Welcome to the World, co-directed and starring Albert, will premiere in Brooklyn on Thursday, June 7, 2018, at 8:30pm as part of the The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival at Maroney Theatre at St. Francis College. The film screens as part of the Oh, The Humanity shorts session, featuring revealing films about deep and personal struggles, joyous moments, and the vulnerabilities that connect us all. Albert, who is Brooklyn based, and actress Mary Niederkorn will be in attendance. Tickets are $15 and available here; use the code 18AOBFF to receive 20% off.

Welcome to the World is a daring film about a troubled man who records a video message for his pregnant sister. Drawing its power and immediacy from its first-person, confessional style, the film presents, in one continuous shot, the journey of one man’s awakening from isolation back to humanity. The film stars Albert and is directed by Albert and Anthony Grasso.

Richard Propes (The Independent Critic) gives it four stars and writes, “RIVETING… CHAN’S PERFORMANCE IS DEEPLY MOVING… LINGERS IN YOUR BRAIN LONG AFTER THE CLOSING CREDITS”. Kirk Fernwood (One Film Fan) praises the film as “INTELLIGENT, INVENTIVE, AND INSPIRED… CHAN DOES A FANTASTIC JOB… DRAWING YOU IN WITH EVERY WORD… THE FINALE IS A STROKE OF CREATIVE BRILLIANCE AND ARTISTRY”. Max White (OC Movie Reviews) raves, “CHAN GIVES A GRIPPING, HEARTFELT AND SINCERE PERFORMANCE WHICH PLUNGES YOU INTO THE MURKY WATERS OF MODERN HUMANITY AND MASCULINITY… SQUEEZES SO MUCH RAW EMOTION INTO A SINGLE SHOT”. And Rachel Pullen (UK Film Review) writes, “LEADING MAN ALBERT M. CHAN… PLAYS AN EMOTIONALLY RAW MAN WITH A GRACE AND EASE THAT IS OFTEN ONLY SEEN WITHIN SOME OF THE MOST HIGH END ACTORS… PACKS A HUGE PUNCH… TO CREATE SUCH AN IMPACT ON A VIEWER IN ONLY SEVEN MINUTES WITH JUST ONE MAN, A SCRIPT AND A CAMERA CERTAINLY SPEAKS VOLUMES OF THE SKILLS THAT CHAN HAS AS A DIRECTOR, WRITER AND PERFORMER”.

Founded in 2011, The Art of Brooklyn is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that curates a conversation between the new, Brooklyn-based art community, immigrants, transplants and those born and raised in the borough. The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival is the flagship indie film event of Brooklyn and is the ONLY international, independent festival in the world exclusively devoted to Brooklyn’s vibrant film and media scene. Work from all over the world is accepted, as long as it’s connected to the borough in some way (e.g. cast/crew, production, content, theme, setting, etc.). The Art of Brooklyn is also the only indie film festival to build and program our own video-on-demand streaming platform: Brooklyn On Demand, where we broadcast festival favorites, original series and more, online and on a Roku channel with over 17,000 subscribers, alongside Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.