American
quartet

Directed by Jesca Prudencio
Written by  Adam Grannick and Erin E. McGuff
Starring Yekta Khaghani, Brian Wolfe, and Chelsea Watts

It’s the year 2037, and Americans are living in different realities, thanks to mobile devices that encourage them to be immersed in their own memories, emotions, and points of view.

In a small town bitterly divided over who belongs, a recent immigrant puts herself at risk when she shares her private, digitized memories with strangers, challenging the status quo in the hope that empathy will triumph over fear. Created for Antonín Dvorák’s beautiful music, performed by the Dover Quartet, “the young American string quartet of the moment,” (The New Yorker), American Quartet is a five-time-award-winning short film from director Jesca Prudencio.

At a time when the United States is increasingly divided along ideological lines, we have become more entrenched in our own narratives and echo chambers. Drawing on our previous films, American Quartet explores how we could use technology to understand and therefore empathize with “the others” in society.

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“Art must start a conversation. Our audiences should see the screen as a mirror that forces them to look into themselves and the world around them, and ultimately interrogate their current reality. The best work resonates and stays with you after you leave the theater, and, working with my incredible team, it was our goal to do just that.”
—Jesca Prudencio

"...the short’s themes ring out in pure, pristine notes due to the powerful performances of the cast - as well as the fluid and dynamic direction provided by Prudencio."
—Rod T. Faulkner, The 7th Matrix

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FESTIVAL HISTORY

Official Selection:
Chain NYC Film Festival - Winner, Best Cinematography in a Short Film
Coney Island Film Festival - Winner, Best Experimental
Save Your Eyes Film Festival - Winner, Award for Outstanding Work By A Woman Filmmaker
Raleigh Film & Art Festival - Winner, Best Experimental
FantaSci Short Film Festival - Winner, Best Music
Horrible Imaginings Film Festival
MayDay Film Festival
International Fine Arts Film Festival
Los Angeles Women in Film Festival
European Philip K. Dick Film Festival
SENE Film Festival
Women at the Center Film Festival
Wild Indie Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival
Hudson Valley Film
Roswell Film Festival
The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction and Supernatural Festival
Garden State Film Festival
Prague Independent Film Festival
Experimental, Dance & Music Film Festival
Malabo International Music & Film Festival

Semi-Finalist 
Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival
Southeastern International Film & Music Festival
180' Berlin Filmfest
FilmArte Festival
International Women's Film Festival