For months now, whenever anyone asked me what movie they should go see, I’ve recommended Short Term 12, the little independent movie by director Destin Cretton about the employees and residents of a group home for troubled teens. This outstanding film clamped onto my heart at South By Southwest 2013 and still hasn’t let go. Nothing else I’ve seen so far this year has moved me the same way. It’s touching, smart, funny, and brilliantly acted by Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, and Keith Stanfield. As recommendations go, though, this was basically a terrible one: Until last Friday, the movie wasn’t available. But I didn’t want people to miss it whenever it came out, so I just kept telling people about it even though they couldn’t see it anywhere.

Now, finally, Short Term 12 is here, playing in New York and Los Angeles, and expanding to more theaters nationwide on Friday. To mark the occasion, we have a series of five exclusive featurettes by Ben Garchar called “Short Term 12 Take New York,” featuring the cast and creators tossing around a camera like a football, experimenting with sound equipment at a hot dog joint, and talking about their amazing film.

The featurettes are light on hard making-of info, but they do showcase the strong chemistry between Cretton and the cast, a key factor in creating the film’s intimate, lived-in relationships. Watching them interact makes me want to see Short Term 12 again. Which, again, you can now finally do.

 

 

 

 

To find out when and where Short Term 12 is playing near you, go to the film’s official website.