First Features: New Strains by Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan

Join ICA VCU and VCUarts Cinema for a screening of New Strains (2023). Co-written and directed by Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan, this domestic rom-com chronicles the emergence of a mysterious new variant of an unnamed pandemic and its effects on a squabbling couple (played by Shaw and Kamalakanthan) trapped in lockdown. Shot entirely on a hi-8 camera during the early days of the Covid pandemic, present and memory blur in this surreal portrait of privilege, intimacy, and commitment. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the directors, moderated by VCU film professor and critic J.M. Tyree.

Doors and Cafe open at 6 PM with the screening starting at 7 PM. Space is limited and ticket holders will have priority seating.

About the Artists:

Artemis Shaw is a filmmaker and educator from New York City. Shaw directs and produces across narrative and digital formats. Shaw currently teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University and has previously taught and run educational programs at the Tribeca Film Institute, Museum of the Moving Image, Ghetto Film School, and New York University.

Prashanth Kamalakanthan is an Indian-American filmmaker, born in Tirupati, India, and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. Trained at Duke University and NYU, his work spans documentary and narrative forms, exploring the migrant and millennial experience in an increasingly fluid world, dealing with themes of digitality, alienation, and the absurd while drawing from a deep study of global storytelling forms, in particular the postcolonial cinema. A 2018-19 IFP-Marcie Bloom Fellow in Film, Prashanth previously taught at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Reelworks in Brooklyn, and at NYU Tisch Graduate Film; as well as having worked at The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Nation, and elsewhere.

About First Features
The First Features Screening Series highlights the debut feature films of selected filmmakers, including Richmond-based artists, and invites them to discuss their work and process.