As a Mexican American woman and someone who grew up in a christian household, I wanted to shine light on the contradictions that exist within identities of christianity, sexuality, and Latinx womanhood. In Latinx culture there has always been shame for women who dare to own their own sexuality and reclaim their body as their own. This film is a solidarity piece for latinx women who need to have their stories heard.

The Story

Anastasia, a 17 year old girl, must hide and deal with a possible pregnancy while living with her very religious mother who believes having children without marriage is a sin. Or rather having sex without marriage is a sin.

Writing the Script

This script was a challenge to write because I had to include multiple perspectives within the film. I had to cover Anastasia's perspective who, like many high school girls in the U.S., engages in sexual activity, but also feels shame due to Latinx christian values instilled by her mother. Anastasia's mother on the other hand, is well intentioned and uses religion and spirituality to teach her daughter morals. Through the film I imply that christian morals may be the reason why Anastasia’s mother looks down Lizz, and her dislike of Lizz could just be a projection of her own guilt.

Finally, there is Lizz. Lizz is relatively the same age as Anastsia, and she is pregnant. Lizz is aware of Anastasia's mother's disdain, but as a young Latinx pregnant woman, it comes to no surprise. However, Lizz tries to support Anastasia regardless of her aunt's sentiments towards her. 

How these women relate to one another, and how they are all battling their shame instilled by religion and patriarchy is where all of the nuance of the story is. It isn't easy to compermentalize their womanhood, spirituality, and relationships with one another, and that is where the beauty of this story lies. 

This story was crafted with a lot of effort and love. I drew upon the stories of women that I grew up with. I hope the more nuanced messages of this film can become clear once you've all seen it. 

The Production

The process began in late August. After I wrote the screenplay, I recruited women identifying creatives since this story is for women.

Everyone was so excited to have an all women's crew. Many of my crew members stated that it was unusual, and that they mostly had worked with co-ed crews (mostly lead by white, male identifying directors). Most of them were ecstatic that I would ask for their input which was both heart warming and heart breaking because while I was creating space for their voices to be heard, it was sad to hear that they felt that usually their input was not valued. Nonetheless, I hope to continue influence the industry where women have a seat at the table.

The pandemic made it difficult to find Latinx actors because the school’s Covid safety guidelines prohibited hiring actors off campus. Luckily, I met other Latinx actresses through being involved in the play, In the Heights, that casted BIPOC students exclusively in 2020. That is where I saw Darielis Riva's amazing performance as Abuela Claudia for the first time and decided to invite her to audition for the lead as Anastasia. She got the role. It was even more of a challenge to find someone to play the role of a mother because Wesleyan didn’t have a lot of women Latinx professors that would be willing to audition. My producers and I thought we could ask the Latinx workers on campus to audition for the role, but many of them were rightfullly wary of being in such close contact with students. Fortunately, we met Gloria who plays Anastasia's mother, and who was willing to work with us due to her past involvement with other student film thesis.

After we overcame the casting hurdle, we had to face the challenges of having limited options for sets, since we couldn’t shoot off campus. However, I worked with my amazing set dresser Genesis Garcia to make the set look as different and real as possible.

After we overcame these difficult hurdles imposed by the pandemic, the production process became more straightforward, and we were able to shoot this film.