FILM CLUB III
CURATED BY CLAY MILLS
CURATED BY CLAY MILLS
WHY DO I LIVE LIKE THIS?
ASHER BENTLEY
CRESTON BROWN
TAYLOR ERVIN
CLAY MILLS
JESSE ZHOU
CRESTON BROWN
TAYLOR ERVIN
CLAY MILLS
JESSE ZHOU
APR 17, 2026 9:30PM
APR 18, 2026 9:45PM
APR 18, 2026 9:45PM
ROXY CINEMA
NEW YORK, NY
NEW YORK, NY
Modern life does not satisfy. The happiness we make for ourselves is ersatz, filling in for a mythical good life, which for the most part, no one is really interested in anymore. How then, do people continue to live, despite it all?
This is a survey of new American filmmaking as we enter into the post-neoliberal moment, a time where the way people have lived the past 40 years is in the midst of breaking down, making way for something new. These four films and one series take narrative, observation and humor as their methods to find where life is not meeting its own parameters. These works leave their audience with one question: “why do I live like this?”
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ART BOY (2021)
13:06 min
Directed by Taylor Ervin
Is ever there such a thing as a friend in the New York art world, or are there only so many rungs on the ladder of success? Art Boy follows a young gallery assistant as he has a promising encounter with an established artist. It could be his big break, but it might be just another glimpse of a reality forever out of reach.
MY SOUL IS A CAGE ON THE OUTSIDE OF MY BODY (2024)
25:20 min
Directed by Clay Mills
While everything threatens to pull an apartment tenant apart, memories of his father keep him together. When his father appears in the present, the tenant must choose whether to meet his father once again, or disappear forever.
LITTLE PEOPLE (2024)
4:53 min
Directed by Creston Brown
Little People is a film made by Creston Brown.
OUR FRIEND JUST DIED (2025)
6:25 min
Directed by Asher Bentley and Clay Mills
After their roommate commits suicide by ceiling fan, two young men try to distract themselves.
BEAUTIFUL ROOM IN VIBRANT AND CULTURAL NEIGHBORHOOD — AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY (WIP, 2025)
~40 min in total
Directed by Jesse Zhou
Steven’s roommate is dead. The police say his death is a suicide, but Steven is skeptical. After a rendezvous with his roommate’s most recent fling turns into an entanglement of their own, Steven succumbs to a harebrained conspiracy alongside her, who may know more about the death than she lets on.
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FRIDAY 4/17 TICKETS $19
SATURDAY 4/18 TICKETS $19
Roxy Cinema
2 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
~40 min in total
Directed by Jesse Zhou
Steven’s roommate is dead. The police say his death is a suicide, but Steven is skeptical. After a rendezvous with his roommate’s most recent fling turns into an entanglement of their own, Steven succumbs to a harebrained conspiracy alongside her, who may know more about the death than she lets on.
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SCHEDULE:
- ○ Art Boy (2021) — dir. Taylor Ervin — 13:06
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○ My Soul is a Cage on the Outside of My Body — directed by Clay Mills — 25:20
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○ Little People (2024) — dir. Creston Brown — 4:53
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○ Our Friend Just Died — dirs. Asher Bentley and Clay Mills — 6:25
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○ Beautiful Room in Vibrant and Cultural Neighborhood — Available Immediately
— dir. Jesse Zhou — six episodes, ~ 40 min ● Q&A~30min
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FRIDAY 4/17 TICKETS $19
SATURDAY 4/18 TICKETS $19
Roxy Cinema
2 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
| SARA'S is a New York gallery founded by Sara Blazej. Inaugurated in February 2023, SARA'S' program includes regular exhibitions and live performances and events. Film Club is the gallery's ongoing film programming. Organized in collaboration with invited curators, artists, and filmmakers, the series highlights a range of moving image work across experimental film, video art, and documentary. |
CRESTON BROWN is a writer, producer and creative director living in Los Angeles, CA. Professionally, he’s helped build such brands as Jubilee Media and Online Ceramics. Additionally, he’s led visual direction for artists such as Myles Smith. Currently he’s in development on a feature film with Lifetime and an animated series with Animation+. Additionally, he hosts a regular short film screening series called Presidium Overactive, which has showcased works by Kristoffer Borgli, Andrew Norman Wilson and Jon Rafman, garnering thousands of attendees cross-continentally. He enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with his family.
TAYLOR ERVIN was born in Bucyrus, Ohio in 1988. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He is the writer and host of the art criticism series Scorned by Muses and the director of the Art Boy trilogy of films, which address the legacy of modernism.
CLAY MILLS is a filmmaker, photographer and writer based in Chicago. To Clay, film is a form that can intuitively make sense while watching it, while — like a dream — loses its sensibility in the act of explanation. This is where “movie magic” lives. His work has shown at the Gene Siskel Film Center, Filter Photo and the Museum of the Big Bend.
JESSE ZHOU is a first generation Chinese American filmmaker. Currently based in New York but coming of age between South Florida, New Jersey, and Chicago, his work reflects his transient and ever-shifting upbringing. He has written and directed two short films and is currently developing three feature scripts. Jesse enjoys crafting stories about complicated people looking for brief moments of solace and connection in the turbulent river of existence.