About "Reflection", an AWE Short Film

Welcome to our fundraising page for the CSUN Alliance for Women in Entertainment Short Film, Reflection!

The Story

Mia and her Mom get along just fine, until they don’t see eye to eye. One day while driving, Mia desperately wants to come out to her mom in advance of her and her girlfriend’s anniversary. However, the conversation turns sour and Mia decides not to. Her mental health begins to deteriorate - creating an inner turmoil that alters her own reflection mirrors.

Later that night, Mia and her “friend” Jordan have a movie marathon. While Jordan and Mia’s mom get along well, Mia knows her mom truly dislikes Jordan’s homosexual lifestyle. This continues to create tension, as Jordan believes that Mia’s mom will come to understand Mia’s sexuality in time. Mia doesn’t quite agree with her girlfriend, leading her to have an emotional breakdown and her reflection to fracture even more. As the night progresses, this reflection breaks away from Mia entirely and has its own goal in mind: to kill Mia’s mom.

The Inspiration for "Reflection"

Tessa Nelson, our writer, describes:

"As a long time fan of the horror genre, I’ve noticed certain groups have been left out of the narrative. The 2000s horror movies I grew up with often used poc and lgbt characters as the butt of jokes, or they’d be killed off instantly. This was such a common occurrence that it became a trope of the genre, and it has become a frustration of mine in recent years that I long to fix. You can be a fan of something while also criticizing it at the same time. As a creator of horror content, I want to actively include voices of marginalized groups in the storytelling. I want people to not only see themselves as the heroes of these films, but also the villains because that can be just as impactful to some. Reflection is the culmination of me trying to include lgbt characters in a genre that I love so dearly but they’ve previously been barred from."

Where your contributions will go

This film would not be possible without your generous donations! The money you contribute to this film will be used in all stages of productions including:

• Preproduction (Casting Director, transportation, fundraising materials, etc.)
• Production (locations, film permits, insurance, parking, Stunt Coordinator etc.)
• Camera (camera rental, lenses, lighting, grip packages, etc.)
• Art (production design, set dressing, costumes, hair and makeup, etc.)
• Sound (microphones, sound cart, slate, etc.)
• Food (catering and craft services)
• Post Production (hard drives, transcoding, color correction, etc.)
• COVID (PPE, cleaning supplies, masks and face Shields, COVID testing, etc.)
• & More!

Contributions to Reflection are 100% Tax Deductible! The California State University, Northridge Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) public benefit California corporation. 

Our Crew!

Lidia Beck: Producer

Aislinn DeButch: Producer

Tessa Nelson: Writer

Athena Rethis: Associate Producer

Diana Gomez: Line Producer

Our Challenges

As the first AWE film, our biggest challenge is producing this entire film all on our own as students and dealing with the COVID pandemic restrictions. As an all-female produced film, the challenge of not being taken as seriously has driven us to perfectionism for this film, which means working on it to the best of our ability. Between all these challenges, the pressure of being the first team producing a film for future AWE projects is a challenge as well. But this is what AWE is about. It’s about allowing women to take full control and power over every aspect of their projects without men dominating over them. This is why our team is taking these challenges and working to overcome them.

Contact Us!

Instagram

Email: reflectionawefilm@gmail.com

Thank you for your support

We would like to thank you for taking interest in our project and reading our page! We look forward to sharing our filmmaking with journey with you as we strive to make this film a reality.

Thank you,

The Crew of Reflection