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21st Century Cinema

First

11m

Directed by Micaela Durand and Daniel Chew • 2019 • United States
Starring Mae Wangmo, Anne Hanavan, Angel Cruz

A teenager lives her life, toggling seamlessly between her physical and digital selves. She walks over a bridge at sunrise, follows a stranger through the streets of the city, and meets up with a friend to wander their favorite spots in New York. She documents all of this on her phone, sharing her world by uploading to her profile. Comments, in the form of subtitles, puncture this narrative, ranging from casual banter with friends to threatening comments from strangers. FIRST offers a glimpse into the realities that teenagers have to negotiate today, how they connect through personae and engage in random digital encounters, and how that shapes them.

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