Mile Joris-Peyrafitte was only 23 when he made AS YOU ARE, and that was the first thing I brought up when we spoke by phone on February 22, 2017. This deeply affecting story, about three high school friends, two young men and a young woman, confronting volatile and confusing situations has a visual assurance and emotional resonance that belies its creator’s youth.
He went on to discuss the way the film deliberately avoids labeling the intense, sometimes confusing feelings the three friends have for one another; how he kept the issues he addresses from being the driving force of the story; the specific way he chose to depict violence; and at what point he started composing the music score. The film stars Charlie Heaton, Owen Campbell, Amandla Stenberg, Scott Cohen, and Mary Stuart Masterson. Joris-Peyrafitte directed from a script he co-wrote with Madison Harrison, and AS YOU ARE is his feature film debut, and was the recipient of the Special Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival
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