Part of First Look 2018
Saturday, January 6, 2018, 6:30 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image – Bartos Screening Room

With Jordan Inman, Alex Watkins, Marc Nemcik, and Adam Dietrich in person

Jury award–winning student films from the Murray Center’s inaugural Stronger Than Fiction Film Festival. New York premieres.

Lost Paradise (Dir. Marc Nemcik. 2017, 25 mins.) This nonfiction meditative drama follows a learned man to the heart of Kansas as he enters the Survival Condo Project, an Atlas “F” missile silo turned luxury condominium. Built to house a nuclear warhead from 1961 to 1965, the site now serves as a survival bunker for the ultra-wealthy. Imagining life as the last man on earth, the man contemplates doomsday and the enduring spirit of humanity.

A Conversation Between Parents (Dir. Adam Dietrich. 2017, 18 mins.) Thadd and Shannon begin a long-distance relationship after a weekend trip with some mutual friends. After traveling to each other’s hometowns a handful of times Shannon becomes pregnant. With plans to have the baby and start a family together, Shannon moves from central Illinois to Columbia, Missouri to live with Thadd. As the couple struggles to make things work for their new family, the threads begin to come undone and uncertainty sets in. Eighteen months of their lives culminate in one conversation.

Send (Dir. Alex Watkins. 2017, 31 mins.) A crew of teenage boys attempts to satisfy and perform in a world of high expectations as they prepare mentally and physically for competition. Shot through the lens of an older sister, this intimate nonfiction portrait observes the interplay of the boys with their carefully controlled world.

Last of the Last Days (Dir. Jordan Inman. 2017, 20 mins.) This personal and experimental film juxtaposes scenes of home video recordings with letters from the director’s mother sent 20 years later. The director’s decision to leave the family’s faith results in an ultimatum from her mother, a devout Jehovah’s Witness: either return to Jehovah or never see her again. As the choices are revealed, the film discovers what has been lost and questions why subsequent generations often repeat the past.

Tickets: $15 (Free for members at the Film Lover level and MoMI Kids Premium levels and above). Order tickets online. (Members may contact [email protected] with questions regarding online reservations.)

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