short term short term american drama film written directed film based short film produced stars grace supervisor group home troubled teenagers inspired write based experience working group facility teenagers wrote produced short film based idea later adapted feature length screenplay won roles auditioning children featured film cast open casting calls filming took place days los_angeles california september short term premiered march south southwest film festival released theaters august grossed million met critical acclaim reviewers praised film realism intimacy drawing particular attention performance direction film won south southwest grand jury narrative feature independent spirit award nominations plot grace young supervisor short term group home troubled teenagers lives long term boyfriend mason finds difficult open emotionally grace finds pregnant schedules appointment abortion eventually tells mason pregnancy plan abortion facility grace mason focus efforts marcus resident turn struggling prospect leaving facility grace bonds recent arrival short term history self harm distances teenagers intend stay facility long father fails pick birthday violently staff sits cool room grace shows cutting night leaves facility middle birthday celebrations unable force return grace follows father house finding house return short term reads grace cryptic story written grace begins suspect abused father party hosted mason foster parents proposes grace accepts following morning grace upset phone reveals father released prison refuses mason arrives short term discover picked father overnight angry decision send father boss maintains denied abused later day grace finds marcus attempted commit suicide death fish waiting hospital marcus treated grace breaks mason upset refusing talk feels instead tells longer wants marry plans abortion upset returns father house breaks intending sleeps interrupted suggests smash car instead grace opens sexually abused father shows grace father hit return short term reports father physical abuse grace goes home apologize mason tells marcus recover weeks later grace starts seeing shown viewing mason mason tells rest staff running marcus girlfriend cast nurse production short term originally conceived short film based experiences line staff worker group facility teenagers worked years served thesis project master degree film short film ran minutes premiered film festival won jury prize short filmmaking graduating film school decided adapt short feature length screenplay won largest change adapting short film longer screenplay changing lead character gender man loosely based grace young woman facility supervisor researched similar facilities interviewed employees film noting script featured stories directly told children facilities interviews auditioned role grace script sent won role conversation calling screenplay probably best script sent prepared roles line staff group home similar film collaborated create characters actor original short film reprise role feature struggled contact casting film stopped acting left managers cell phone eventually able reach email tape audition children featured film cast open casting calls prior acting experience played found casting won role sending cell phone video audition film shot days september filming took place los_angeles scenes set group home shot short stay facility located near neighborhood film edited filmed original cut film shortened director cut hours long wanted final cut minutes said original cut film felt heavy feel pretty depressed humanity number scenes deleted trimmed film mood final running time minutes release short term premiered march south southwest film festival austin texas won grand jury narrative feature category purchased distribution international premiere held film festival august received standing ovation theaters film given platform release august released los_angeles new_york_city expanding weekend phoenix washington philadelphia boston berkeley progressively expanding cities widest release september box office film grossed opening weekend playing theaters theater average considered strong result forbes magazine overall earned total north_america total weeks theaters widest release theaters outside united_states total critical response film certified fresh score rotten tomatoes based reviews average rating critical consensus states short term revealing drama pulls audiences perspective neglected youths film score metacritic based critics indicating universal acclaim film wrote film thing feels perfect magical shining example cinema adding performances writing sharp direction beautiful special movie variety critic wrote stunning winner puts recent competition lineup shame compelling human drama finds fresh energy inspirational teacher genre constantly revealing new layers characters review los_angeles_times described short term small wonder film exceptional moving intimate offering particular praise film honesty guardian hand criticized film credibility describing cute true ending hollywood reporter called film genuinely moving balanced handheld direction acknowledges dramatic extremes lives needing parade audience new_york_times praised direction saying brings group home lives inhabitants images scenes matter considered feel caught fly performance grace singled praise critics writing manages convey character fierce strong utterly fragile delicate scared broken incredible emotional physical performance similarly empire critic felt gave performance like film breaks heart raises spirit fell accolades
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