It’s becoming increasingly obvious that filmmakers rely on something pretty to look at, something stylistically similar to an old famous director, genre conventions, or even adapted material to keep audiences engaged. Yet that doesn’t mean that plots need to be insanely dramatic. In fact, my favorite films at AFI were stories rooted in the mundanities of life.

In exactly a year’s time since their first festival, 4085 has matured. Though the group would benefit from crewing more directors and producers outside of the board, the complexity and excitement in the festival’s content this year displayed an obvious and consistent growth in production quality.

The first film to screen at 4085 Production’s first in-person festival on December 3rd served as an attention catching opener with a story reminiscent of the wave of YA dystopian media of the early 2010’s.