Ira Katz

When an ex-gangster learns that his younger brother is in danger after being labelled a snitch, he must return home and reacquaint himself with the local drug scene in order to clear his brother's name.

As a television actor returns to Seattle to learn about the daughter he never met, a high school senior finds first love with the pastor's daughter. Their stories parallel one another in mysterious ways.

When a group of religious zealots destroy everything that he loves and leaves him for dead; A man embarks on a journey of revenge that will take him through all the post-apocalyptic dangers that is WASTELAND.

Lee’s award-winning thesis film for NYU parallels a young man running from the Mafia and a young woman hiding from the INS, and its blend of the comic and the melodramatic sets the tone for the first feature films to follow. The title refers to Manhattan’s Canal Street, which separates Chinatown from Little Italy.