Past First Run Winners: Mulan Fu, Razieme Iborra, Alfonso Morgan-Terrero
UGFTV Chair Ezra Sacks reached out to three past First Run Film Festival winners – Mulan Fu, Razieme Iborra, and Alfonso Morgan-Terrero – to see what they're up to now.
Ezra: Can you tell me about your experience with the First Run Film Festival?
Mulan Fu: It was such a great honor to receive the top prize at a very memorable First Run Festival. The 2020 class graduated into a special time, and even through the online festival, our year's First Run gave so much motivation and encouragement to our fresh steps into the industry and towards our goals. With the festival being online, I was actually able to share all of the amazing works of my peers with my families and friends abroad that wouldn't be able to attend in person. It was a wonderful celebration of the hard work and resilience of the 2020 class.
Razieme Iborra: I was fortunate enough to be selected as a Wasserman finalist at First Run, and I have the most lovely memories of that night. The whole event was done with such style!
Alfonso Morgan-Terrero: First Run was really special for me. It was a space where I felt welcomed and empowered to tell a story that was deeply personal to me as a filmmaker--giving audiences a look into a community that would otherwise be unknown to them.
Ezra: What did you do with your short film after First Run?
Mulan: I'm really grateful that my short film went on to screen at dozens of international film festivals and received awards and grants that funded my next project. It's been a wonderful journey seeing how audiences around the world resonated and connected with the intimate and personal story that I'm telling.
Razieme: I made Dirty Blonde with the intention of using it as a work sample when campaigning for feature financing, as opposed to catering toward a festival run. By shooting the finished film around to several investors, I was able to secure initial funding for my debut feature... a dream!
Alfonso: Champions served as a stepping stone for me as it helped me secure financing for my debut feature film Verde (2020) in addition to getting me representation with The United Talent Agency as a Writer/Director.
Ezra: What are you doing now?
Mulan: I'm currently studying educational game design at Columbia University and working in the creative development department at Pearl Studio (Kung Fu Panda 3, Abominable, Over the Moon) on new animated feature project development and story ideation.
Razieme: I'm now working on my first feature -- a hybrid doc entitled How the West Was One. The film follows 3 trailblazing modern cowgirls as they explore the fringes of American identity in response to 2020's divisive socio-political landscape. And when I'm not shooting, I'm off on my own cowgirl adventures, riding and competing my two horses around Southern California.
Alfonso: I am currently in development for my next feature film and teaching Sight and Sound Filmmaking at Tisch as an Adjunct Arts Professor.