A short, short film about finding magic and the trauma of sudden loss when that magic goes away.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Val Cole
The Woman: Kyana Teresa

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

The screenplay is about finding the magic within the joy of pregnancy and the devastation of loss.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Drama

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

This is a short film that I feel reaches out to people who are struggling with the pain of losing a child. It's such a common occurrence but so rarely presented accurately in media. I want to touch on the joy and then the sudden, heartbreaking moment when you learn you've lost the miracle--the magic--you were so immersed in. A silent loss, which is depicted in the film, is when you have no idea that the fetus inside you has failed to thrive, which is different from a physical loss. It's a different thing to process and it's incredibly difficult.
I hope the film will reach out to people and show them they are not alone in their grief. And I hope it will give medical professionals or others involved in ob/gyn services a tool to offer those who are grieving.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

Striking and painful.

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Full Metal Jacket.

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

It began as a poem about a year ago and evolved into a screenplay over time.

7. How many stories have you written?

I have one completed feature and three polished shorts. I have several others in pieces. I'm an academic, so my writing time has been taken up by scholarship. I am rekindling my creative work after a long break.

8. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the
most times in your life?)

Wow--that is a really, really hard question. Like everyone I go through phases, but I think The Indigo Girls' "Closer to Fine, "Jason Isbell's "Hope the High Road," LP's "Strange" tie for the top right now.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

It took me a long time to face writing this. I suffered a terrible loss and complications both mentally and physically afterward that really just turned me into someone I didn't recognize. Grief is a horrible thing. But when I wrote it, it came out very quickly. I could see it in color, hear it, feel it.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

Social justice. I'm a cultural and critical scholar as well as a media studies scholar. I've dedicated my adult life to academia trying to...I guess save the world? I work with students teaching them about representation of race, class, gender, and queerness (just to name a few). My big goal is to create a documentary about adolescent and young adult safe spaces for mainstream audiences.

I also hang out with my family and cats, watch terrible television (it shuts off my brain), and I have an endless quest for good beer and the perfect pizza.

11. You entered your screenplay via FilmFreeway. What has been your
experiences working with the submission platform site?

I was a little confused at first, but now I love it. I have been able to upload my work and edit it and then simply send it to competitions all over the world with a few clicks. It's amazing.

12. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings
on the initial feedback you received?

It was one the first festivals I entered--the reviews were great and the opportunities to get my work out into the world if I was successful seemed so much more immediate and vast than other festivals/competitions I have entered. The feedback was extremely clear and helpful and I was happy to use almost all of it to tighten my writing.