I talk with filmmaker Jason Adam Maselle, the graduate winner of the 2024 First Run Film Festival. The First Run Film Festival is hosted "by the Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. It is the longest continuously running film festival in New York City, dedicated to showcasing the advanced work of NYU graduate and undergraduate film students."His award-winning film, PUNTER, is phenomenal but so is his own story -- growing up in South Africa and betting on himself by applying to NYU Tisch. The bet paid off, with his films being shown in as diverse locations as SNY and now taking home the top prize at his school's film festival.PUNTER is a great film for several reasons: he establishes his characters within two minutes, the place of South Africa soon after, and the story is free from the stereotypical portrayals that we are all so used to seeing.In this conversation, we talk about Jason's journey; what it's like to win at the First Run Film Festival; how best to describe South African cinema; the ruthlessness required to create a wonderful short film; the role of stereotypes in film; casting kids in film -- and getting the absolute best performance out of them; what the process of shooting in South Africa was like; the role of short films in independent film; and what's next.And we both agree -- chess is a sport. What a fun time.Jason's Indie Filmmaker Highlight: Oliver Hermanus (https://letterboxd.com/director/oliver-hermanus/)Jason's Indie Film Highlight: ABOUT ELLY (https://boxd.it/18Ry), dir. by Ashghar Farhadi.Links:Jason Adam Maselle's Website (https://jasonadammaselle.com/)PUNTER on First Run Film Festival's Website (https://tisch.nyu.edu/first-run-film-festival/more-2024/Punter)Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/first-time-go/exclusive-content