Date: Thursday, March 6
6:30 PM Reception
7:00 PM Screening

Location: Annie May Swift Hall – Auditorium
1920 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208

YEAR ONE
(2024, 93 min)
Writer & Director: Lauren Loesberg

Northwestern alumna Lauren Loesberg (class of 2020) returns to campus to present Year One, her debut feature film. Inspired by Lauren’s own experiences, Year One follows Ruby (Elizabeth Yu), a freshman who struggles to make friends and find her place in college. Mounting tensions with her complicated dormmate Selene (Emma Raimi) color Ruby’s everyday life and she soon slips into a downward spiral, marked by dreams and the appearance of Ruby II – her glamorous alter ego – who embodies an idealized version of college life Ruby thought she was supposed to have. Filmed on Northwestern’s campus, Year One is an intimate coming-of-age story that insightfully portrays college life and the mental health challenges that so many students face. Starring Elizabeth Yu, known for May December and Netflix’s hit Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Emma Raimi (Northwestern ’21). Year One was listed by IndieWire for their 2024 Sundance Wish List, premiered at Geena Davis’s Bentonville Film Festival, and is a ReFrame Stamp recipient, an initiative of the Sundance Institute and Women in Film to highlight films that achieve gender parity in front of and behind the camera.

Followed by a discussion with director Lauren Loesberg.

Co-presented by Northwestern University Women Filmmakers Alliance (NUWFA) and Studio 22.