Screening Details
Date: Sunday - October 18, 2026
Time: 10:30 am
Duration: 50:00 MINS
Venue: Plainfield Public Library
800 Park Avenue, Plainfield NJ 07060
Block Description
Coming into your own means confronting the forces that shape you—the expectations you inherit, the pain you carry, and the choices that determine who you become. The films in Emerging Student Film explore that uncertain terrain through stories of personal resolve, social divides, complicated love, and grief that refuses to remain silent. From a teenager seeking purpose in a day’s physical labor to a young musician facing the emotional weight of her mother’s legacy, these emerging filmmakers examine how private struggles surface in everyday encounters and life-changing confrontations. Together, their stories ask what it takes to move forward when family, circumstance, or the past threatens to define the future.
Dir. Aiden Baty 5:00 minutes
After a tree falls in his front yard, a teenage boy is determined to spend the day cutting and hauling the pieces away in his struggle for self-motivation.
Dir. Gregory Alexander Salvador 12:42 minutes
A young man finds himself at his girlfriends birthday dinner struggling with social class, love, and drugs.
Dir. Faith Robininson-Hughes / 12:11 minutes
DEAR VIVIAN explores the complex relationship between 20-year-old piano prodigy Vivian Briar and a manifestation of her recently deceased mother, Evelyn. When tasked to play a difficult piano piece at her mother's funeral, Vivian must confront her true feelings toward her mom before they consume her. The story as a whole deals with themes of grief, abuse, and familial pressure.
Dir. Brandon D. Wilkerson / 20:25 minutes
What began as an undercover assignment during the COVID lockdown became the love of his life. But when a police officer reconnects with the woman he fell for, a dangerous figure from his past threatens to destroy their future.