Short Film by Alumni to Screen at Aesthetica Short Film Festival

By
Cody Beltis
October 07, 2020

To Sonny, written by alumna Maggie Briggs '19 and co-directed by Briggs and alumnus Federico Spiazzi '18, will screen at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival, November 3-30. In September, the film screened at the Lille International Short Film Festival, and won the Best International Film Award at the Still Voices Short Film Festival in August. The film had its World Premiere at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in February of 2020. 

Shot on 16mm film, To Sonny is a 20-minute short film that follows a day in the life of a vending machine truck driver making his way through icy, mountainous roads accompanied only by his beloved radio and the various characters he meets along the way. Sonny’s portrait explores that of many working class Americans in the current political climate.

Briggs writes that the film, “tells the story of both the closest people to me and people I don’t really know at all – the greater part of the country that seems to be facing their last moments of control in a world that has radically drifted from the ideals they grew up with, a world that is probably unrecognizable to them. Often we've seen these fears and this uncertainty of tomorrow turn into anger. Sonny is an imagining of these observations through the eyes of a middle-aged truck driver in the American South."

Hailing from North Carolina, Briggs is an award-winning screenwriter and producer currently based in New York City where she earned her MFA in Film at Columbia University. The films she has produced have shown internationally at festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Her first feature in-development, Prone to Wander, was selected by Tribeca Film Institute to participate in TFI Network 2020 and was a Jury Select at Columbia University Film Festival 2019. Her stories are often inspired by normalcy and the dangers of it.

Spiazzi is a writer/director based in New York City where he recently graduated from Columbia University’s MFA Film Program in Directing. His most recent short film, Refuge, was awarded a Kodak Motion Picture Grant, a National Board of Review Student Grant, and Refinery29 Best Film Award at the 2018 Columbia University Film Festival. Spiazzi hails from Italy and works as a freelance cinematographer and editor. He has directed commercials, short docs and narrative short films that screened internationally.

ASFF’s 10th anniversary edition will be accessible online for 2020. This year, they present their most expansive program to date, with over 450 curated films from across the world and more than 100 live industry events. ASFF is a hotbed for talent discovery and a key annual event for emerging and established filmmakers to meet alongside industry professionals. British and international films are in competition in their category for an award, alongside the Best of Festival Award, Audience Award and Best Screenplay.

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