With SXSW beginning today, we wanted to congratulate the following TEC alums on their success!
Friday's Child | Editor Chris Branca (TEC Alum)
Fresh out of foster care at age 18, Richie Wincott collides with the perils and temptations of a life apart. Becoming a prime suspect in a botched robbery, he discovers an impossible love in an unlikely friend. But with the police on his heels, and a sinister stranger threatening to reveal Richie's past, there may not be enough time to do the right thing.
Most Likely to Murder | Editor Mollie Goldstein (TEC Alum) - Assistant Editor Brian Young (TEC Alum)
A home for the holidays comedic murder-mystery... Billy (Adam Pally) comes back to his hometown expecting to be beloved like he used to be. Instead he finds his ex (Rachel Bloom) is dating the former high school outcast (Vincent Kartheiser), so Billy becomes obsessed with proving the outcast is actually the killer behind a mysterious local death. It's like Rear Window... for stoners.
Prospect | Editor Paul Frank (TEC Alum)
A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves into a fight to survive. Forced to contend not only with the forest's other ruthless inhabitants, but with her own father's greed-addled judgment, the girl finds she must carve her own path to escape.
Who We Are Now | Editor Betsy Kagen (TEC Alum) - Associate Editor Stella Quinn (TEC Alum)
Recently released from prison, Beth works with her public defender to get her son back from her sister who was awarded legal custody when she was incarcerated. As she navigates her way back into the outside world, Beth falls into a romantic fling with a traumatized Marine afraid of human connection and at the same time forms an unlikely alliance with a headstrong young woman on the public defense team who decides to take on her cause whether Beth likes it or not. These two people challenge, and eventually crack, Beth's tough exterior, making her realize that who she is isn’t about where she’s been, it’s about where she’s going.
SXSW EDU
On Tuesday, Fail State, edited by TEC alum Regina Sobel, had a special screening followed by a Q & A, at SXSW EDU.
Fail State | Editor Regina Sobel - Associate Editor Isabel Ponte - Additional Editor Betsy Kagen - Assistant Editors Stella Quinn, Kerri Green & Katrina Pastore
Fail State investigates the dark side of American higher education, chronicling the decades of policy decisions in Washington DC that have given rise to a powerful and highly predatory for-profit college industry. With echoes of the subprime mortgage crisis, the film lays bare how for-profit colleges exploit millions of low-income and minority students, leaving them with worthless degrees and drowning in student loan debt. Director Alexander Shebanow traces the rise, fall, and resurgence of the for-profit college industry, revealing their Wall Street backing and the politicians enabling them. Fail State is executive produced by news legend Dan Rather.