Authors — Natalia Keogan
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“Everybody Involved in This Was a Total Loser”: Alex Ross Perry on His Exhaustive Essay Doc Videoheaven
Part eulogy for a bygone commercial space, part rigorous investigation of its origins and subsequent representation in popular culture, Alex Ross Perry’s Videoheaven leaves virtually no stone unturned during its nearly three hour runtime. Composed entirely of clips that take place in or otherwise center video stores—from Body Double to Seinfeld to Stranger Things—the essayistic documentary features droll narration from Maya Hawke (who stars in the latter) waxing poetic about their rise and fall, both physically and on screen, in six chapters. The role of pornography, corporate chains and the front-facing employees within these spaces is exhaustively charted; notably, Perry […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jul 2, 2025 -
“Freedom Could Stem From the Experience”: Nicole Chi on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Los Mosquitos
In the absence of their mothers, two foster siblings slowly fortify a sisterhood in Los Mosquitos, Nicole Chi’s lushly atmospheric short. Made as part of her graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, the film centers on women within the local Honduran community—which Chi has closely worked with in the past—and is largely composed of a cast of non-professional actors. This includes protagonists Abby (Abigail Hernandez), a rebellious 15-year-old, and Nata (Natalia Rodríguez), her younger cousin who’s freshly arrived in the US. As the girls navigate this stark change in their living situation, tensions naturally arise: Abby begins […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 26, 2025 -
“My Tendency Is to Prioritize Collaboration”: Eva Steinmetz on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Marina
A father-daughter relationship finds eventual catharsis through conflict in Marina, writer-director Eva Steinmetz’s MFA thesis film completed during her studies at Temple University. The titular character (Grace McLean) struggles as the sole caretaker for her mentally and physically declining father (Peter Friedman). Indeed, their shifting roles has caused quite a rift in their relationship—and even rehashes past resentments—causing both parties to simmer with perpetual frustration. With the help of an ice cold Klondike bar, the two are able to enjoy each other’s company for the first time in a while; a moment so uncanny that it takes place during an […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 26, 2025 -
“The Version of My Homeland That I Was Robbed of”: Reem Jubran on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Don’t Be Long, Little Bird
While on a tense mother-daughter trip, a young woman (Banna Bazzarie) contends with her desire to broaden her horizons while also recognizing the importance of her heritage in Reem Jubran’s UCLA thesis film Don’t Be Long, Little Bird. Seeking some much-needed space from her mother (and a sneaky smoke), the young woman stumbles upon a secluded swimming hole. After taking a dip, she emerges in a different time and place altogether: Ramallah, Palestine circa 1936, a dozen years before the Nakba that would displace civilians and destroy their villages in order to create the state of Israel. Unsure of how […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 26, 2025 -
“Someone on the Verge of Screaming Back at the World” Sujin Jung on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner Cocoon
Three generations of women clash during a Korean holiday in writer-director Sujin Jung’s Cocoon. Made as her MFA thesis film during her studies at Loyola Marymount University, the film centers on Jisoo (Alexes Josephine Lee), a young girl who experiences anxiety-induced selective mutism. This becomes a point of contention between Jisoo’s mother, Hyunsook (Taehee Kim) and her mother-in-law (Joy Kim), who express their respective frustration with the girl’s condition in vastly different ways. When the family matriarch harshly punishes Jisoo due to her inability to speak, Hyunsook decides to stand up for her daughter, subverting traditional expectations in the process. […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 26, 2025 -
“A Lot of Pent-up Grief with Life”: Calleen Koh on Her Student Short Film Showcase Winner My Wonderful Life
Loosely based on her mother’s grueling daily schedule, Calleen Koh’s delightfully animated My Wonderful Life brings to life the deranged fantasies that can plague the overworked. Office drone Grace Lee falls strains her body beyond its breaking point—the demands of her workplace, family and even a local stray cat cause her to collapse on the job. When she wakes up in the hospital, she feels an odd sense of relief and relaxation. She can finally rest without feeling guilty; as a result, she resolves to extend her hospital stay by any means necessary. When her body begins to heal itself, […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 26, 2025 -
Read Interviews With the Sixth Annual Student Short Film Showcase Winners, Awarded By The Gotham, JetBlue and Focus Features
Graduate students hailing from UT Austin, Temple University, UCLA, Loyola Marymount University and CalArts are the winners of the sixth annual Student Short Film Showcase, co-presented by JetBlue, Focus Features and The Gotham, Filmmaker‘s publisher. In a refreshing turn this year, all of the awardees are women. Indeed, their films focus on the rift in perspective between young women and the generation that came before them. Nicole Chi’s Los Mosquitos explores the tension between a 15-year-old Honduran teen and her adorable younger cousin who, to her chagrin, becomes a bottomless vessel for adult praise; Eva Steinmetz’s Marina chronicles a difficult […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 26, 2025 -
“The Movie Stays the Same, Yet the Interpretation Is Often Very Different”: David Secter on the 60 Year Legacy of Winter Kept Us Warm
“Winter kept us warm,” reads an early line in T.S. Eliot’s landmark poem The Waste Land, “covering Earth in forgetful snow.” This season, often associated with loneliness and despair, heralds quite the opposite both in Eliot’s masterwork and in Canadian filmmaker David Secter’s. The latter’s 1965 feature debut, Winter Kept Us Warm, centers on the blossoming relationship between Doug (John Labow) and Peter (Henry Tarvainen), two University of Toronto college students. An upperclassman, the popular Doug spends more time socializing with his fraternity brothers than studying; conversely, freshman Peter feels awkward in his new surroundings, and as such greatly prefers […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 23, 2025 -
“Crying and Editing at the Same Time”: Karla Murthy on Her Sheffield World Premiere The Gas Station Attendant
For much of her life, Karla Murthy listened as her father regaled her with tales of his troubled upbringing and eventual journey to America. Raised in poverty in India, Shantha Murthy spent years of his childhood destitute and working for meager wages at a restaurant, his only respite arriving in the form of an American couple who eventually sponsored his visa to the U.S. The rest follows a fairly simple pattern: he met a girl in his new home state of Texas, got hitched and started a family of his own. This, he claimed, was his true life’s goal; but […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 19, 2025 -
“Shooting in the Fall, Premiering in June”: Travis Wood and Alex Mallis on Their Tribeca Debut The Travel Companion
Anxieties surrounding flight credits, male friendship and fraught filmmaking prospects fuel the bittersweet yet always amusing narrative of The Travel Companion, the feature debut from directors Travis Wood and Alex Mallis. Co-written by the duo alongside their Chicago-based buddy Weston Auburn, the rough gist of the story is mined from a situation that Wood personally found himself in. Long designated as his best friend’s “travel companion”—a perk granted to a friend or family member of an airline employee’s choosing—Wood realized that his coveted status was on track to be upset by his pal’s serious girlfriend. As Wood avows, however, his […]
by Natalia Keogan on Jun 9, 2025
