Fire Through Dry Grass

Andres “Jay” Molina left the Dominican Republic in his late teens for New York’s Lower East Side. In 2014, Jay developed a rare lung condition that attacked his vital organs and left him paralyzed. A former baseball player and truck driver, today Jay is nourishing a passion for filmmaking and animation, and advocating for people living with disabilities. His poetry and writings have been published in NYU’s Literacy Review, The Wire, and Wheeling & Healing: A Poetry Anthology Edited by OPEN DOORS Reality Poets, and he’s a recipient of the NYC Mayor’s Office Safe In The City Grant. Fire Through Dry Grass is his first feature-length film.

Alexis Neophytides is a New York City-based educator and filmmaker whose work centers finding meaning in people and place. She has directed and produced short films and television series including the public television series Neighborhood Slice and 9.99, for which she won a NY Emmy. Her first feature-length documentary, Dear Thirteen, premiered at DOC NYC in 2022. She is a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Grantee for her second feature, Fire Through Dry Grass, co-directed with Andres “Jay” Molina. She holds a BA from Brown University and an MA in Media Studies from The New School.