UrbanWorld Film Festival 2018 - Casey
A teenager with gender dysphoria witnesses the physical assault of a transgender woman.
Interview with Writer/Director Shanrica Evans
Watch Casey here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you. I made this film to examine what it’s like to struggle with your gender identity while living in an environment that is hostile towards your identity.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
If you’re an audience member, you should watch this film to feel the anxiety of what it’s like to be someone whose gender or sexual identity isn’t accepted in their environment.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
When I was in high school, I watched two of my peers physically assault a classmate. My bold, fearless classmate tried to take on the two aggressive boys, but they were too much for her to handle. I was too afraid that the boys would target their aggression at me if I interjected. The girl that they attacked was named Brittany. Before my junior year of high school, Brittany’s name was Brandon. When Brittany came to school at the beginning of junior year and announced that she was trans she was isolated, judged, ridiculed, and frequently experienced violence from our peers.
Brittany dropped out of school halfway through our junior year. When I returned home during my sophomore year of college I asked a mutual friend about Brittany. He told me Brittany was killed by a guy that she was dating. It’s been years since Brittany’s murder and I’m still trying to process her death and why she was killed.
This short film is about Brittany and all of the other people that are killed because of who they are. I want to use this short film to question how gender and sexual identities exist in the African-American community.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I ended up shooting the film before I finished the script. I wrote a rough draft of the script which I used for the casting process and thought, “oh I’ll go back and work on it later” and before I knew it, it was time to shoot the film. Because I was still working on the script I took away my protagonist’s dialogue, and I thought I’d write it later but when shooting came around, and I worked with the actress I enjoyed her quiet performance, so I decided to make the character mute. I’d also written the story with the transgender woman that is still alive, but while shooting, I decided to have the actresses play it different ways and found something painfully solemn about Casey (the protagonist) seeing a trans person for the first time and that person is dead.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I've received a wide variety of feedback, most of which revolves around my decision to keep Casey mute and the pain in silence. Something that stuck with me was when someone called the project a, "portrait of pain." Most people ask me if it’s a proof of concept or it's a short that belongs to a feature-length project which I find interesting.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I've received a lot of feedback about making the film longer which never occurred to me before I started showing it to people. The questions about a longer version of the film made me look at the story differently and more broadly.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I hope to open the project up to a broader audience. As a filmmaker you just want people to see your stuff so sites like wearemovingstories.com helping to let people know this thing exists are really important.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
This film accidentally became a proof of concept, and I ended writing a feature-length film of the project, so if producers would like to come on board or if film festival directors and journalists want to help garner more attention for the project that would be dope.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I’d just like to have people have a 6-minute experience of someone’s life.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I suppose the key question is: how does our environment and society, in general, inform who we are and how does it impact or prevent us from living life in our most authentic form.
Would you like to add anything else?
The film is currently streaming on Seed and Spark so feel free to check it out there https://www.seedandspark.com/watch/casey.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I’m currently developing a feature-length version of the project as well as a series of character-driven short films.
Interview: September 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Casey
A teenager with gender dysphoria witnesses the physical assault of a transgender woman.
Length: 6 minutes
Director: Shanrica Evans
Writer: Shanrica Evans
About the writer, director and producer:
SHANRICA EVANS is a writer/director based in Los Angeles. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Key cast: Mikki Hernandez, Antwone Barnes, Hubert Escarpeta
Looking for: Producers, Distributors, Film Festival Directors, Journalists.
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
The project is currently streaming on Seed and Spark at https://www.seedandspark.com/watch/casey