Tolkien & Lewis 

'Kajillionaire' is a touching and eccentric story about family, crime, and the search for belonging.

This reboot of The Wonder Years is told from the lens of a Black man.

Netflix’s new comedy drama, Don’t Say Good Luck, is a heartwarming tearjerker as well as a love letter to the transformative power of being a theater kid. Directed by Julia Hart, Don’t Say Good Luck follows Sophie (Sunny Sandler), a theater kid who finally gets the lead role in her school’s production of Waitress - just as she finds out her mom Elizabeth (Melanie Lynskey) is dying of cancer. While the singing is by no means spectacular and Sandler’s acting is stiff, the film is grounded in the moving performance of Lynskey as a mother who wants nothing more than for her daughter to achieve her dreams, even if she can’t be there to see them.

In this short film, writer/director Nikita Hattangady focuses on Jai, a starving artist rooted in the latter category. Though unhoused, he works hard.

We sat down with Writer/Director Albert Acosta to discuss his debut short film, (ha-ha), Acosta's foray into narrative cinema, and how his personal experiences have shaped his filmmaking philosophy.