Inspiration can strike a filmmaker in the unlikeliest of places. James Cameron came up with the premise for The Terminator in a sickness-induced fever dream on a trip to Rome, in which he saw a skeletal robot emerge from flames. George Miller’s journey to creating the Mad Max franchise began when he was working as a doctor, treating survivors of horrific car accidents. Charlie Kaufman famously wrote Adaptation while struggling to adapt New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean’s book The Orchid Thief.

Twenty-five-year-old Tzvi, professionally know by his first name, stumbled upon the idea for his first feature, Killer of Men, after being locked out of his apartment in Sheepshead Bay, a neighborhood in far Brooklyn that tourists generally steer clear of. Tzvi had always felt there was something oddly compelling about its mountains of uncollected garbage, barbwired car parks, and tiny, empty shops with giant, neon signs like “ONLY CASH—GET PHONE NOW!!!” On camera, he thought, they would make for one hell of a backdrop.