No Easy Way Down

After being kicked out of her PhD program, Em avoids going home by taking work at a local ski resort, only for a viral discount to bring her entire Chinese-American hometown community there, including Em’s former childhood rival, Olivia. Em, embarrassed to be seen at her “lowest point”, initially tries to avoid everyone, until she is assigned to teach Olivia snowboarding. Spending time with the flawless Olivia causes Em’s insecurities to flare, but when she later spots Olivia crying, Em becomes obsessed with finding why. Shenanigans ensue, in which Em is forced to reckon with her preconceptions about her community, and the real culprit of all the impossible standards she has internalized.

Content warning: strong language

Etzu Shaw is, on her best days, an award-winning filmmaker. She is the recipient of a SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship for her feature screenplay KILLING JAR, and a selected filmmaker for Season 5 of Indeed’s RISING VOICES, through which she wrote and directed a short film of the same name that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and is now streaming on Hulu. Etzu is also a Film Independent Fellow and a recent film MFA graduate from Columbia University where she was a multi-year Faculty Selects screenwriter. Her comedic thesis film 29 HOUR FAMINE played at AAIFF47.

Writer: Etzu Shaw

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AAIFF49 Screenplay Reading: No Easy Way Down

NO EASY WAY DOWN tells the story of a recently disgraced PhD student who secretly takes work at a ski resort over winter break, only for a viral discount to bring her entire Chinese-American hometown community into the same resort.