Jordan Firstman's Club Kid lands soft at Sundance

May 16. Jordan Firstman's Club Kid premiered at Sundance in January. The feature screened to a packed room at the Library Theatre, ran 92 minutes, and ended with a standing ovation. The film follows a family dealing with addiction, set against the backdrop of New York nightlife. GHB is the narrative anchor. The tone is comedy, but the kind that sits close to the floor.

Firstman is known for short-form comedy on Instagram, where he's built a following doing impressions and observational bits. The pivot to a feature is a long one. Club Kid was shot in four weeks, largely in Brooklyn, with a budget under $2 million. The cast includes a mix of known comedians and first-time actors pulled from the scene. The script was finished three months before production started. That timeline shows in the pacing: the film moves fast, cuts early, and doesn't linger on moments that would slow it down.

The i-D review calls it one of the best of the year. That's high praise for a debut feature from a director who's spent most of his time in the sub-60-second format. The review notes the emotional weight of the film, specifically the ending, which apparently earned tears. The standing ovation at Sundance suggests the room agreed. But Sundance ovations are not always predictive. The film has yet to secure wide distribution. a24" class="autolink" title="More files on A24">A24 passed. So did Neon. As of this week, no announcements.

What the film does well, according to the review, is balance the comedy register with the addiction narrative without collapsing into either melodrama or irony. That's a narrow lane. Most directors working in that space either lean too hard into the pathos or retreat into detachment. Firstman, per the review, holds the line. The GHB plotline is treated with specificity, not as a punchline or a moral lesson. It's just the thing happening in the room.

The question is whether the film finds an audience outside the festival circuit. Sundance is a good start, but it's not a guarantee. The comedy-addiction hybrid is a tough sell to distributors, especially when the director's prior work is 30-second Instagram sketches. The film screened well. Now it waits.