Premiered at the 2020 Palm Springs International Short Fest and staring Amy Locane (“Cry-Baby” “Melrose Place”) ‘Cooties’ is an off-beat melodrama centering around a teenage boy, whose helicopter parents do not know his best friend is a sex toy.

Director’s Vision

In 2018, I came across an article about a teenager who murdered his parents because they took his video game away. This frightened me, as I know many children are addicted to their devices. A few weeks later, I brought this up to a psychologist at my university, and she believed this teenager experienced a psychological withdrawal as a result of the parents suddenly taking away the video game. She told me that if a teenager is addicted to a device, you should never take it away from them. I found this amusing but also incredibly frightening. I wanted to tell my own version of this story in a more palatable, understanding way. I know this can be an uncomfortable topic of discussion, but I hoped that making this film could start a conversation.