"Chock Full Until Empty" - Short Film

A darkly comedic coming-of-age short film. Set in Queens, New York on a late summer day, the film follows Bea, a creative and strong-willed thirteen-year-old struggling with body image and disordered eating as her estranged aunt Phumie moves in with the family. Phumie, an eccentric failed musician in her late fifties, is quietly battling her own addiction while reeling from the end of a long-term relationship with a woman. As she tries to prove she can keep herself together as a new caregiver for Bea and her sister, Opal, Bea’s resentment toward her grows during a chaotic back-to-school shopping trip. With the help of her malevolent emo Doppelgänger, an imagined manifestation of the thoughts and feelings she suppresses, Bea plots to drive Phumie away. But as the day unravels, Bea and Phumie are revealed as mirrors of each other: sensitive, creative, deeply feeling people who reach for food, alcohol, fantasy, control, and avoidance to survive the discomfort of being themselves.