Cutting My Mother

As her screen time in her son’s films is drastically reduced, Cindy starts to suspect Nathan no longer wants her in his movies—a rejection that brings her back to the insecurities of childhood, when she thought, “Why would anybody wanna watch me, or hear me, or see me?”

Hoping to make amends with his mother, Nathan visits his parents’ house upstate, where he pitches Cindy on a new creative project—one where she would be in control.

On her first day as the director of her own short film, Cindy exorcises a humiliation from her youth and gives it a triumphant new ending.

Cindy, fresh on the heels of her first experience as a film director, reviews the footage with Nathan. But she refuses to admit whether she enjoyed calling the shots: “If I say yes, then you’ll have me direct a whole movie!”