Smithtown HS East Graduate Creates Short Film For Stony Brook Film Festival

ST. JAMES, NY — Zach Finger, a Smithtown High School East class of 2022 graduate, has written, directed and produced a short film that will be featured at this month's Stony Brook Film Festival, the school district announced.

"Mimesis" dives into the life of a struggling alcoholic actor who unexpectedly finds solace in an audition for a therapist role.

"I’m very interested in combining human and social conflicts within a larger scientific world," Finger said in a news release.

Finger, who is a physics major at Georgia Institute of Technology, plans to transfer to University of Southern California in Los Angeles to study filmmaking, along with physics. He says his time at Smithtown High School East helped him to get to this point in more ways than one.

"High School East gave me the work ethic that I have now which helped me create this," he said. "I would go to school at 7 a.m. and not leave the building until 8 p.m. with clubs, so the
root of my work ethic was established there."

One of those clubs was the Smithtown Robotics team.

"The first time I was a leader was when I was on the Smithtown Robotics team, I made some mistakes but also did some good things," Finger said.

Finger is one of the youngest filmmakers to be selected for the festival this year. He created "Mimesis" at the age of 19, a "remarkable feat that underscores his potential in the film industry," the school district wrote.

The Stony Brook Film Festival is renowned for its dedication to celebrating independent and emerging filmmakers.

"Mimesis" debuts on July 25 at The Staller Center for the Arts, located at Stony Brook University.