My First Film

Tape

November 2001 •English

Jon, a first-time filmmaker, finds himself in Lansing, Michigan to present his film at a local film festival. Vince, his high school friend who is now a volunteer fireman and small-time drug dealer, also visits the town to support Jon on his big day, or so it seems. After a raucous hello and much backslapping, it appears that there is an undercurrent of tension in the air.

Down in Paris

March 2022 •French

Richard, a 40-year-old filmmaker conquered by an unexplained anxiety attack, lets go of his current shoot and wanders through nocturnal Paris, in search of answers, solace and inspiration. During this sleepless night, at random encounters, sometimes warm, sometimes disturbing, crossing foreign figures, unknown bodies or familiar faces, Richard will face his fears and question his deep desires... until dawn.

Close-Up

May 1990 •Persian

This fiction-documentary hybrid uses a sensational real-life event—the arrest of a young man on charges that he fraudulently impersonated the well-known filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf—as the basis for a stunning, multilayered investigation into movies, identity, artistic creation, and existence, in which the real people from the case play themselves.

Intrusive Thoughts

Invalid date •English

In the aftermath of a breakup, a struggling filmmaker becomes seduced by his therapist while his ex-girlfriend grapples with her identity and where to go next.

Falling in Love Like in Movies

November 2023 •Indonesian

A film adaptation writer wants to secretly write his first original screenplay about his true story of falling in love with someone who has recently become a widow.

The Family Fang

April 2016 •English

A brother and sister return to their family home in search of their world famous parents who have disappeared.

In the Soup

October 1992 •English

An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.

Siapa Dia..

Invalid date •Indonesian

Layar, a popular film star who feels bored with his career wants to make a musical theater set in a family history that is always linked to Indonesian film history.

Once Upon a Star

October 2023 •Thai

Join the crew of a traveling pharma-cinema troupe as they go on the road to spread the joy of live-dubbed movies, all while overcoming difficulties, deceits, and reaching for their dreams.

Lost Footage

March 2022 •English

How would a found footage film look if the footage was never found? This conceptual art experiment questions the very nature of film and cinema while serving as an ironic tribute to the found footage horror pop culture. The found footage format provides the narrative justification for such a film to exist: the non-existence exists because the footage existed yet it was lost and never found.

Oh, Canada

December 2024 •English

Famed Canadian-American leftist documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife was one of sixty thousand draft evaders and deserters who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam. Now in his late seventies, Fife is dying of cancer in Montreal and has agreed to a final interview in which he is determined to bare all his secrets at last, to demythologize his mythologized life.

Unchoosing Yourself

May 2025 •English

Presenting a short film I made during a 24-hour filmmaking challenge at my university. The theme was "Unchosen Dream," and we had a maximum duration of 5 minutes.

The Wild Party

March 1975 •English

An aging silent movie comic star throws a lavish party to try and save his failing career.

Benjamin

March 2019 •English

Benjamin, a rising star filmmaker, is on the brink of premiering his difficult second film ’No Self' at the London Film Festival when Billie, his hard drinking publicist, introduces him to a mesmeric French musician called Noah.

How to Kill a Judge

February 1975 •Italian

A filmmaker's popular movie about a corrupt judge who is killed by the Mafia seemingly foretells the murder of a magistrate who orders the film's seizure.

Being Maria

June 2024 •French

A young, struggling actress lands her dream role in a film by an emerging Italian director, starring alongside an American superstar. What begins as her big breakthrough quickly turns into a living hell.

Teenager

January 1974 •English

A film company arrives in a small town to shoot a biker movie. The film's director encourages his actors to "live" their parts, and the results are clashes with the townspeople that end in murder.

Sorry, We're Dead

February 2024 •English

The ennui of a filmmaker, trapped between aspiration and reality, frames Lana Jing’s quirky, sarcastic, and cinematic-joke filled quarter-life crisis. At her lecture hall job, where aging white men wax on, self-involved, Lana accidentally frames her friend and co-worker when she destroys the only copy of an aging tech-bro’s high-profile lecture. Lana is forced to navigate stop motion animation, a secret admirer, and terrible bridge traffic to sort out a way forward to her destiny… kinda.

Lisa

January 2001 •French

Stumbling across an uncompleted 1939 film called "Princess Marushka", filmmaker Sam becomes intrigued with the young actor Sylvain Marceau, who last appeared in the film. Hoping to discover the mystery behind Sylvain's disappearance, Sam decides to make a documentary and sets off to interview those who knew Sylvain, including elderly Lisa Morain. Through her interview, Sam learns the story of Lisa and Sylvain's doomed love affair on the eve of World War II.

The Anomalisa Effect

January 2024 •Italian