American Film Institute Conservatory

A dark domestic drama about the familial ties that bind and the ties that really bind.

Eight-year-old Elvis’ world begins to sink when his mother marries an immigrant stranger for money.

At arts summer camp, Basia, a reserved 13-year old girl, struggles to connect with other kids. She feels seen for the first time when an equally reserved 19-year-old camp counselor takes her under his wing. When a late night encounter with him leads Basia to lie to impress her roommate, she must reckon with the consequences of her exploration.

A farcical comedy about ex-bullfighter, Felipe Fernando de la Fernand, a once extraordinary figure now trapped in an ordinary world. He gets a job as a parking attendant to stage one final bullfight… triggering a past he’s yet to reckon with.

Imagine for a moment, you're a child again. You find a note from your mother. It reads, she won't be coming home tonight. Would you call up all your friends and throw a party? Would you break all the rules and stay up past your bedtime. Wouldn't you feel the least bit excited? Not for David and Dee who are ages 9 and 7.

A man on a terrorist mission struggles with his decision on a crowded subway after he meets an innocent child. A déjà vu moment connects him to his haunting past and urges him to question the complex notion of the enemy. What if he had a shift in perspective and saw the world as a better place?

Haunted every night by monsters of unknown origin, an isolated woman finds a stranger in the woods and struggles between her safety and her sexual desires.

When a manual scavenger cannot continue her work, her 11-year-old daughter picks up where the mother left off.

1945: after the death of his father, Ken escapes Japanese American internment camp to find his Caucasian mother who lives in town. Things become complicated, however, when Kens little brother, Jo, joins him at the last minute.

Marion and her husband host a private dinner for four. One of the guests turns out to be a woman she had an affair with during the Second World War.

After unfortunate circumstances, Manny, an aspiring musician, must decide between becoming the sole guardian of his uncle's daughter, Marisol, and pursuing his band’s tour of the U.S.

A young man, Kobby Ankrah, attends his new nephew's Ghanaian baby naming ceremony with a plan to steal the money collected on his behalf from family and friends in order to run away and keep a deep secret hidden from them.

When a Latina transwoman in East LA is on the verge of losing her daughter to child services, she begins to unravel as she is forced to confront her buried traumas and fears.

A thirteen-year-old science prodigy journeys into her grandma's deteriorating mind to save one precious memory they have together.