FLYING LESSONS
In Post-Production.
SYNOPSIS: Flying Lessons tells the story of punk artist Philly Abe’s intimate journey of social, artistic and spiritual transformation in the face of New York City’s cultural crisis. Philly mourns the city she once loved as she joins with a band of anti-gentrification tenants to fight against harassment by their notorious landlord.
DIRECTED by Elizabeth Nichols (Tisch Grad Film ’17)
Elizabeth Nichols is a writer, director and cinematographer of both non-fiction and narrative films. She currently lives in Tanzania, East Africa with her partner and their daughter, and works at Orkeeswa School where she teaches filmmaking. Elizabeth graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2017 with an MFA in Filmmaking and from Harvard University in 2010 with a BA in History and Literature and History of Art and Architecture. She has received several awards and scholarships in support of her filmmaking, including a New York Women in Film and Television Scholarship, Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Scholarship, Maurice Kanbar Scholarship, the Wasserman Directing Award, the Alan Landsburg Documentary Production Award and the Princess Grace Award. Her short films have played at some of the top international film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Berlinale.
PRODUCED by Alik Barsoumian (Tisch Grad Film ’17)
Alik Tamar Barsoumian is an Armenian-American independent filmmaker currently based in New York. Alik fell in love with the arts at a young age, growing up in Los Angeles where her family ran a music school. Her background and exposure to the arts shaped her desire to explore the human experience through storytelling. In 2016, she earned her MFA in filmmaking from New York University’s prestigious graduate film program. Alik’s films have traveled all over the world, from the Toronto Film Festival to Rotterdam, Mumbai, and Doha. Alik is currently developing her first narrative feature.
Read more about Elizabeth’s work and FLYING LESSONS in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Film.