Peppermint Spiral (2024)

Peppermint Spiral follows a high schooler confronting an intimidating, ghastly creature while facing his family’s high academic expectations. As the pressure becomes overwhelming, Angel starts a dangerous path towards relief, rather than asking his loved ones for help.

Partnered with Nickelodeon, Paramount and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Reel Start also collaborated with Exceptional Minds for their animation short. Starring Shamon Brown Jr, Brady Noon, Seth Rogen and Romi Dias, Peppermint Spiral portrays the ongoing pressure that modern teens face and how these high expectations can become a detriment to their mental health.

Co-Producer: Samantha K. Tan

TREE’S BLOOD (2024)

When Elveria (Ayo Edebiri), a self-absorbed eco-influencer, livestreams loggers to bolster her brand, she is confronted by a mystical creature, Zamora (Rose Byrne), who is desperate to save the forest she calls home. The two strangers come together and are forced to put their egos aside to save both humanity and the forest. 

Partnered with Nickelodeon, Paramount and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Tree’s Blood is the seventh short film from Reel Start’s student filmmakers and the first made in collaboration with Exceptional Minds. Reel Start students wrote, developed, and produced a compelling narrative on environmental issues and one’s ability to detach themselves from the digital world and reconnect with mother nature with the artists from Exceptional Mind providing the final designs and animation for the short. 

Co-Producer: Samantha K. Tan

 

TRANS HEAVEN, PENNSYLVANIA (2024)

Trans Heaven, Pennsylvania is partnered with Outfest and Traverse to create a documentary around two women reflecting on a legendary party that saw hundreds of trans women and crossdressers taking over a small Pennsylvania town called New Hope.

Producer: Samantha K. Tan

  • Featured on QBurgh

  • Best Short Documentary Nominee - Appalachian Queer Film Fest 2024

  • Official Selection - Frameline48 2024

  • Official Selection - OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - Twisted Arts Fil mFestival 2024

  • Official Selection - Out On Film Atlanta’s LGBTQ Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - Cinema Diverse Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - Fabulous Independent Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - NewFest 2024

  • Official Selection - Reel Q Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - OutReels Cincinnati Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - ImageOut 2024

  • Official Selection - DocuWest Film Festival 2024

  • Official Selection - Wicked Queer 2024

MY MONSTER AND I (2023)

Starring Delphine Huang (Mulan 2020), My Monster and I is a story told from the perspective of a 10-year-old Asian-American girl named Sydney Li. With her wits, new found courage, and her daddy's taser gun, Syd confronts the unearthly monster only to find out that the creature is as lonely and lost as she is. With a box of Oreos, she ends up befriending the creature from space and ultimately gets a helping hand as she faces her biggest fear... her father.

Director: AJ Starzak

Producer: Samantha K. Tan

  • Best Sci-Fi Short - San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival 2023

  • Best Short - MyMoviesPlus Film Festival 2023

  • Best Sci-Fi Short - Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival 2023

  • Best Performances - Fantasy & Sci-Fi Film Festival 2023

 

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE AMERICA (2022)

A dark-comedy series formed by four angry shorts, each attributes to the delicately chosen experience of female Chinese international students in the city of Philadelphia.

Creator & Director: Qiyue Sun

Producer: Samantha K. Tan

  • Official Selection - Boston Asian American Film Festival 2022

  • Official Selection - Austin Asian American Film Festival 2022

  • Official Selection - Oxaca FilmFest 2022

MEMNON (2022)

Director: Cameron Clay

Co-Producer: Samantha K. Tan

  • Official Selection - Philadelphia Film Festival 2022

EXPANDING SANCTUARY (2022)

The documentary, Expanding Sanctuary, follows the historic campaign to end the sharing of police database information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led by the Latinx immigrant community and Juntos, a Latinx immigrant rights nonprofit, in South Philadelphia.

Director: Kristal Sotomayor

Assistant Producer: Samantha K. Tan

  • 2021-2022 Added Velocity Grant Recipient

  • Featured on 6abc news

RIDE (2021)

Director: Wendy Wang

Associate Producer: Samantha K. Tan

  • Official Selection - L.A. Film Fest - Independent Filmmakers - Showcase IFS - Los Angeles / Beverly Hills 2021

UNSTABLE (2020)

Director: Fiorella Vescovi

Producer: Samantha K. Tan

Label: Silver Gun Records / September 2020

IF I EVER SEE YOU AGAIN (2019)

Director: Jordan MIzrahi

Producer: Samantha K. Tan

FEVER DREAM BY GRAYSCALE (2018)

Director: Jordan MIzrahi

Assistant Producer: Samantha K. Tan

SOLD SIGN (2017)

A visual poem about the struggles of an unhealthy relationship.

Producer, Director & Editor: Samantha K. Tan
Director of Photography & Editor: Gabriella Megni
Music: Kevin Graham

  • Nominee for Best Short - Rough Cut Film Festival 2018

  • Official Selection - 2nd Annual Temple Women’s Fest 2018

  • Official Selection - Lycoming College Film and Video Festival 2018

my heart (2017)

Demonstrating her love for art, Lillian Duran expresses herself through various types of characters in her paintings, as well as explains what art means to her.

Producer, Director, Director of Photography & Editor: Samantha K. Tan

  • Official Selection - 36 Degrees AAFF Asolo Art Film Festival

NEW COLOR, NEW PERSPECTIVE (2017)

Producer, Director, Director of Photography & Editor: Samantha K. Tan

  • Official Selection - Rough Cut Film Festival 2017