Amandla Stenberg’s first foray into filmmaking has been hotly-anticipated. After igniting fierce debate with her Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows clip – in which she schooled the world on the problems of cultural appropriation – the Hunger Games actress has become a vocal advocate for racial justice. She’s already publicly slammed Kylie Jenner, joined a revolutionary art movement, and created her very own black, female comic book hero.

Now, Stenberg has finally unveiled her first original film debut. Titled Blue Girls Run Fast, the 18-minute short follows a foster teen Andy (played by Leeza Lester), whose life gets shaken up when her neighbour (Julia Rocha) climbs in her window one evening, after a failed attempt to run away. According to Stenberg, the “highly personal” film was her application to the highly-lauded NYU filmmaker’s course, where she’s now a student.

“I think film is the medium that shapes culture the most,” the Dazed 100 star told us earlier this year. “Especially in America. I think the people that we see in the films are the people who we view society as, you know? And I think that’s why there needs to be more representation for different kinds of people.”

“I feel like there’s a lack of representation for different kinds of people, and so I want to provide that,” she added. “I like stories that focus right now on growing up because that’s what I’m doing. And stories that are kind of bittersweet, you know? I’m someone who’s pretty obsessed with nostalgia and heartbreak. And so I find myself making work that kind of centres around that.”

See Stenberg’s full film above, or check out the trailer below: