Christians First Cigarette
From the Archives
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25-Apr-2018
A young man decides to take control of his life by turning to cigarettes. This experimental film shot in the San Fernando Valley using an old mini-DV camera is an avant-garde curiosity directed by Justin Zuckerman. Christian smokes the titular ‘first cigarette’ but doesn’t stop there. In fact, he heads straight into chain-smoking and it quickly takes over his life. He smokes everywhere, in parking lots, on bleachers, while reading Infinite Jest. And then he meets a girl and they smoke cigarettes together. Punctuated with a soaring French pop song, or by breaking the 4th wall — at one point, Christian looks directly at the camera to explain, “Fuckin’ tryin’ to live, man.” — it’s an amusing ode to smoking and out-of-date technology, and fulfills the old adage: all you need to make a movie is a mini-DV camera and a pack of cigarettes. (5 minutes). Directed by Justin Zuckerman.
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