Danielle Kampf’s Presentation is for everyone who has ever been told, “You think too much.” Holly, a high school girl ridden with anxiety, has to face her fears and obnoxious adults, in order to find the strength within herself. The stakes aren’t the highest per se—but as a nervous teenager, giving a presentation in front of your class can be as high stakes as it gets.

What really distinguishes Presentation from an after-school special or PSA, about how you just have to believe in yourself, are the naturalistic performances, especially from lead actress Emily Rey as Holly. Actor David Krumholtz (Numb3rs, Santa Claus) served as executive producer, as well as casting director, which might be an additional indication for how the spot-on performances came about.

Which isn’t meant to take away from Danielle Kampf’s sensitive and empathetic direction and script. In the filmmakers words, she hoped the short would “open up a more available dialogue to teenagers and children about mental health”.

The film succeeds in inspiring this conversation, without being too on-the-nose. Instead opting for an intimate story about what it feels like to go through the doubts of coming-of-age. Made as a thesis project in the undergraduate program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Presentation was originally meant as a proof-of-concept for a series pilot to “showcase an idea that can be developed into something long form”.

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