When Lorraine Nicholson debuted her short film Life Boat at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, it made a sinister splash, putting the then-27-year-old director on the world film stage.

The film centers on six troubled teenagers (played by Hopper Penn, Moises Arias, Kwame Boateng, Chloe Bridges, Elizabeth Gilpin, and BK Cannon), who have been sent to a therapeutic boarding school, where they are forced to participate in an increasingly disturbing thought experiment by their guidance counselor Mr. Drexler (Stephen Dorff). Using chairs as props, Drexler asks them to envision a life boat that can save only three students—then makes each student decide who lives, and who dies. A Lord of the Flies situation unfolds as the teens become entangled in this dark game of survival.

Courtesy Lorraine Nicholson.

The film is now available online at Short of the Week. T&C spoke with Nicholson (who also appeared on T&C's 2017 Modern Swans list) about Life Boat—and what's next for the young filmmaker.

How did you become interested in therapeutic boarding schools that use these kinds of exercises?

Elizabeth [Gilpin, who produced and starred in the film] was really the entry point for this world. She introduced me to some of her peers who went to the same facility as her. I discovered that there are many many facilities like this and that therapeutic boarding schools are a billion dollar industry.



Making art that’s morally ambiguous is something I hope to do for the rest of my career.

The film deals with serious themes—survival, shame, violence—in a short time frame. Why was it important to focus on one scene?

I wanted to make a story that felt very contained, and I felt the clearest way was to come from the perspective of one of the therapeutic sessions. Life Boat is a real exercise that they do at one of the facilities that I researched.

Lorraine Nicholson directing Elizabeth Gilbert and Moises Arias. Courtesy Lorraine Nicholson.

There's also a tension in the film between youth and authority. What do you think about today's teen activists who are making their voices heard?

I have been so inspired by the generation— who I would actually even consider a generation below me—speaking up and being political. When I was that age, the thought never even crossed my mind that I had that kind of power. So, as somebody who’s an adult now, I find it to be really inspiring.

Lorraine Nicholson, photographed for T&C’s 2017 New Modern Swans. Victor Demarchelier

What did you learn from seeing the film debut at Tribeca in 2017, and what are you hoping to learn from this wider release?

When you read it [the film] in script form, you immediately think Mr. Drexler is a raving psychopath and an abuser. But when I actually brought it to audiences, some people really connected with what Stephen [Dorff, the actor who plays Drexler] was saying. When we first decided to collaborate, I said, "listen, if there’s one person who can leave this theater thinking you did the right thing, we'll have succeeded." Making art that’s morally ambiguous and makes people question preconceived notions is something I hope to do for the rest of my career.

What are you working on now?

I made another short film last year that’s gonna start doing the festival circuit soon—hopefully!— and then I am writing a feature film, which I hope to be finished with this summer.

Watch the film below.

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Liz Cantrell Assistant to the Editor in Chief Liz Cantrell is the assistant to the Editor in Chief of Town & Country, covering arts and culture, and has previously written for Esquire.

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