'Extremist' Wins Jury Award at 2025 New Hampshire Film Festival; Qualifies for Academy Awards
Update:
The 23rd Annual New Hampshire Film Festival has wrapped up four exhilarating days of premieres, intimate coffee chats, and dynamic technology showcases in downtown Portsmouth - drawing hundreds of attendees including filmmakers, students, and industry professionals. The curtain closed on this year’s edition of the Academy Award-qualifying festival with a celebration of the 2025 award winners, including films by Columbia grads.
In the Festival Awards Category, Creede U.S.A by Kahane Corn Cooperman '91 took home the award for Best Documentary Feature while in the Jury Awards Category, the short film Extremist by Alexander Molochnikov '25 and produced by Jean Chapiro '25 won the Live Action Shorts Jury Award.
Importantly, this Jury award qualifies Extremist for the Academy Awards, allowing the film to be considered for nomination in the Oscars’ Short Films competition.
In his acceptance speech, Molochnikov expressed gratitude to Columbia saying, “Thank you to Columbia University without whom this film wouldn't happen,” and spoke about how the crux of the film—which follows a young Russian artist facing a 10 year prison sentence for making an anti-war statement in a Moscow supermarket—is about being courageous in times of fear.
See a full list of festival winners here.
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Original: October 18, 2025
Several films by Columbia University filmmakers will be showcased at the Oscar-qualifying 2025 New Hampshire Film Festival.
The festival, held every October in Portsmouth, will take place from October 16 to October 19, 2025. The program for the NHFF consists of new domestic and international independent films including narrative features, shorts, and documentaries. In 2021, during their 20th annual edition, the festival was named an Academy Awards qualifying festival for the Short Film Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
This year's lineup includes a range of works from Columbia University filmmakers:
Narrative Feature
Written by Film alum Marilyn Fu '03, and produced by Assistant Professor of Professional Practice Mynette Louie and actress Lucy Liu, Rosemead follows an ailing woman, played by Liu, who is stricken by the discovery of her teenage son’s violent obsessions and must go to great lengths to protect him and possibly others.
The film is a powerhouse of Columbia talent, with Film alums involved in a variety of roles. Tony Yang '20 worked as co-producer, Mona Mengnan Chu '24 associate produced, Alex Peace-Power '17 line produced, Cheryl Wang '22 worked as music supervisor, Samantha Lori Glass '23 worked as the production secretary, and the team of production assistants and interns included Zixuan Dorothy Wang '23, Laura Ganotis '25, Edy Kennedy '25, and Film student Ren Guang.
Rosemead premiered at Tribeca, won Bentonville's Best Narrative Feature Award, and took home the honour of the Prix du Public UBS award at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival.
Feature Documentary
Directed & Co-Produced by Kahane Corn Cooperman '91
Cooperman’s lyrical documentary explores how Creede, Colorado becomes a striking microcosm of America’s current national divisions. When a theater company was invited to revitalize the economy of the remote mining town in 1966, it brought in new ideas and perspectives that challenged a community long anchored in its heritage and values. Spanning sixty years and countless performances, the film weaves charged town meetings and intimate portraits with a rich historical lens, and explores the tense debates of guns in classrooms and gender pronouns—all the while tracing an evolving community that continues to search for common ground and offering a poignant reflection on both the challenges and possibilities of co-existence in an increasingly polarized world.
The documentary had its World Premiere at South by Southwest 2025 and was nominated for the Ad Hoc Docs Competition at the Cleveland International Film Festival.
Move Ya Body: The Birth of House
Feature Documentary
Written, Directed & Co-Produced by Elegance Bratton (GS '14)
A documentary that had its World Premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Move Ya Body charts the story of nerdy Black teenager Vince Lawrence, who overcame a difficult upbringing in a segregated Chicago to record the first house song, launching a global movement.
House music today is a global business—its euphoric pulse and driving beats woven into pop anthems and mainstream hits. For many, its origins are imagined in packed stadiums or on the beaches of Ibiza, far from where the movement actually began, Chicago, where the backlash against disco led to the creation of a musical subculture centering Black and queer people. Move Ya Body gives credit where it has long been due, shining light on the basement parties and the DIY visionaries who changed the way the world dances.
Alice
Short
Co-Produced by Spencer Grammer '23
In this short, Vinnie, the boss of a cyberscam startup, finds his moral compass when he confronts a rival scammer.
All Beauty Queens Have Broken Bones
Short
Directed & Co-Written by Max Tullio '24, Produced by Imani Cook-Gist '24 and Film student Courtney DeVita
Marlo has received the directive from God himself, to win the Miss Teen Indiana Pageant—but to do so, she needs to break her legs to get the pity vote. Her older sister Rose is skeptical, but with her heavy drinking the word of God is a mystery to her. Based on a short story by Madeline Cash, this short was an official selection at SXSW Sydney 2025, Charlotte Film Festival and Octopus Film Festival 2025.
Chloe At The Met
Short
Co-written by Ethan Mermelstein '22 and Rider Laskin '23, Produced by Professor of Professional Practice Eric Mendelsohn and Starring Mermelstein and Laskin
In this short all about heartbreak, art, and wild experiments, Chloë sets out to retrace her steps with her camera, returning to the scene of the “love crime” where she had her heart broken at The Met.
Cold Trail
Short
Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Werner Traut '21
This short follows State Forest Ranger Reed Decker, who is hunted by an ancient predator in the dead of winter, deep in remote Maine.
Derby
Short
Written & Directed by Aisha Amin '25, Co-produced by Nicole Pagonis '24
This short, which is a proof of concept for a feature Amin has in development, follows 9-year old Percy as summer comes to an end in Derby, Kansas, and Percy is confronted with the harsh reality of his mother’s addiction.
According to Amin, “The story of Derby was loosely based on the childhood of my partner Taylor, who has held very tightly onto fragmented memories of the final summers he spent with his mother before she sadly passed away. The film is an attempt to reimagine these memories, and understand how they have left an impact on him today. This film is a love letter to my partner. Film is what I use to express love and understanding. That's why Derby means so much to me.” Derby is a proof of concept short for a feature Amin has in development.
Extremist
Short
Written & Directed by Alexander Molochnikov '25, Produced by Jean Chapiro '25
A young Russian artist makes an anti-war statement by swapping food labels with pacifist messages in a Moscow supermarket, leading to her arrest and the threat of a 10-year prison sentence.
Extremist won both the Live Action Award and the Special Jury Award at the 2025 BAFTA Student Awards. The film was nominated for a National Board of Review Student Grant after a strong showing at the 2025 Miloš Forman/Mike Hausman Columbia Film Festival, where it won Best Film, Chapiro won the 3Pas Studios Award for Excellence in Producing, and Molochnikov won the James Ponsoldt Award for Best Director.
Gallina
Short
Written, directed and produced by Film student Fernando Reinaldos
In rural Spain, ten-year-old Pablo loves spending time at his granny’s countryside home, playing with his younger sister Alba and his best friend Martín. But everything changes when Martín pressures him to betray his family. In this bittersweet coming of age short, we are witness to the pivotal interior moments a young boy faces on his way to manhood.
Reflecting on the inspiration behind the film, Reinaldos shared, “As a queer child, I remember the constant feeling of being trapped between two worlds: my feminine and masculine sides were always in conflict. Gallina is my attempt to better understand that time in my life. Through Pablo’s story, I wanted to examine how toxic masculinity shapes a boy’s identity in today’s world, and to explore the cost of remaining silent in the face of everyday violence.”
Human Affairs
Short
Written & Directed by Eric Schuman '17, Produced by Tim O’Connor '17 and Andrew K. Li '16
This short starring Catherine Curtin and Shaun O'Hagan follows a couple with relationship problems that are out of this world.
Premiere
Short
Written & Directed by Omer Ben-David '23, Produced by Jake Huebner '22
The professional and personal collide when Daniel, a film director, prepares for his debut premiere at a prestigious New York film festival, only to discover that his girlfriend's ex, Amir, a big shot director, is also in the competition.