CLASS OF 2020
2021; TRT 7 min; Mini DV
Directed, Shot, Produced by Faye Tsakas

In the face of an unprecedented pandemic, many of us cling desperately to conventional routines and customs that reinforce our sense of normalcy. We are unwilling to abandon certain deep-rooted traditions that have shaped our identity and culture. Class of 2020 explores this phenomenon as it observes East Hampton High School’s annual graduation ceremony, held defiantly in the peak of COVID - "socially distanced" by car. In the context of a fraught socio- political climate ravaged by sickness and death, what new meaning does the graduation ceremony hold? Shot in home-movie style on mini DV tape, Class of 2020 exists simultaneously as a humorous depiction of a classic American tradition held in bizarre times, and as a stark documentation of an ailing society struggling to move forward.