New York Shorts

Doomed and Famous
Bingham Bryant, 2025, U.S., 10m
World Premiere

Doomed and Famous. Courtesy of Sequence Pictures.

New York’s Miguel Abreu Gallery is at the center of Bingham Bryant’s short, which follows Adrian Dannatt across his eponymous exhibit while observing works from, among others, Pablo Picasso, Guy Debord, Nan Goldin, Damien Hirst, and Duncan Hannah. Each is captured by cinematographer Sean Price Williams in appropriately textured images while a studious, amusing voice-over jumps between biography and philosophy.

Nervous Energy
Eve Liu, 2025, U.S., 15m
English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and French with English subtitles
New York Premiere

Nervous Energy. Photography by Mélanie Akoka.

Eve Liu’s short, executive produced by Spike Lee, is shot and edited with an exuberance that never betrays rich character psychology. Nervous Energy’s caustic, cutting humor and formal jazziness are so potent as to dominate an end-credits sequence that seemingly wraps up this tale of romantic uncertainty, only to leave us wanting even more—from these characters and Liu alike.

CCAP available for Nervous Energy at WRT and EBM screenings.

February Omen
Mary Rose McClain, 2025, U.S., 5m
New York Premiere

February Omen

“If you eat meat it’s bad luck. If you see the meat without eat, that’s fine.” This is the superstition (or wisdom?) offered by director Mary Rose McClain’s grandmother, heard in hypnotic voice-over accompanied by a Can-esque score from Programmique. A marvel of compression, February Omen’s five lo-fi, high-texture minutes connect familial histories, carnal tastes, and metropolitan industrialization.

Carol & Joy
Nathan Silver, 2025, U.S., 39m
New York Premiere

Carol & Joy Courtesy of Morgan Connellee

Reuniting after last year’s Between the Temples, director Nathan Silver and star Carol Kane shift focus to the actress’ 98-year-old mother, Joy Kane—a music teacher and former dancer who lives with Carol on the Upper West Side, and who regales them (and us) with fascinating cultural histories and piano performances over the course of a single afternoon. Carol & Joy is a documentary replete with love, pain, and texture: a close-quarters view of artistic vocation, mother-daughter bonds, and two women’s journeys through one century and into another.

Turtle Sandwich
David Cardoza, 2025, U.S., 10m
World Premiere

Turtle Sandwich

A child runs across well-worn pavement while a subway races above, nearly apocalyptic in its roar—there is no doubt what city we’re in. But for all of Turtle Sandwich’s ground-level grit and classic schoolyard insults—plus some youth-versus-adult mischief that harkens back to silent one-reelers—David Cardoza’s video-game fantasies and meta touches create a more formally sophisticated affair.