Cellar

Running time: 83 mins

Down but not out, three friends come together to create a new beginning.

Using intimate and imaginative cinematography to create a vibrant depiction of New York?s Hell?s Kitchen, director Steve Staso (Celluloid #1, Cinequest 2007) unveils a moving and lyrical tale where three very different lives intersect to find friendship and redemption.

Wael, a political refugee from Beirut, works as a short order cook, while his daughter has forgotten what he looks like. Luz, a wannabe novelist who works as a manicurist, hopes for her daughter to join her from Columbia. And Syl, burnt out from three tours in Iraq, manages a tenement building.

As the three come together, bonds develop. And with strength, hope and purpose, they each start finding their way in the sometimes harsh world they inhabit. Their stories unfold in a city which is dirty and loud, allowing us to feel their pain and incipient triumphs as they learn to care about themselves.

? Sandy Wolf

New Visions Program made possible by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences