A 19-minute gut punch with a pre-fame Hailee Steinfeld. Family fractures, flying fantasies, and the silence that screams.
Sarah is an abandoned, vulnerable, broken, and yet strong-willed child. Her father has left the family, and she is desperate to see him. Sarah speaks to only one person: her best friend Allison, who bears witness to the deteriorating relationship between Sarah and her mother Diane, whom Sarah blames for her father's absence. When a heated argument leaves both mother and daughter's emotions exposed, Sarah seeks out Allison. In doing so, Sarah is forced to confront both a part of her past and a present reality that she may not be prepared to live within.
Acting
Steinfeld's early rawness, Sullivan's devastating restraint.
Cinematography
Intimate framing that traps you in Sarah's shrinking world.
Director
Megan Weaver-Seitz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot when Steinfeld was 13, this predates her Oscar-nominated True Grit performance by mere months—watch her already-calibrated emotional precision.
The 'Little Magician' sequences mirror Sarah's psychological dissociation; Weaver-Seitz uses fantasy not as escape but as diagnostic tool for childhood trauma.
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