Filmmaker Celebrates Second Debut in Two Months

Little Neck filmmaker debuted her second movie in two months this week at a Manhattan screening room as part of an ongoing series of short films.

Mugdan, 22, screened “To Live For,” a short movie she wrote a mere two months ago, at the Tribeca Gran Hotel’s screening room Monday evening as part of a series known as “After-Set Short Films.”

The film, which is 18 minutes long, was primarily shot in Douglaston, Little Neck and Great Neck. Mugdan premiered her feature debut, “Director’s Cut,” at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival in December.

But she said her short movie covered much darker territory than her feature, which followed the misadventures of a young filmmaker attempting to get her movie made.

“It’s a dialogue-driven short centering around two characters who are both dealing with pretty heavy issues – suicide, depression and the loss of a loved one,” she said of “To Live For.” “It’s dark subject matter, but I was pleased that the audience was laughing during certain scenes. I have a morbid sense of humor about these things, which I think was the point of the film. You have to sometimes step back and laugh, even when you want to cry.”

Mugdan said Monday night’s screening materialized after she contacted Victor Medina-San Andres, who operates After-Set.

“He does this as a means of helping young filmmakers showcase their work,” she said of Medina-San Andres. “We met and he saw the initial rough cut and he liked it. The rest is history.”

She said she will likely submit the short film and “Director’s Cut” to film festivals before making them available online or on DVD. Her feature was recently accepted to the Boston International Film Festival.

Her short film, which was made for a paltry $146, was still in the concept phase just two months ago.

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind process,” she said. “We only had two days of filming, so I was lucky to find very dedicated and talented people who worked for free. I would like to compensate them for all the work they did for this.”

Mugdan, who has created her own company, Shivnath Productions, said she will next shoot a short horror film titled “Amygdala” around Douglaston and Little Neck this spring.