Project Spotlights:
Shorts By Rising Women and Non Binary Filmmakers
Aimed at up-and-coming filmmakers (usually first-timers or students), this series introduces and amplifies new voices in film. We feature each creative’s film with an accompanying interview giving a deeper look into their processes and visions.
Watch some past project spotlights in our youtube playlist
Project Spotlight: 'Hajun Blooms', Bringing Repressed Nonbinary Queer Identity to the Screen
Mary Kim is a Korean American multimedia artist and writer-director who is currently attending the University of California Irvine. Hajun Blooms is a beautiful visual short film about repressed nonbinary queer identity and one young Korean’s relationship to the church.
Project Spotlight: 'Pre Face', a Short Film about Self-Discovery
Sarah Gallegos is a writer and filmmaker based in New York. She is passionate about exploring the "grey areas" and challenging traditional storytelling narratives and structures. Through her work, she is continuously delving deeper into investigations of self-discovery. Her short film Pre Face is a dramedy short about the transitional phases young adults feel in their lives.
Project Spotlight: 'The Takeover', Exploring Relationships, Cannabis, and Creative Growth
K$K is a writer, director and advocate for women working at the intersections of filmmaking and cannabis who explores her real life experiences through short experimental essay films. The Takeover is a look into K$K’s creative consciousness as she navigates her identity as a woman, relationships - platonic and romantic, money, and all life has to bring.
Project Spotlight: 'Motherland', How One Creator Captures Her Culture
Ariana Martinez is a first generation hispanic filmmaker and student with her lens focused on representing women of color. Motherland is a short documentary that acts as a love letter to Ariana’s mom, to her culture, and to where her roots are.
Project Spotlight: ‘A Cure for All Things’, a Sci-fi short about Immigrant Stories
Katherine Chou is a Taiwanese-American writer and director whose work explores themes of identity and personhood through a magical realist lens. She’s the creative force behind A Cure for All Things, a sci-fi short about an immigrant family and their struggles finding a sense of belonging in the past, present, and future.
Project Spotlight: ‘Pathetic Woman', the Queer Comedy Exploring Codependency with a Laugh
Kz Elizabeth is a queer, award-winning filmmaker and performer from Chicago. She’s the director and producer of ‘Pathetic Woman,’ a surreal LGBTQ+ short film that follows Andy and Kathryn, two office co-workers, who find themselves in a sudden and absurd codependent relationship.
Project Spotlight: ‘Christmas Lights', Finding Hope After Loss
Angie Loveday is a Costa Rican filmmaker and Seton Hall University grad with a degree in Broadcasting and Film program. She’s the director and writer behind, ‘Christmas Lights’, our latest project spotlight that explores grief, coping, and comfort. We’re so excited to share this short and Angie’s talent.
Project Spotlight: 'LoverGirl', A Rom-Com About Baby Queers
Shawna Khorasani is a San Jose, California-based writer, producer, and director and creator behind ‘LoverGirl’, TLL’s next project spotlight. ‘LoverGirl’ is an LGBTQ+ romantic comedy about the awkward, anticipatory, and magical moments that can happen in young love.
Project Spotlight: ‘Yellow Blinking Light’, the Importance of Deciding Your Fate
Giselle Keena is a photographer and director based in New York. We’re excited to premiere her piece, Yellow Blinking Light, partly inspired by her own experiences navigating if higher education is the right thing for her. Yellow Blinking Light is a story that shows what we all struggle with- managing the expectations of others while forging our own path in life.
Project Spotlight: 'Silt', Sisterhood and Grief through a Female Gaze
Amanda Jane Robinson is a writer and filmmaker currently completing her Master in Screen Directing. She is particularly interested in stories of women's interiority and places a strong focus on aesthetic and tone. We’re proud to be premiering her latest short, Silt.
Project Spotlight: 'Closer', Struggle and Strength through Dance
Shakura Davis is a filmmaker, creator, and current student at Eugene Lang. We’re excited to be sharing their latest short film, Closer, a dance centric film that tells the struggles of addiction.
Project Spotlight: 'Dos Ruedas', Social Impact through Film
Daniella Víquez is a 24 year old audiovisual producer, director, journalist, and graduate of the University of Costa Rica. Her work focuses include narrative fiction, culture, mental health, gender, and international news. Her films opens the conversation of machismo, violence against women, and feminism in South America.
Project Spotlight: 'After the Beep', To Drunk Call or Not To Drunk Call
Sonibal Rae is an Afro Latina director/writer based in London. She strives to create compelling, funny, and realistic characters specifically for comedies. She loves exploring relationships in film and the messy nature of love.
Project Spotlight: Death is Orange, Creating through Grief
Death is Orange directed by Lauren Tepfer is an intimate look into grief, love, family, and understanding. Heavily influenced by the intersections of time and personal identity, Lauren captures her work in real time as she herself is still processing her life.
Project Spotlight: 'Manos Obreras', One Filmmaker's Love Of Her Heritage and Father
Jennifer Albarracin is a filmmaker and recent graduate of William and Mary, in her latest short film she pays tribute to the sacrifices of her immigrant father. The challenges of immigrants exist with or without having legal status and Jennifer is a product of just how hard first generation children work to not allow those struggles to be in vain.
Project Spotlight: 'Morning Talks', An Intimate Look at Young Relationships
Director Maxine Espanol’s “Morning Talks” is an intimate look at a relationship meeting its end inspired by her own heartbreak. It’s her directorial debut and a departure from her usual work with editing.
Project Spotlight: 'The Apocalypse Will Blossom', Building Hope Back After the 2016 Election
The Apocalypse Will Blossom is a beautiful, quick, and intelligent short that captures a depression spiral post 2016 Election in the most relatable ways- protesting, fries, and friendship. Director Courtney Jines wrote and also starred in this short along with friends and details her experience in an interview with TLL.
Project Spotlight: 'Ghost of Late', A Film Dissecting Loneliness as a Teen
Teen filmmaker, Kathryn Zix, uses film to explain her thoughts and feelings. “Ghost of Late” dives into her feelings of isolation and “being different”.
Project Spotlight: 'La Identidad', Rejecting Society's Beauty Standards for Latinas
Vanesa Moreno is a 17 year old Latinx director. This is her first short film, a personal piece dissecting her identity.
Project Spotlight: 'Refuge of Hope', The Series Documenting the 2016 Election
Director, Yasmin Mistry contributes to America Heard, a documentary series covering the affects of the 2016 Presidential Election.