Filmmaker and professor Pearl Gluck’s provocative latest dramatic short film centers on Malke, a Holocaust survivor and sex-ed teacher who has been leading a secret life for decades: performing slam poetry on the Lower East Side. Castles in the Sky features commanding performances from actor Lynn Cohen, who died in 2020, and poet Venus Thrash, who died in 2021.

A famous novelist moves to a quiet country cottage with his new wife Vicki and attempts to settle into a relaxed lifestyle. Things quickly grow complicated when his city wife quickly becomes bored with everything and begins flirting with a local handyman. But things become dangerous when a man shows up and reveals himself to be Vicki's very abusive ex-husband.