Ari Robbins

Community / Watch It

Lena Fayre "Love Burning Alive" (Leah McKissock, dir.)

The video begins with Lena walking to a typical day of class at her private catholic high school. Once seated, she begins to daze off and stare at a boy sitting in the front row. Suddenly, the video enters a dreamscape of performances that are centered around her burning desire for the classmate. In her mind he's a badass with tattoos, who smokes cigarettes and rides a motorcycle. Although their passion can only exist in fantasy, Lena wants it to last forever. 

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Spiritualized "I Am What I Am" (AG Rojas, dir.) [viewer discretion]

Director AG Rojas has discovered another America... Focusing on towns and people and situations you'd likely rather ignore, but need to be seen. "I Am What I Am" is set in Taft, CA, which he previously introduced us to via the short film "Cody," coincidentally shot in the immediate wake of a school shooting and concurrently with this piece. 

"I Am What I Am" stars Rory Culkin as a young man very much in need of transcendence. And he eventually achieves liftoff, but I don't know if it leads to a better place.

It's a powerful short film, even if it's likely a tough watch for most people, but one that needed to be seen.