Two screen studies alums find success on the festival circuit
Two screen studies alums were recently honored at the 2025 Massachusetts Independent Film Festival (MassIFF). Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui ’24 and Nicole Overbaugh ’24, frequent collaborators on each other’s work, both received Outstanding Achievement Awards.
Pradhan Wong Ah Sui’s film “Moving Room” was recognized in the Worcester Short category. “Moving Room” explores Pradhan Wong Ah Sui’s experiences as a teen immigrant student of color living with host families in American suburbia. The film examines themes of repressed homophobia, xenophobia, and the struggle to retain a sense of home while assimilating into a new culture. Pradhan Wong Ah Sui wrote, directed, and co-starred in the film.
Overbaugh’s film “Talking Heads” was honored in the Student Short category. “Talking Heads” is a comedy about Arthur and his best friend, Melvin, who move into a new apartment together to the dismay of Corey, Arthur’s real roommate.
Both films have appeared at festivals across the U.S. “Moving Room” had its West Coast premiere at the 2025 National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) in Seattle, and also appeared at the Red Dirt Film Festival in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and at CineYouth in Chicago. Pradhan Wong Ah Sui received Grrl Haus Cinema’s 2024 New England Local Filmmaker Award. “Talking Heads” had its world premiere at the Bare Bones International Film Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and appeared at The Brattle Theater in Massachusetts, at Grrl Haus Cinema’s NeuroCinema Fest, at the Lesley University Independent Film Festival, and at the Nyack International Film Festival in New York.
Pradhan Wong Ah Sui and Overbaugh are collaborating on a new project, “Wither & Bloom,” an experimental fiction short film written and directed by Pradhan Wong Ah Sui and produced by Overbaugh. They just launched a crowdfunding campaign for the project. The film follows Nihara, an immigrant who seeks the help of a cryptic doctor to revive her comatose mother as homesickness gives her vivid and disturbing dreams. Additionally, Overbaugh just landed a full-time job at a production company, TruVariety Films, and will be moving out of the country.
ClarkU News caught up with Pradhan Wong Ah Sui and Overbaugh to ask about their successes in the year since they graduated. The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Gyani, what’s it been like watching “Moving Room,” a deeply personal film, gain national recognition?
Gyani: It’s been a little surreal to have the honor of screening “Moving Room” across the country, especially as someone whose work sits between the experimental and the narrative. The reception has been both heartening and humbling. I’ve had the chance to sit in dark theaters with strangers and watch them engage with something deeply personal —and to connect afterward with people who see themselves, or their own questions about identity and home, in the work. That’s been the most meaningful part: finding community through this film.
I made this film to process something unresolved in myself, never imagining the scale it would reach. But emotional honesty has been the key to its momentum — it invites others to reflect on themselves.
Q: Nicole, MassIFF comes at a significant moment for you as you start a new job. How does it feel to have these milestones converging as you step into this next chapter?
Nicole: It’s strange, being on the brink of what could be my career while a piece of me is still so ingrained in my college community. I feel like I’m standing at the edge of a diving board. MassIFF, among other festivals “Talking Heads”has been involved in, is the breath before the jump — the line between Clark and the greater population.
Q: Nicole, if someone watched your festival work and then saw what you’re about to work on, what through-line would they find?
Nicole: People would find that I enjoy being uncomfortable. It’s a driving theme in my body of work. There’s also a very real application of discomfort in my life as I venture into a new chapter. Being (appropriately) uncomfortable is all part of the human condition, and I’ve come to appreciate it as a means of growth, rather than a deterrent.
Q: You’ve both hit this post-grad stretch running with festival appearances and “Wither & Bloom” in development. How does it feel, and how do you measure your success?
Nicole: There’s a level of validation, for certain. Each festival recognition gives me motivation to keep creating because it reassures me that I’m making films that resonate with people. It’s empowering to see my work once it’s out of my hands, and the most rewarding part is hearing other people’s perspectives or reactions. I get to learn something new about my work, and myself, every single screening.
Gyani: I try to measure success by how necessary the work feels. If a project feels urgent, honest, and rooted in real reflection, then I’ve done what I set out to do, regardless of where it ends up. With “Moving Room,” the greatest satisfaction has come from knowing I made something that’s true to a specific period in my life. That truth resonating with others is a bonus, but not the goal.
Nicole and I are preparing for our first crowdfunding campaign for “Wither & Bloom.” This feels like the beginning of a new creative cycle — a space to deepen the questions “Moving Room” started asking, while pushing into new formal terrain.
Q: What do the two of you look for in creative partnerships? How do you know when one’s working?
Gyani: I seek collaborators who appreciate complexity — who aren’t afraid to sit in ambiguity with me. A creative partnership, for me, starts with mutual curiosity and emotional resonance. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have that with Nicole, my closest collaborator and friend. We’ve developed a rhythm of deep trust: We respect each other’s perspectives, but we also challenge one another to push past what’s safe or familiar. I think a partnership works when it becomes generative rather than extractive — when conversations don’t just solve problems but lead to more exciting questions. When we leave a session feeling more alive, more expansive, more attuned to the work’s emotional stakes, that’s when I know something special is happening. Those are the moments I live for.
Nicole: An unspoken symbiosis, a merging of minds, a flow that feels unforced. A fancy way of saying, “It’s a gut feeling.” I look for people who add to the creative elements of the project while also being grounded in reality. I truly know how a partnership will work when we face a disagreement or challenge, and I see how we surmount that moment. I know it’s working when we come out the other end stronger.
