Stranger (2017)

Logline: When graduate student Nina Harper is invited up to her professor's cottage to complete a paper on D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, she is literally haunted by her subject matter. Cinema studies graduate student Nina Harper is overwhelmed by the task of completing her major paper on D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation. As a biracial black woman, she feels torn in two directions. She's been taught to appreciate the film's artistry, but she can't ignore three hours of racist propaganda. Her mind has been racing, she can't sleep and her thoughts are becoming fragmented. The deadline for submission has passed and now her graduation is in jeopardy. Henry, Nina's supervising professor, offers to help her up at his northern cottage. Having run out of options she jumps at the chance. Soon Nina unexpectedly enters into an increasingly volatile relationship with Henry's wife, Martha. The further away they get from the city, the more claustrophobic Nina feels. Nina's emotions reach a boiling point when she becomes literally haunted by the film. Now she must navigate her relationship with Martha while trying to control the strange visions that threaten to overwhelm her. Stranger is a short film that explores racial and sexual politics in relation to cinematic history.