Uwa Ede-Osifo Joe Suddleson Laura David Priyanka Mahat Sarah Saxe Anabelle Johnston Hyung Jin (Erika) Lee
Publicity
INdustry
Coordinators Alex Reice Andrew Rawlings
Coordinators Becca Wachter Georgia Salke Rachel Carlson
Li Goldstein Elizabeth Zucker Alexa D’Ambrosio Isabella Yepes Simone Zhao Caleigh Aviv Gaia Murphy
Screenplay Coordinators Emma Weiss Vivian Chun Catherine Kasparyan Elena Levin Kitri Sundaram Evan Ehrhardt Justin Woo Kaetlyn Liddy Lexi King Gabby Bianco Eli Kaplan Maddie Groff Dorrit Corwin Catherine Serra Zach Bernstein Alex Poe Salonee Singh Zander Blitzer
Charlotte Wall Opeyemi Olagunju Ivy Hobson Fiona Tarses Nina Fletcher
web Coordinators Erin Simshauser Katie Friis Luna Ito-Fisher YoungJie Cho Mehek Jethani Nicole Sohn
partnerships Although the 2021 festival lives online this year, Ivy Film Festival’s home is in Providence, Rhode Island. Providence has given a tremendous amount to IFF over the past 20 years and while our events have always been free and open to the public, we are asking audience members to make an optional contribution to the Rhode Island Free Clinic and/or New Urban Arts in lieu of ticket fees. We appreciate any contribution.
IFF X The Rhode Island Free CLinic Established in 1999, the Rhode Island Free Clinic mobilizes vital health resources for RI’s uninsured adults. The clinic also provides the most efficient and cost effective alternative to emergency rooms for residents seeking comprehensive health care. At this time, the Clinic needs public support more than ever to address COVID-19 health concerns, vaccination distribution, and to continue to care for the chronic conditions for patients that would otherwise be unable to seek treatment.
IFF X New Urban arts In Providence, like in many other cities in our country, young people—particularly low-income youth and those in communities of color—are systematically denied access to high-quality, creative learning opportunities. This climate, alongside current economic trends, means that organizations like New Urban Arts are under increased pressure to meet students’ learning needs in the arts. New Urban Arts’ free, year-round out-of-school youth programs are an innovative response to that need. Each year, they serve over 1000 high school students and 2,000 visitors to their studio, through youth programs, professional development workshops, artist residencies, public performances, and exhibitions.
IFF X red canary song Red Canary Song is the only grassroots Chinese massage parlor worker coalition in the U.S. There are over 9000 workplaces like these across the country with no political representation, or access to labor rights or collective organizing. Anti-trafficking NGO’s that claim to speak for migrants in sex trades promote increased policing and immigration control, which harms rather than helps migrant sex workers. They also organize transnationally with Asian sex workers across the diaspora in Toronto, Paris, and Hong Kong.
Please consider going to https://bit.ly/SupportRIFC to support the Rhode Island Free Clinic and https:// bit.ly/SupportNewUrbanArts to support New Urban Arts and http://bit.ly/RedCanarySong to support Red
IFF 2021 Schedule march 30 - april 6
*All Festival: VR Arcade March 30
6PM EDT: A Conversation with Sacha Baron Cohen
April 1 - 4
Official Selection: 3 Short Blocks Screenplay Official Selection
April 5
1PM EDT: Panel: Beyond Representation: Political Possibilities of Media in the 21st Century 4PM EDT: A Conversation with the Indie Filmmaker of Lingua Franca, Isabel Sandoval
April 6 April 2
1PM EDT: A Conversation with Mindy Kaling
April 3
2PM EDT: Randall Poster: Meet The Man Behind the Music in Every Movie You Love 4:30PM EDT: A Discussion with the Women Behind Time’s Up, CEO Tina Tchen and Amber Tamblyn
2:30PM EDT: A Discussion on Film Distribution with Filmmaker and Founder of Utopia, Robert Schwartzman 4PM EDT: Animating Narratives: Bringing to Life Characters of Color 8PM EDT: A Conversation with A24’S Zola Writer and Director, Janicza Bravo
DIGITAL SPEAKER SERIES Integral to the fabric of Ivy film festival is out ability to foster dialogue between industry professionals and emerging creatives. Though we are unable to hold our physical festival week this year, it remained imperative to us that we find a was to maintain this exchange of ideas
Sacha Baron Cohen March 30, 6pm EDT
Actor for his portrayal as legendary activist Abbie Hoffman. Additionally, Baron Cohen is a founding member and leading voice for Stop Hate for Profit, a coalition that calls out the social media companies who profit from the proliferation of conspiracy theories, racism, and hateful rhetoric on their platforms.
Mindy Kaling April 2, 1pm EDT
An Academy Award-nominated actor and screenwriter, Sacha Baron Cohen is an iconic actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Best known for his creation and portrayal of legendary characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, Admiral General Aladeen and Erran Morrad, Baron Cohen has also acted in Adam McKay’s TALLADEGA NIGHTS, Tom Hooper’s LES MISERABLES, Tim Burton’s SWEENEY TODD and Martin Scorsese’s HUGO. In 2020, he wowed audiences and critics alike with his work in two timely films: BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime For Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, for which he won two Golden Globe Awards - for Best Lead Actor Comedy and Best Picture Comedy - and make Baron Cohen the first person in Golden Globes history to win two awards for the same film character; and in Aaron Sorkin’s TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, for which he received Academy Award, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Supporting
In 2012, Kaling was named to the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World List. She was honored with the 2014 Glamour Women of the Year Award and most recently was a 2019 ELLE Women In Hollywood honoree. Kaling’s latest release is the critically acclaimed series, “Never Have I Ever” for Netflix. Season 1 reached 40 million homes in its first four weeks of release and has been picked up for a second season by Netflix. Recently, it was announced that Kaling will write, produce and star in an untitled comedy for Universal opposite Priyanka Chopra, co-written with Dan Goor. The duo are also currently penning “Legally Blonde 3” which will star Reese Witherspoon. Kaling is also currently working on her HBO Max series, “The Sex Lives Of College Girls”. In between all her ventures, Kaling has released two New York Times bestselling comedic memoirs: “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)” and “Why Not Me?”, and in Oct 2020 she released a new collection of essays in partnership with Amazon called “Nothing Like I Imagined.”
Emmy-nominated writer, producer, New York Times best-selling author, director and actor Mindy Kaling has been named one of the brightest voices of her generation. At 24, Kaling joined the eight person writing staff at NBC’s “The Office”. During her eight seasons at the show, she wrote twenty-six episodes (more than any other writer) and was nominated for an Emmy—the first for a woman of color in any writing category. Next Kaling created the “The Mindy Project” for Universal Television, a show that she starred in and executive produced from 2012 to 2017. Kaling wrote 24 episodes of the 117 episodes created for the six season series.
Randal Poster April 3, 2pm EDT
earned him Grammys. Recent projects include The Queen’s Gambit, Tiger King, One Night in Miami, and Questlove’s Feature documentary debut Summer of Soul (...Or When The Revolution Could Not be Televised.) He also produced The Devil of All Time.
Isabel Sandoval April 5, 4 pm EDT
Randall Poster, a double-Grammy winner graduate of Brown University, is one of the most highly sought-after music supervisors in the film and television industries. His extensive musical knowledge has bolstered the work of some of the most innovative film directors of the last two decades. In 1996 Poster produced the soundtrack for Larry Clark’s film Kids, a foray into music supervision that led to collaborations in independent and commercial cinema. His distinctive ear has been essential to the musical identities of critically acclaimed films including School of Rock and Boyhood (Richard Linklater), Country Strong (Shana Feste), Meet the Parents (Jay Roach), The Hangover Parts I, II and III (Todd Phillips), and Skyfall 007 (Sam Mendes). Poster has been essential in shaping the aesthetic of all of Wes Anderson’s films from Rushmore to Grand Budapest Hotel. Poster has also developed musical identities for many Martin Scorsese’s biggest projects including Hugo, The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street, the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and Vinyl Pretend it’s a City. Poster’s work on Boardwalk Empire and The Grand Budapest Hotel soundtrack
Director, actress, writer, producer, and editor Isabel Sandoval is the Filipina filmmaker who made history at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori section with the first film directed by and starring a trans woman of color ever to screen in competition. The film, Lingua Franca, is Ms. Sandoval’s first feature filmed in the U.S. and her third feature as director. After Venice, Lingua Franca traveled a global film festival journey into 2020 by way of the AFI Fest, BFI London Film Festival, American Film Festival Wroclaw, International Film Festival of India Goa, Festival International du Film de Mons, Palm Springs Film Festival, Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Hamburg International Film Festival, Vinokino Film Festival, Everybody’s Perfect LGBT Film Festival, Gender
Bender Film Festival, Slovak Queer Film Festival, Thessaloniki Film Festival, and Bentonville Film Festival — where it won Best Narrative Feature. Theatrical distribution, via Ava DuVernay’s Array Now initiative, followed and Lingua Franca is now available on Netflix. Ms. Sandoval made her directorial debut with the noir-inflected Señorita, which world-premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival and earned her the Emerging Director Award at the Asian American International Film Festival. Her second feature as director was the Ferdinand Marcos-era nun drama Apparition, which won the Lotus Audience Award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival following its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival. MoMA’s Department of Film featured Apparition in its survey of new-wave Philippine filmmaking as part of the “A New Golden Age: Contemporary Philippine Cinema” series. Ms. Sandoval’s films have also been generously supported by Frameline, Jerome Foundation, Independent Filmmaker Project, Tribeca Film Institute, New York Film Academy, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, and the San Francisco International Film Festival’s Westridge Grant. The latter funds U.S.-based independent narrative feature films at the screenwriting phase. Isabel Sandoval is a graduate from the University of San Carlos in Cebu,Philippines and earned her MBA as a graduate of NYU Stern School of Business, and currently lives in New York.
Janicza Bravo April 6 8:00pm EDT
Janicza Bravo is a writer and director based in Los Angeles. She received her training in theatre at NYU. She’s mounted plays in the states and abroad. Her film work has screened at AFI, BAM, Carnegie Hall, SXSW, Sundance, and Tribeca. Her feature film debut LEMON premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was sold to Magnolia Pictures. Filmmaker Magazine named her as one to watch in “25 New Faces of Film” in 2014. That same year, her short film GREGORY GO BOOM won the Jury Prize for US Fiction at Sundance. She directed the “Juneteenth” episode of Golden Globe-winning FX series ATLANTA as well as episodes of HBO’s DIVORCE, HERE AND NOW, Netflix’s LOVE and DEAR WHITE PEOPLE and Amazon’s FOREVER. Her second feature, ZOLA, premiered in competition at Sundance and will be distributed by A24 domestically and Sony International.
Robert Schwartzman April 6, 2:30pm EDT
Robert Schwartzman is a filmmaker, director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. Schwartzman is best known for directing Dreamland, The Unicorn, and The Argument, acting in his cousin Sofia Coppolas’ film The Virgin Suicides, and starring in The Princess Diaries. He is also the frontman & founder of the platinum selling rock/ pop band Rooney and composed the score for his cousin Gia Coppola’s film Palo Alto with music artist Dev Hynes of Blood Orange and the opening song for the Iron Man animated series. In 2018, Robert co-founded Utopia Media, a company that supports the entire life cycle of the filmmaking and distribution process, from production and acquisitions to marketing and sales. Since its inception, Utopia has launched celebrated titles IFF has been lucky enough to screen like Mickey & the Bear and Shiva Baby. In 2020, Variety announced the launch of Altavod, a platform created by filmmakers for filmmakers to distribute their movies how they want, where they want, when they want.
Panels
Time’s Up April 3rd 4:30 PM EST A conversation with the women behind the groundbreaking organization Time’s Up. Founded in January 2018 in response to the Harry Weinstein aftermath and Me Too movement, Time’s Up is a nont-for-profit 501(c)(4) charitable organization which raises money to support victims of sexual harassment. Time’s Up aims to create a society where every person can exist and work in a culture free of gender-based discrimination. We will be looking closely at how the entertainment industry has shifted since the creation of Time’s Up.
Panelists Tina Chen
Tina Tchen serves as president and CEO of TIME’S UP Now and the TIME’S UP Foundation, overseeing the organizations’ strategic plans to change culture, companies, and laws in order to make work safe, fair, and dignified for women of all kinds. In 2017, Tina co-founded the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund with Robbie Kaplan, Fatima Goss Graves, and Hilary Rosen; since then, the Fund has connected thousands of people to legal or public relations support for sexual harassment across dozens of different industries. A former assistant to President Obama, executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, Tina has worked to advance gender equality, particularly for
working women. At the White House, Tina spearheaded the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families and helped form the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. Prior to taking the helm at TIME’S UP, Tina was a lawyer specializing in workplace culture, advising companies on gender inequity, sexual harassment, and diversity. She has served on numerous strategic advisory boards for organizations, businesses, and nonprofits, including the United State of Women, which she continues to co-chair.
Amber Tamblyn
New York Times, Poet in Residence at Amy Poehler’s Smart Girl’s, poetry reviewer for Bust Magazine, and a founding member of the Times Up Organization.
Animation April 6th 4:00 PM EST A conversation about animation with storyboard artists Bobby Rubio (pixar, Float), Radford Sechrist (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2), and Tina Obo (Sugarcane Man).
Panelists Bobby Rubio
Bobby Rubio began at Pixar Animation Studios as a story artist in January 2007. Rubio continued his work as a story artist on “Cars 2,” “Monsters University,” “The Good Dinosaur,” and “Incredibles 2.” He also worked on Academy Award®-winning feature films including “Up,” “Brave,” and “Inside Out.” Rubio recently worked on Disney and Pixar’s Academy Award®-winning feature “Toy Story 4” and is currently working on an upcoming Pixar film. In 2019, Bobby’s directorial debut, the Pixar SparkShort “Float” debuted on Disney+.
Amber tamblyn is an Emmy, Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominated actress, writer, and director, and the author of six books including the critically acclaimed, “Era of Ignition: coming of age in a time of rage and revolution.” She’s a contributing writer for The
As a story artist, Rubio is given a script, and his role is to draw all the images that are described. The images are then sent to the animation department to begin the animation process. Rubio will often come up with scenarios for the director to get inspiration for the story, and if the
director likes scenarios they eventually make it into the final version of the film. Raised in San Diego, CA, Rubio graduated from Morse High School before earning his BFA in Animation from the California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS). Before starting at Pixar, Rubio was a comic book artist for his own series “Alcatraz High” and “4 Gun Conclusion,” and also drew covers for several Marvel Comics series. Rubio also worked at Nickelodeon Studios as an assistant director and storyboard artist on the series “Avatar the Last Airbender.” Rubio also worked as a cleanup artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios on “Pocahontas” before moving on to become a ruff inbetweener on movies including “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Hercules,” “Mulan,” “Tarzan,” and “The Emperor’s New Groove.” He was then promoted to traditional animator on “Treasure Planet.” Rubio currently resides in Oakland, CA.
Radford Sechrist
Radford “Rad” Sechrist is the creator and executive producer of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. He’s also a
Tina Obo
Tina Obo is a young Ugandan-South African animator who has a love for storytelling and creating 3D animations that are authentic to
storyboard artist and character designer who worked for a number of animation studios including DreamWorks Animation, Disney TV, and Cartoon Network. Rad has several years’ experience as a storyboarding and drawing instructor and has taught classes at California Institute of the Arts, Academy of Art University, Concept Design Academy, and the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. You can also visit Rad’s online school at www. radhowtoschool.com.
African culture. In 2019 Tina graduated from The Animation School South Africa. Her animated short, ‘The Sugarcane Man’ tells the story of the children exploited by the Ugandan Warlord, Joseph Kony. It won the gold medal for Student Films at the 2020 New York Festivals and was nominated at the 2020 BAFTA/LA Student Film Awards. Now she is currently collaborating on a personal project that uses silhouette animation which is a new style of animation for her. She also edits story scripts for people as a freelancer.
Beyond Representation: Political Possibilities of Media in the 21st Century April 5th 1:00PM Ivy Film Festival is thrilled to bring together Professor Yoruba Richen, journalists Doreen St. Felix and Alyssa Rosenberg, and M88 founder Phil Sun for a conversation about art as a means for political and social change. Structural inequities that have long impacted marginalized communities are now at the forefront of our cultural conversation. Both audiences and creators have been pushed to rethink the voices and narratives that are represented on screen, and those that are silenced. On a more structural level, initiatives like Hollywood 4 Black Lives and the Acade-
my Inclusion Initiative are finally forcing the industry to take a closer look at the systemic factors that marginalize BIPOC and LGBTQ creatives. In this changing cultural landscape, what is the role of storytelling and representation? How can film and television actualize much-needed change? In this conversation, we hope to go beyond slogans like “representation matters” and towards a more critical understanding of the connection between politics, media, and activism.
Panelists
Yoruba Richen ‘00 The Killing of Breonna Taylor currently streaming on Hulu and The Sit In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show which is streaming on Peacock. Her previous film, The Green Book: Guide to Freedom was broadcast on the Smithsonian Channel and was nominated for an EMMY. Her films, The New Black and Promised Land won multiple festival awards before airing on PBS’s Independent Lens and P.O.V. Yoruba won Yoruba Richen is an the Creative Promise Award award-winning documentary at Tribeca All Access and is a filmmaker whose work has Sundance Producers Fellow. been featured on PBS, MSNShe is the 2016 recipient of the BC, FX, New York Times Op Chicken & Egg Breakthrough Doc, Frontline Digital, The AtFilmmaker Award and a Guglantic and Field of Vision. Her genheim Fellow. Yoruba is the film, How it Feels To Be Free, founding director of the Docupremiered on PBS’s American mentary Program at the Craig Masters in January of 2021. Newmark Graduate School of Her other recent films include, Journalism at CUNY. The New York Times Presents:
Doreen St. Felix ‘14 Doreen St. Félix graduated from Brown in 2014. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2017, and was named the magazine’s television critic in 2019. Previously, she was a culture writer at MTV News. Her writing has appeared in the Times Magazine, New York, Vogue, The Fader, and Pitchfork. In 2017, she was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for Columns and Commentary, and, in 2019, she won in the same category. In 2016, she was listed in
Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30. Brooklyn Magazine named St. Félix on the list of the “100 Most Influential People In Brooklyn Culture” in 2016, calling her essay on Rihanna “definitive.” The Huffington Post named the same essay to its list of “The Most Important Writing From People Of Color In 2015.”
Phillip Sun
ny-wide program that ensures that employees at all levels feel supported rising through the agency — and externally as a board member of USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative.
Alyssa Rosenberg
Imagining Virtual Realities: New Media and the Role of AI in Immersive Storytelling April 2 2021 4:00pm The Ivy Film Festival’s New Media team is excited to bring Stephanie Dinkins. Come listen to Dinkins discuss Secret Garden, their new immersive experience on the histories of black women. Join us and learn more about the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and New Media, and how our panelists imagine the future of media, consciousness, and virtual realities.
Panelist Stephanie Dinkins
Phillip Sun is President, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of M88, a full-service management firm representing a diverse generation of talented artists who bring fresh perspectives and unique histories to create much needed cultural shifts. M88 was launched in August 2020 in partnership with MACRO Founder & CEO Charles D. King. Formerly, Sun was a Partner at WME. He represents some of the most sought-after talent at the intersection of entertainment and culture, including Michael B. Jordan, Idris Elba, Taraji P. Henson, Donald Glover, Gemma Chan, Naomi Scott and many more. He has graced THR’s Next Generation list, Empowerment list, and A100 Most Impactful Asians list. He was one of the first Asian American agents to be promoted to partner at WME and has used his platform to push for change as co-founder of Empower, WME’s compa-
Alyssa Rosenberg writes about the intersection of culture and politics for The Washington Post’s Opinions section. She is also a co-host of the podcast Across the Movie Aisle. Before coming to The Post, Alyssa was the culture editor at ThinkProgress, the television columnist at Women and Hollywood, a columnist for the XX Factor at Slate and a correspondent for The Atlantic.com. She has also been an editor at Washingtonian.com and a staff correspondent at Government Executive. Rosenberg grew up in Massachusetts and holds a B.A. in humanities from Yale University. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, New York, the Daily Beast, the New Republic, Salon and many other publications.
Stephanie Dinkins is a transmedia artist whose work has created dialog about artificial intelligence (AI) and its intersections with gender, race, aging, and our future histories. As a professor as well as an artist and AI influencer, Dinkins is driven to work with communities of color to co-create artificial intelligence ecosystems that are values grounded and equitable. Dinkin’s varied work is exhibited throughout the world but she is arguably most well known for her recorded conversations with BINA48, a social robot with whom she has discussions about race, the nature of being, and other topics that contemplate some of life’s bigger questions.
grand jury Each year, our Programming Team curates both an Official Selection and a Grand Jury Selection. This selection is sent to our Grand Jury, a rotating panel of esteemed industry professionals, who collectively award one film the Grand Jury Prize. In further commitment to our mission to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas between industry professionals and emerging creatives, IFF is proud to announce the continuation of the participation of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in the festival. For the second consecutive year, we will award a physical Grand Jury Prize: a meeting with a CAA agent for the winning filmmaker.
Jurors
Annabelle Attanasio
Annabelle Attanasio is a writer and director. Her critically acclaimed debut feature “Mickey
Casey Sunderland and the Bear” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in 2019 and internationally at the Cannes Film Festival. Attanasio is set to write, direct, and executive produce the upcoming television series “The Players Table” for HBOMax, alongside JeanMarc Valleés’ Crazyrose Films, Sydney Sweeney’s Fifty-Fifty Films, and Endeavor Content and stars Sydney Sweeney and artist Halsey. She is also currently writing her second feature which she will direct.
Julius Onah
Julius Onah is a renowned Nigerian director and producer whose work has been screened at festi-
vals around the world including Sundance, Berlin, London, Dubai, Los Angeles, and many more. While at NYU’s graduate film program, Onah completed his first feature, The Girl is in Trouble (2015), with executive producer Spike Lee. He is known for Don’t Look Back (2008), The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), and his latest film Luce (2019) which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Agency (CAA). Sunderland works in the Los Angeles office and specializes in packaging, sourcing financing for, and/or selling the distribution rights to independently financed films. Sunderland joined CAA in 2015. Sunderland graduated from Colgate University with a degree in Economics and Film & Media Studies.
Casey Sunderland is an Agent in the Media Finance department at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists
Opal Bennett
Opal H. Bennett has been a curator since 2014. She is currently: Shorts Producer at POV, on the programming teams for Athena Film Festival and DOC NYC, and a
Programming Consultant for The March on Washington Film Festival. She is also on the selection committee for shorts at Cinema Eye Honors. Opal has served on juries for SXSW, IndieMemphis, NewFest, Leuven, ShortsFest, New Orleans, Cleveland and Seattle International Film Festivals among others. She has also participated on selection committees for documentary programming and grants. A Columbia Law grad, Opal holds a Masters in Media Studies from the London School of Economics, and received her B.A. from New York University.
Zach Nutman Zach Nutman works on the production team at 2AM. Prior to that he was a Director of Development working across film and television at Animal Kingdom, the production company behind SHORT TERM 12, IT FOLLOWS, PATERSON and more. Before joining Animal Kingdom, he worked on the acquisitions team at NEON, working on films including I, TONYA, THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS, BORDER and more.
Renée Mao and short form content in New York shortly after attending NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for Film and TV Production. Before that, she spent several years living in Beijing, China, a background that has strongly shaped her distinct perspective and creative style. Currently, she is developing her first feature film; an adaptation of Anna Spargo-Ryan’s acclaimed novel ‘The Gulf’. Renée is an Australian director whose work is rooted in powerful, narrative-driven visual storytelling. Renée began directing branded
mer Museum, Booooooom TV, Director’s Notes and Vimeo Staff Picks. Her short film, The Last Line, premiered at the 2018 Austin Film Festival and played in festivals such as the Oxford Film Festival, Manchester Film Festival and the Miami Short Film Festival. Her other recent short film The Making of Panthera received the audience award at the 2019 Nitehawk Film Festival and a Vimeo Staff Pick, played at NewFest and Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival and was a Webby Award Honoree.
been involved in films that promote important positive messaging, including fierce and emotional anthem spots for The Woman’s Hospital of Texas and March of Dimes, as well as collaborations with non-profit organizations such as Make-A-Wish, Meals on Wheels, Educated Little Monsters and Brave. Whether working with real people or actors, Renée’s work achieves authenticity combined with rich, beautiful cinematography and impeccable attention to detail.
film Palo Alto with music artist Dev Hynes of Blood Orange and the opening song for the Iron Man animated series. In 2018, Robert co-founded Utopia Media, a company that supports the entire life cycle of the filmmaking and distribution process, from production and acquisitions to marketing and sales. Since its inception, Utopia has launched celebrated titles IFF has been lucky enough
to screen like Mickey & the Bear and Shiva Baby. In 2020, Variety announced the launch of Altavod, a platform created by filmmakers for filmmakers to distribute their movies how they want, where they want, when they want.
Renée’s short form works have been featured by numerous publications including Huffington Post, Dazed magazine, The Ham- Renée is proud to have
Robert Schwartzman Robert Coppola Schwartzman is a filmmaker, director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. Schwartzman is best known for directing Dreamland, The Unicorn, and The Argument, acting in his cousin Sofia Coppolas’ film The Virgin Suicides, and starring in The Princess Diaries. He is also the frontman & founder of the platinum selling rock/pop band Rooney and composed the score for his cousin Gia Coppola’s
Official Selection block 1: endurance Sonnie Sam Miro | Indiana University School of Informatics & Computing at IUPUI
The Would Sahar Nourmonavar | Karnameh Institute of Arts and Culture
Mama Bear | Black Motherhood through the Lens Adeiyewunmi (Ade) Osinubi | Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Black Bairthing| Black Motherhood through the Lens Adeiyewunmi (Ade) Osinubi | Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Forgive Me, Father Jona Schlosser | ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Rocky Road Madison Crisp & Victoria Sosa | University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Pathei Mathos Vitória Vasconcellos | University of Southern California
Sonnie 11:45 Sam Miro Indiana University School of Informatics & Computing at IUPUI After carrying the burden of misfortune throughout his life, a single father seeks redemption as he raises his son. Mama Bear | Black Motherhood through the Lens 7:43 Adeiyewunmi (Ade) Osinubi Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Shaylene, a Black mother and Postpartum Doula, recounts her experience with infertility while being uninsured, highlighting racial and class disparities in fertility care access. CW: Medical racism Forgive Me, Father 21:33 Jona Schlosser Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich East-Germany 1966. As a young boy, Thomas witnesses his mother being committed for unexplained reasons. He decides to leave to visit his father, who lives in West Germany. CW: death of a child, guns/gunshots Pathei Mathos 14:41 Vitória Vasconcellos University of Southern California Increasingly disturbing flashbacks haunt a grieving girl who struggles to navigate her own pain in a desperate attempt to free herself from the trauma that has taken over her life. CW: Death, blood, flashing lights, car crashes
The Wound 14:00 Sahar Nourmonavar Karnameh Institute of Arts and Culture A 9-year-old girl menstruates after the earthquake and loses her family while she knows nothing about it, and she thinks she has been wounded. CW: Blood Black Birthing | Black Motherhood through the Lens 8:22 Adeiyewunmi (Ade) Osinubi Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University Black Birthing features Shannon Benjamin and her journey giving birth to her daughter in the face of persistent maternal mortality and morbidity disparities that disproportionately affect Black women. Rocky Road 5:37 Madison Crisp & Victoria Sosa University of North Carolina School of the Arts Rocky Road is the story of a socially anxious foster child, Maní, connecting to her community through her adopted mother’s ice cream stand. As she grows up, Maní learns the importance of family, community, and self-confidence through her foster mother’s teachings. CW: Anxiety, death
Official Selection block 2: Remembrance Condolences of the Vulgar Tongue or (Boner) Christina Fidler | Maryland Institute of Art
Terry Alexander Hagani | London Film School
Toomsboro Liam Tangum | Chapman University
Rose of Manila Alex Westfall | Brown University
In Our Nature Echo Wilson | University of North Carolina School of the Arts
HEARTLAND Jahmil Eady | UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Tres cuartos y un techo Isabella Ostos Compo | Northwestern University
Condolences from the Vulgar Tongue or (Boner) 5:32 Christina Fidler Maryland Institute College of Art Huxley, a jaded dog and victim of the universe, chooses to burden himself with the responsibility of arranging his mother’s funeral. Little does he know that by enlisting in a questionable marketing scheme as a door-to-door bone salesman, his success comes at a price. CW: Death, grief Toomsboro 14:44 Liam Tangum Chapman University Two brothers in a small Georgia town find a large sum of money in a crashed car and have different ideas about what to do with it. CW: Death, blood In Our Nature 5:00 Echo Wilson University of North Carolina School of the Arts This animated documentary explores humanity’s relationship with nature through a world of interviewed “animals.” HEARTLAND 10:40 Jahmil Eady UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television A woman attempts to immortalize her dying grandfather using virtual reality technology, but her obsession with documenting drives a wedge between them. CW: Death, grief
Terry 11:05 Alexander Hagani London Film School An elderly man who is losing his wife and a young boy letting go of his mother form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in a hospital. CW: Death, grief
Rose of Manila 11:43 Alex Westfall Brown University What is love when made real? Beauty. Archival footage and reenactment evoke a formative moment in the life of young Imelda Marcos, the infamous wife of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos John’s Therapy (72 HOUR COMPETITION WINNER) 10:00 Jonah Cohen RISD Tres cuartos y un techo 17:50 Isabella Ostos Campo Northwestern University Filmmaker Isabella Ostos Campo is the quiet listener at the center of the film who holds the memories shared by her grandmother, mother, and aunt, weaving them into a meditation on intergenerational family trauma. CW: Domestic abuse, intergenerational trauma
Official Selection block 3: defiance
Lion on the Mat Asali Echols | San Francisco State University
Pink, White & Blue Ash Malone | University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Wild Grass Shan Wu | California Institute of the Arts
Kindered Kings Trey Gray | University of North Carolina School of the Arts
I’m Calling Your Father Leon Ristov | Wesleyan University
échappé Rebecca Walters | University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Lion on the Mat 16:35 Asali Echols San Francisco State University A young Vietnamese immigrant and single mother pours herself into martial arts as a way to cope with past trauma and forge a new life. CW: Mention of domestic abuse
Wild Grass 19:45 Shan Wu California Institute of the Arts A young Taiwanese woman’s journey to America reveals an unrealistic fantasy of love, driving her to confront the ways her identity is entangled with beauty, sexuality, nationality and two languages. CW: Death, sexual assault
I’m Calling Your Father 12:00 Leon Ristov Wesleyan University When a teenager gets attacked by peers, his hard-headed mother resolves to protect him from further harassment.
Pink, White & Blue 18:03 Ash Malone University of North Carolina School of the Arts After years of transitioning in front of a camera, Aydian Dowling discusses how allowing his transition to be visible via YouTube has helped the trans community as a whole grow in pride and allyship. CW: Transphobia, mention of suicide
Kindred Kings 6:03 Trey Gray University of North Carolina School of the Arts Kindred Kings is a poetic visual piece that explores freedom and true versatility for the black man. Kindred Kings illustrates the journey for us to remember that black men are Kings, Kindred Kings. And as Kings, we get to decide the new narrative for the black man. CW: Racism
échappé 17:08 Rebecca Walters University of North Carolina School of the Arts When faced with the opportunity for a solo performance, an aging dancer must question whether her moral compass and personal integrity are important enough to stand up to a choreographer’s unwanted sexual advances. CW: Sexual assault
Screenplay official selection TV PILOTS Loser Island C.J. Ehrlich Emerson College MFA Program Logline: When his plane full of neurotic reality TV contestants crashes on an uncharted island, the only way the producer’s inept nephew can keep them alive is to convince them they’re on the show. Testimonial: After seeing my plays, audiences like to tell me how much fun they had. Yay! Then they often ask, “Where do you get your ideas?” When I say “everywhere” they can get a little miffed. But it’s true. One of my most popular plays was inspired one morning in a Stop and Shop, as I fondled the peaches. When I looked around the produce section, I wondered “Why is Tuesday senior day?” That led to The Lilac Ticket, a dramedy about two crises in a 50-year marriage, set in a doctor’s office, today, and the Catskills in 1960. But I have to admit my work also comes from the murky bone-littered Grendel’s den whence writers spring. My comedies usually feature characters who are trapped on islands of some kind: in a time loop, on a horrible blind date, a job where they’re paid to spread anxiety on social media, in a closeted relationship in a hotel room that’s being invaded by a country that doesn’t exist. I’m compelled to tell stories about normal people who don’t realize they’re in bizarre situations, or eccentrics doing painfully weird things they see as normal. Did I tell you about the time I convinced the guy with the gun to my head to give me back change
from my mugging? Maybe later. Loser Island was born after an argument with my brother the psychologist. I said reality TV is ridiculously competitive, but he insisted it offers fascinating insights into the human condition, and that I had to watch The Great Race. And then he charged me for the full hour. So I explored, quickly realizing how reality TV offers fascinating insights into ridiculously competitive, attention-seeking, scheming, sometimes likable humans. But my heart went out to the losers. The first losers. Or as Uncle Eli calls them, “the curdled cream of losers.” We remember the winners, villains, and close seconds, but what about the contestant who spends years dreaming of their fifteen minutes of fame, only to get cut on the first challenge? And later gets to relive that shining moment in front of millions, including friends and family. Can 45 minutes of air time define the rest of your life? Does that level of humiliation sink you, or do you fly? Or maybe you obsess over mastering the thing that crushed you, like Jojo teaching herself to drink habanero sauce and eat jellyfish, after losing Eat Your Way to Death. We can’t rewrite history, or escape those cages we stumble into, then carry around everywhere. Probably most of us don’t want to. Definitely not me, I’m great thanks. But what if someone reached out with the offer of a second chance? Would you sign that contract? Forced into a bizarre, hostile environment, would you imagine cameras in the coconut trees? Would you admit to the cast you got on the party bus by accident, or just keep your head down and pretend to sing along even though they could be taking you to New Jersey? Did I tell you that story? Maybe later.
The Heart of a Lion Sobhit Singh Arora Brown University Logline: The Heart of a Lion is a TV series that dives into the lives of a Punjabi/Sikh family as the protagonist, Nihal, follows his dreams to become a comedian. Testimonial: I wrote The Heart of a Lion last semester while taking Advanced Screenwriting. (Shout out to Professor Colella!) Growing up I never saw people that looked like me on screen, unless they were driving a taxi. I had always wanted to write a tv show that was emblematic of the Punjabi Sikh experience in the US. I personally have always used humor to navigate any obstacle I’ve faced in life, and I thought that was the best way to convey this narrative on paper as well. The show is about self discovery, struggle, and finding a way to laugh at everything in life. Along Nihal’s journey of becoming a comedian we will see him learn more about himself and his struggles. We will learn about what his parents went through to afford him these opportunities. I hope everyone can find something for themselves in this pilot, and I hope one day this show can be a reality.
American Terrorist Alejandra Ruiz Emerson College Logline: As an intern at a small-town courthouse, Zophia Jennings follows the preceding of an old friend who murdered five Black and Latino children in the name of white supremacy. Unable to comprehend how her former classmate became the monster before her, Jennings attempts to retrace his story and discover what makes an American Terrorist. Testimonial: I grew up as a white kid with brown skin in a small southern town. My parents did everything possible to ensure that I would not suffer the structural and systemic poverty and lack of opportunity that often keeps BIPOC people oppressed, in short I grew up in a world of white folks. But I was constantly aware of the color of my skin and my heritage. I felt as though the people around me- the whole world around me - never let me forget for even a minute. I grew up encircled by names like Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile, Salvado Ellswood, Freddie Grey, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. These were people who I felt a more shared kinship with than the ones surrounding me, yet my experience was not theirs. “American Terrorist” tackles the uncomfortable spaces between race and justice in this country. Zophia Jennings is a brilliant Afro-Latina interning at a courthouse. Her heart is set on seeing justice through the law. Instead she is confronted by a remorseless boy whose white skin safeguards him against the system that should bring him to justice. Unwilling to set this monster free, Zophia dives deep to uncover the people and forces that created and nurtured an American Terrorist.
Graduate features A Sigh Into my Looking Glass Lyndon Henley Hanrahan Harvard University Logline: In the afterlife, Richard is given the chance to fix his marriage by editing his wife’s memories but loses control when he takes the opportunity to play out his fantasies. Realizing her memories are being manipulated, his widow Sandra tracks down his oldest friend, uncovering a hidden past that threatens to destroy their marriage. Testimonial: I was inspired to write this story in the wake of a friend’s death. Following his passing, I was struck by how people remembered him – flaws retrospectively became endearments, virtues elevated to superlatives, and mundane events weaved into a kind of lore. It got me thinking about how we craft life narratives, and how those narratives sometimes shape us in response. As a gay person, this idea of death as a catalyst for reinvention presented a fascinating space to explore how queer people often struggle to reconcile their authentic selves with their environments. Due to my religious upbringing, I felt (and sometimes still feel) that part of myself could only come to life in the recesses of my imagination – that the stage in my mind was the only space in which I could fully exist unencumbered by self-consciousness. A Sigh Into My Looking Glass examines that rich innerworld to which many of us feel exiled when we are unable to live authentically: the extents we go to build it, and how, despite its grandeur, that the inner-world cannot be fully satisfying when it is at odds with our realities. Through this story, I am trying to express what it is like to live in your head (particularly when you are closeted) and how that constant guardedness and self-preservation affects you and your loved ones. (And to articulate all of that with a sense of humor!) Fundamentally, this script is about abiding love. Despite homophobia, death, dishonesty, and bureaucracy, love (in some form) cannot be stopped from emerging. How we choose to respond to that love, however, ultimately has the power to shape our lives – for better or worse.
Christmas Party Brent Wilson Pennsylvania State University Logline: A casual gathering turns into a harrowing night of terror for four Pennsylvania college students after an unexpected encounter unearths long-buried secrets. Testimonial: It’s been said that great art is sometimes created by accident, that the author simply began crafting his work on a mere whim without having any conceptual idea as to how it would conclude. For me, Christmas Party was such a work. Initially composed as a short screenplay (~ 35 pgs.), passionate reception among its intended audience ultimately prompted me to produce a sequel, which continued the same narrative directly from the cliffhanger ending of the original and utilized the same characters. Eventually, the two parts were merged into one feature-length screenplay, which is the product that has attracted recognition here at IFF. The genesis of the work’s creation is a bit unusual in that it was originally written purely for my own amusement, and for the entertainment of a certain group of undergraduate students at Penn State – particularly the four students who serve as the four central characters within the screenplay’s narrative. Matt Palmer, Kelly Arnold, Thad Romance, and Quinn Speckhardt are all real people, people whom I’ve gotten to know well over the last 1-2 years at Penn State, and people whom I have grown to admire as close friends that I enjoy spending time with. Despite the fact that they are undergraduates (and therefore several years younger than myself), I find their respective personalities both endearing and entertaining. More than anything else, it was those specific personalities that inspired me to create this story – first as an exercise of sheer recreation, then as an academic project, and then finally into an entry at IFF. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would attract festival attention. I honestly could not be more honored. Appropriately, this screenplay is humbly dedicated to Matt, Kelly, Quinn, and Thad – without whom this work simply would not have been possible, and without whose friendship I would be a lesser person.
Apples Rodolfo “Rudy” Salas University of Southern California Logline: A disfigured little girl learns to accept herself while aiding her mutant friend to a night of normality on Halloween. Testimonial: It has always been implied that creativity can be sparked from anywhere, or anything. Who could have guessed my “anything”, would be a banana? A few days after retrieving groceries, my roommate prompted me to eat my bananas soon, as they were starting to look a little worse for wear. As I latched onto one, turning it over, I found it bruised. It hit me. “What if whatever I touched rotted?”, I thought. That small, mundane gesture spiraled into my first feature-length script. Thanks, a bunch, dear roommate of mine. This led to my script, Apples. Now the main character, Evette Guerrero, was in her infancy. She was a homeless mutant with a pestilent touch that was desperate to hone and reverse her powers. There is the struggle. The struggle to live, be and prosper as oneself. I could relate to that. My vision for Evette’s world mushroomed. Now she lived in the woods of Purgatory, Ohio, and was on the run from human supremacists and authorities. All the while, she is cared for by a group of misfit middle school children. I envisioned a gritty modern-day reality that cocoons a surreal character and her journey. Racism has bubbled to the surface and unfortunately become a renewed festering issue. My story quickly generated an allegorical theme of bigotry and acceptance. Hate, love, and the bridge of tolerance are present within my story. A new misunderstood race of people is targeted by an older generation fueled by fear. The youthful progressives in the middle ground are those who bridge the gap and mend the wounds between the battling parties. My intent with the film, Apples, is to showcase to the audience a progressive viewpoint through the eyes of an outsider/minority. Audiences could relate to that. We all can be righteous, trust, and forgive. My film displays that it is a struggle to do the right thing but it can still be done. That to me is hope. That newfound hope is what I want audiences to experience with my film. From bananas to apples, from contemplating notions to feature-length scripts, it has all culminated into this artistic endeavor that I truly believe in and want to develop for audiences.
UnderGraduate features Leave Room for Jesus Olivia Capestany New York University, Tisch School of the Arts Logline: After her parents’ split, a thirteen-year old girl moves with her mom to Seattle and attends a Catholic school where she endures a tidal wave of pre-pubescent confusion as she explores the complexities of sexuality, divorce, friendship, and most of all, Catholic guilt. Testimonial: I first got the idea to write Leave Room for Jesus last summer. In the middle of the night, I suddenly got a burst of creative energy and jotted down a couple of ideas in my notes app on my Iphone. Ruminating on my past, I realized I’d never seen my middle school experience accurately portrayed on screen, so I decided I wanted to write a story within that world. Like me, those born right around 9/11 were one of the last to experience a childhood before the advent of a technological boom. Sure Plasma TV’s and Wii’s were popular, but the social media revolution didn’t occur until late in our high school years. Our middle school experience was chalk full of now outdated technology and early internet fads, like Iphone 5’s, the Cinnamon Challenge, Fred, Bethany Mota, JohnLocke, Tumblr, Silly Bandz, Kik, ASK. FM, and the Hunger Games trilogies. While I had this rough idea to write a humorous script about my Gen Z experience for some time, it wasn’t until my Screenwriting Two class that this idea actually came into fruition. It was the first time I had ever written a feature and with the help of my lovely professor, Alana Sanko, I decided that my feature should be more than just a comedy. In digging deep into my Catholic school experience, I realized that many of my current fears and anxieties first manifested as a result of my constricted upbringing. Growing up, I attended Catholic school for nine years and was taught a very binary view of the world. As a rambunctious, curious, and sometimes misbehaved student, I often didn’t fit within that binary. By the time I had reached eighth grade, I started to push back on this black and white perspective. In doing so, I felt an immense amount of guilt,
guilt that I was a bad person, that God hated me, and that I was going to end up in Hell. Often, this guilt would consume me. Writing Leave Room for Jesus became a way to dismantle my Catholic guilt and reach catharsis on the feelings I repressed in middle school. Catharsis for the hurt, confusion, anger, and loss of innocence I experienced all within the confines of my Catholic institution. This script allowed me to air this guilt through my main character, Sofia. Sofia Rosales acts a direct line into who I was in middle school. A vulnerable, lost, headstrong, curious, and chubby Latina girl who thinks she is ready to take on life’s biggest challenges. Ready to dive right in and learn about all of life’s greatest questions, whether that be about religion, sex, womanhood, death, or relationships. Spoiler alert, this doesn’t go well for Sofia (and neither it did for me). As we get older, we’re thrust into the many unfortunate realities of being human and we begin to lose our innocence. It’s inevitable. No matter how hard our parents may try, we can’t stay a child forever. But, when is the right time to lose your innocence? Is there a correct and moral way to learn about the complexities of sex, love, and loss? How does Catholicism and religion affect a young person’s mind? What does it mean to grow up too fast? These are the themes that I explore in my feature, all within the backdrop of my quirky, awkward, horny, and sometimes cringey early 2010’s middle school experience. Over the last few months, I’ve loved writing this script and it’s one of my favorite pieces of writing to date. It’s so deeply personal and Leave Room for Jesus allowed me to examine my middle school experience through a new lense. I realized that Catholic school education may seem like it’s the moral way to learn about life, but it’s not. There is no clear cut path through girlhood. But, while you can’t stay a kid forever, it’s still possible to maintain your faith and hope towards the world. Looking back now, I realize how special that period in my life was and how precious youth really is. And, ultimately, the struggle of my Catholic school education made me the person I am today. So, maybe in the end, all the pain, awkwardness and uncomfortability of being 13 at Catholic school was worth it somehow (thanks mom and dad!).
The Last Summer of How it Was Madison Engle Elon University Logline: In the final year of her PhD dissertation, Kate (26) -- a controlling, type-A personality -- must deal with unwanted change when she has to move home to her recently-divorced and incompetent mother for the summer, rediscovering her concepts of family and self. Testimonial: I’ve always been drawn to stories about families, like Columbus or Manchester by the Sea. Action-filled adventures never caught my attention as much as an everyday drama. My own family comes from quiet parts of the midwest. Both of my grandfathers grew up poor on farmland. I think I’m drawn to quiet stories about simple people because I know from personal experience—they are not simple. They are exciting and passionate. Funny and loving. Important and vital to society. Stories about everyday people are the most adventurous, for they dare to examine real feelings, desires, and personalities. The story of Kate and Julie is simple in many ways. They are two women, a generation apart, dealing with their fears of the future. Their characters first materialized to me when I was with my own mother, at a laundromat, speaking deeply of what’s to come. This was the winter break before my final semester of undergrad. Though I didn’t recognize it at the time, I came to realize that my protagonists represent two life paths I am afraid of walking. Kate is a work-obsessed perfectionist who becomes so afraid of failure, she’s unable to healthily perform. Julie gave up any professional dreams she had for the comfort of marrying rich and falling in line with a patriarchal society. As I entered my final year of school and thoughts of true adulthood plagued me, writing these women was a way to deal with that. Watching them grow—and succeed in roundabout ways—remains comforting to me as I grow myself. In the midst of fine-tuning this piece, the pandemic hit. Like many others, I was forced to move home and put my future on hold. Though returning to Pittsburgh after four years away at college didn’t inspire this story, it felt oddly reminiscent. Living in the place I grew up and facing the person I used to be helped me understand Kate on a deeper level. Though I couldn’t have predicted it, Kate went through a thing right before I did and enthused me to learn more about myself, too. I know these women. I love these women. I’m grateful and honored to be sharing their story—my story—with an audience.
Memphis to Memphis Yasmeen Gaber Brown University Logline: A young Arab-American woman rushes a sorority at a Southern university while her grandmother’s failing health forces her to reckon with cultural disassociation, sisterhood, and the desire to belong. Testimonial: The inception of Memphis to Memphis came last year when my nonagenarian grandmother had a stroke that landed her in the hospital for several weeks. She is from Egypt, she doesn’t speak English, and my Arabic is shaky at best. At this point, I must take great pains to stress that this script is not autobiographical. Everything I have already written here is the extent of the reality that I have included. At first, I wanted to explore the complicated relationship between me and my grandmother, given the language barrier that has existed between us for my whole life and the love that we share in spite of it. Eventually, the script spun completely out of autobiography when it occurred to me that I had relatives who had lived in Memphis, Tennessee for years. “Isn’t Memphis also a city in Egypt?” I thought. Out of that, the title was born. Yet, more profoundly, this question also raised the idea of the pressure cooker of immigrant identity in an area of the country rarely identified with immigration and teeming with its own distinct identity. The layered irony of moving from Egypt to a city in America named after a city in Egypt yet feeling so isolated from Egypt and the Arab world was certainly not lost on me. What happens to people when such diametrically different worlds collide? It’s a shock, and you end up with fight and flight. Fight, for those who feel more invested in their original ethnic identity from the outset and fight to hold onto that identity in isolation. Flight, for those who feel the pressure to blend in and are willing to abandon their roots to form new ones (generally, only white or white-passing people have this privilege). Immigrants and their children are often treated as a monolithic group who all feel a deep attachment to themselves and their heritage. I wanted to explore different channels of self-expression and self-identification that can be ignored--namely, the “flight” aspect. Also crucial to this project was that I had yet to see much Arab-American representation in film, and I was desperate for that. The bulk of this script was written in January of this year during our university’s two-week “quiet period” (quarantine) as I returned for the spring semester. I certainly don’t want to glorify isolation productivity. However, when there was nowhere else to go, I could finally push myself to finish what I had started a year earlier: in part an ode to my grandmother, and in part a letter to my younger self.
Graduate Shorts Through the Holes Mel Lesauvage (Sangyi Zhao) California Institute of the Arts
Elevator Pitch Lyndon Henley Hanrahan London Film School
Logline: Near future, one night in Los Angeles, Jane and Joe meet at “The Hole”: a sex club where the client is also the product. They decide to take their relationship out of the club’s limitations, the obstacles inside of them start to emerge.
Logline: In this romantic comedy turned hostage thriller, Edgar, an apartment complex security guard, traps a resident with whom he is infatuated, Hannah, in the elevator to prevent her from encountering a suave man waiting in front of her flat, then uses the situation as a deranged opportunity to flirt.
Testimonial: Jane and Joe meet in the loop of incitement and consumption of pleasure where each part of the human body is commodified. They need to navigate beyond the conventional way of interaction to connect. Through The Holes is a story in the near future. A future not unfamiliar to us: the capitalist society lengthened its tentacle of hypersurveillance on our bodies through the devices carried on our bodies or installed in our homes. We already have devices that monitor our cardiac rhythms, suggest restaurants based on our locations, listens to us all the time waiting for the “hey Alexa”. Writing the screenplay was a way for me to imagine what may be ahead of us imminently. Pornography has always used close-up of body parts, separate from the person’s humanity, to incite sexual pleasure. Now this logic has reached beyond pornography. On dating apps and social media, the representations of the users tend to push towards the illusion of perfect bodies: perfect abs, perfect breasts, perfect ass framed in squares to create envy and desire. The users ofsocial media are the same time consumers and providers of the contents. The glory hole in the story is the physical representation of this logic. Then I tried to imagine how it would look like if two people, struck by a sudden sensual attraction like in an old romantic movie, would navigate through this alienation to meet and connect. How do they learn to deal with each other’s bodies as a whole? Maybe they can try to reinsert hope, romance, vulnerability into their sexuality. Maybe they just simply see and treat each other as human beings.
Testimonial: Whenever I try to write a new character, I find myself drawn to outcasts – those among us who go through life feeling unseen and unremarkable, who tunnel inward and build elaborate worlds in their imaginations. As a gay person from a religious community, I find great solidarity with such characters, having lived in a fantasy realm of my own for the sake of self-preservation. Many stories blossom from these characters – virtually every underdog persists thanks to such a fantasy until their reality and fantasy merge spectacularly in the end. But hidden in these inner realms is the potential for real danger; when someone creates a fantasy through which they understand themself, they risk swallowing others into their stories. Elevator Pitch explores the consequences of personal fantasies as they ripple outward, ensnaring those within their reach. At its center are two protagonists, one on either side of the security camera: Edgar, the creator of the fantasy, and Hannah, the object of his delusion. What starts as a charming-if-invasive, maybe even romantic opportunity for Edgar to forge a connection with Hannah descends into a hostage nightmare as Hannah realizes the danger of her situation. When we make a narrative to understand a situation – when we tell ourselves a story – it acts upon us and, if unfettered, risks dehumanizing others as they are forced to take on roles in that story.
Son Saman Hosseinpuor Art Sepehr University Logline: An old woman goes to the city to visit her son, who has gone to the army. She has not seen him for a long time, and goes to her son’s barracks. She realizes that her son has been exempt from military service for months, but has not returned home. Disappointed and helpless, the old woman returns to her home in the village. The next day, she is surprised by the return of her transgender daughter. Now she must try to accept the new identity of her daughter. Testimonial: I always wanted to write a film with a good and peaceful ending. The story of a mother looking for her child was always on my mind, a mother traveling from the village to the city to find her son. These two points were the beginning of the “son” story. I decided to put a mother in a difficult situation and also to show her true love and affection for her child. How would a mother react if her child made a decision that changed the whole mental order of their mother? I want to dedicate this film to my Mother, since I love her and she gave me the potential to write this script. This is how the story of the Son was born.
UnderGraduate Shorts Don’t Be the Lakers Josh Carone Emerson College
E Jonathan Murray Lee University
Logline: Two friends deal with the aftermath of life-altering news.
Logline: After a terrifying realization of his own evil, a militarized prisoner must take control of his life, all while stuck as a pawn to a government entity.
Testimonial: I wrote “Don’t Be the Lakers” because I wanted to explore male friendship when it’s confronted with something emotional like a cancer diagnosis. From my own personal experience, I know relationships between dudes tend to be semi-surface-level; neither friend willing to disclose any personal issues or struggles. And while this somewhat cursory friendship is great for playing video games and going to parties, it inevitably leads to an emotional build-up that can become suffocating and eventually overwhelming when challenged with a real obstacle. Prior to writing the piece, I read a lot of testimonials from cancer survivors and family members of survivors. From the survivor’s accounts, there seemed to be a desire to retain any sort of normalcy throughout the treatment process, which I depicted through the Chris character. The burden of knowing was also both fascinating and depressing to me and I knew I wanted to focus on the immediate aftershock of hearing a diagnosis through the eyes of a friend. The levity and flippancy demonstrated by Chris is akin to how I, and am sure other guys, deflect news and depression and whatnot, but this idea of everything bubbling up and eventually overflowing was also something I could relate to. The short means so much to me and I’m so grateful for the people who shared their stories online. We’ve all been affected in some way or another by illness, and my prayers and sympathies go out to anyone currently going through something like this. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy “Don’t Be the Lakers.”
Testimonial: In a short form, E was originally about emotions, which is why the main character’s name ended up being E. It began as a big analogy to explore the suppression of emotions, and once I decided to go with the sci-fi genre, I really began to find the story’s form. E holds a special place in my heart because it’s the first screenplay that I wrote in college. It was a labor of love that started as an assignment, but I knew it would go much further than that. This script took me on a creative journey that I had somehow loved before I ever experienced it. It struck a nerve with me, and I couldn’t help but thinking about it all the time. I’d lock myself up in a room with a whiteboard and spend hours at a time working through different concepts. The birth of “E” was a journey from beginning to end. This was also the first script I’d written that was a collaborative experience. I had many fun conversations with people to help me work through things and help clear my mind, which opened my eyes to the benefits of collaboration. As a person who many would accuse of being very reserved emotionally, I wanted to write a character who started at 0 and ended at 100 emotionally, in a way of speaking. Writing is a way to explore my own emotional depths and pushing my character to his breaking point in the writing process was an adventure.
Assimilation Sobhit Singh Arora Brown University Logline: A young boy gets bullied at school for how he looks. He doesn’t know who to go to for help and takes matters into his own hands. Testimonial: I wrote this script through drawing on my own experiences growing up as a Sikh in the United States, where there was no one around that looked like me. Getting bullied for the way you looked is an unfortunate reality for many kids, and this script was a way for me to look back on those experiences and tell myself what I didn’t understand at the time. I hope that this story can give all young Singhs a sense of pride in their identity.
new media official selection
What is “New Media”? What came before it, and what will come after it? This year, our VR arcade will not only showcase our official New Media film selection in a Virtual Reality space, but will include excerpts from interviews with New Media artists and VR filmmakers. We’re exploring what media and video can evolve into. This goes beyond 360 video, into the realms of 3D animated music videos, cyberfeminist activism, gaming, and net art. Join us for a VR experience into the world of New Media.
Sugar - a Bittersweet Journey Ilya Landshut | Hamburg, Germany
The New World: Variations on Stay-home Activities Hong Ning, Zhao Xiaofeng | Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, China
candy is crying Luna Terasaka | Kwansei Gakuin University Faculty of Science and Technology, Japan
First day of a chick Anastasia Shinkarenko | 2nd Grade in Vishnevoe, Ukraine
Zoetrope Samuel Kiehoon Lee | York University MFA Film Program, Canada
candy is crying Luna Terasaka Kwansei Gakuin University Faculty of Science and Technology, Japan In order to make the experiencer feel the “uncomfortable feeling” that is the theme of this work more effectively, the world where photorealistic 3DCG and 2D motion graphics are combined with places and phenomena that are impossible in the real world. It is expanding. Here, we used Depaiseman, one of the surrealist techniques that has the effect of creating a unique sense of incongruity by allowing something that should not be there to exist.
First day of a chick Anastasia Shinkarenko 2nd Grade in Vishnevoe, Ukraine Vasilisa meets a little chicken, and they become inseparable friends. Will they stand the test of their friendship?
Sugar - a Bittersweet Journey Ilya Landshut Hamburg, Germany “Sugar - A Bittersweet Journey” tells the story of an extraterrestrial exploring the universe for sugar in order to rescue his beloved planet.
The New World: Variations on Stay-home Activities Hong Ning, Zhao Xiaofeng Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, China In 2020, most residents on the planet were forced to live indoors for days and months due to the pandemic, which has influenced our usual work and life to some extent. In this isolation, people tend to create ways of self-entertainment and take limited exercise at home. As a result, a large amount of ordinary people emerged on the Internet and started to show the interesting bits of living indoors in their own way. They straddled the differences in time and space, and built vast webs of data in live form, in which they connected and influenced each other.
Zoetrope Samuel Kiehoon Lee York University MFA Film Program, Canada Inspired by the classic NFB short film “Canon” (dir. Mclaren and Munro) Zeotrope is a 360° video experimental romp that will keep your head spinning. The title refers to the zoetrope device which is circular in shape — analogous to the viewing experience of a 360° video, as the audience is put inside a virtual sphere. This project tries to take advantage of the medium’s attributes by catering to them. It is a moving canvas with no border. It is not a film. There is no story. Shot during the 2020 pandemic, Lee plays the character himself. The character is caught in a space of exiting and leaving. During the lockdown we want to feel free to roam and explore. However, the character is looping around constantly within the same space; in one door, then out another, but always in the same place.
Special Thanks Ivy Film Festival would not be possible without the hard work of our passionate and tireless teams: Branding, Business, Diversity & Inclusion, Events, Industry, Marketing, New Media, Outreach, Programming, Screenplay, and Web. They have demonstrated an unparalleled level of dedication, commitment, and love to this organization and we canot express how grateful we are to their efforts. We would also like to thank:
Annabelle Attanasio
Brown Arts Initiative
Matt Branch
Brown University
Diane Chouinard
Creative Artists Agency
Chira DelSesto
Students Activities Office
Thalia Field
Undergraduate Finance Board
Richard Heller Sophia LaCava-Bohanan Louis Oppenheimer Giovanna Roz Casey Sunderland Shawn Tavares
