On A String
A witty comedy full of absurd twists and turns about a New York violinist who, after graduating from a world-famous conservatoire, struggles with financial worries, love, family and a host of other difficulties.
Has life after college always been such a drag? Isabel (Isabel Hagen) is a young, Juilliard-trained violist still living at home with her parents in the heart of New York City. She’s trying to make a living playing gigs with her friends in the homes of strangers. But when her toxic ex-boyfriend reappears, who also happens to be the Philharmonic’s ‘newest, hottest cellist,’ he informs her of a viola opening in the prestigious orchestra. Nothing can go wrong, right?
You’ll laugh yourself onto the floor with scenes crafted by Isabel’s magnetic eye and feel for tone in her feature directorial debut. Family is forever and friends come and go, but what about the fire of ambition? By dropping the audience headfirst into the lives of such nuanced characters, Hagen makes the push and pull of such a reality absolutely sing with the clear inspiration of lived experiences from her own journey as a Juilliard trained violist turned writer-director-star. (source: Tribeca Film Festival)