Director Shervin Nassi expected to attend in San Francisco
Benny (Ryan McCartan) and his best friend Kameron (Elias Kacavas) are fleeing to Mexico, desperate to outrun their collapsing lives in New York City. In Only Good Feelings, a fast-paced tragicomedy set among a loosely connected, semi–class-conscious cohort of born-and-bred city characters, grief emerges as the true protagonist. It lingers in Benny’s confrontation with sudden loss, in the uneasy vulnerability of grief counseling sessions (featuring a striking Josie, played by Amanda Steele), and in the persistent question underlying everything: Where does one go from here?
In his directorial debut, Shervin Nassi balances absurdity with despair, and heartache with joy. With a blend of zany scoring, sharp edits, and a lingering stillness matched by luminous, frenetic cinematography, the film creates an arresting backdrop for this turning point in Benny’s life. Nassi moves fluidly between the childhood bedroom and the getaway car, guiding us through the chaos and the quiet of mourning. Filled with compassion and wit, this film is a deeply felt exploration of grief that reminds us life continues to unfold. —Karina Curry
Shervin Nassi is a filmmaker drawn to stories that explore grief, guilt, and self-destruction, approaching cinema as a form of catharsis, using image and narrative to access buried emotion. At sixteen, he entered a military religious boarding school in upstate New York, where he met Ian Friedman, a close friend and creative collaborator. Their shared interest in film and storytelling shaped his early artistic path. After leaving school, their lives diverged, and following Friedman’s death, that loss became central to Nassi’s work. Nassi’s films function as emotional experiences rather than traditional narratives, exploring memory, unconscious feeling, and psychological resonance through image, sound, and rhythm. He sees cinema as therapy and a shared space for processing grief and transformation.