Inspired by true events, Erin Li‘s Slamdance-premiering short, To The Bone, looks to cut precisely there. The film centers on a young family struggling to make it in America, and the unexpected consequences that arise when the family’s headstrong daughter challenges her back-breaking and bloody life as a child laborer. The film’s first trailer, which we’re pleased to debut exclusively here, is a haunting and lyrical minute that captures the ache and simmering fear of the final product. Check out the trailer for To The Bone after the break.

The “Talk Score to Me: Emerging Filmmakers on Collaborating with Composers” panel at the Los Angeles Film Festival was an interesting concept that brought together up-and-coming filmmakers with the composers who created the original (and affordable) music for their respective short films. ASCAP and Project Involve put together a Composers Workshop that gave these four filmmakers (Erin Li, Mason Richards, Susana Casares, and Aaron Celious) the opportunity to select from eight different composers through a “speed dating session” to decide who they would want to collaborate with on their films. The guideline for their films was “California Stories” that took on the idea of democracy. Each filmmaker took this idea in a different direction with four shorts that each tackled this topic, but in very unique ways. Moderated by composer Art Ford, each director screened their shorts and then took to the stage with their respective composers to explain their different processes and experiences working together.