Gwen is a quirky coming of age story about a black emo teen named Gwen Stewart who runs into trouble with her Jamaican parents when they find out she’s been hiding a condom in her room. Gwen’s mother, Marcia punishes Gwen by taking her to an abstinence meeting and forbidding her from going to prom. This forces Gwen to keep her boyfriend Riley a secret. The film takes place in a Canadian suburb in 2008.
This film aims to represent a different perspective of black teens that isn’t often shown in film and television. Furthermore, through the story this film uncovers the conversation about sexuality and individuality that are often hindered by gender biases and conservative mindsets.
Concept Artist: Vanessa Sandoval
We could seriously use your support! YES WE’RE TALKING TO YOU!
Have you ever been misunderstood, had awkward conversations with your child/parent, or was just different from what others wanted you to be?
This film is for everyone and anyone who believes in being different. With this film we want to represent alternative people of colour. Our main character Gwen is a black teenage girl and this films perspective on a different kind of blackness is refreshing. Even with a strong black female lead this story is definitely relatable to everyone.
Another reason to help is because it is extremely hard to be a black female filmmaker and thrive. A story like ours is very common yet almost nonexistent in film and television. THAT’S WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP! SO OUR VOICES CAN BE HEARD!!
So unleash your inner emo and bless us with a donation and you’ll receive some awesome rewards!
Drawing by Meagan Veneracion
As we mentioned before our team cannot make this film without your awesome donations but also eyeliner… LOTS OF IT and My Chemical Romance getting back together. Unfortunately My Chemical Romance will most likely never come back r.i.p </3 so we heavily depend on you!
Our goal of $4,000 would cover:
- All the lighting, sound, and camera equipment to make the short
- Transportation for cast, crew, and equipment to get from location to location
- Art & Wardrobe departments
- Renting out locations
- Craft to feed our hardworking cast and crew
Chart by Meagan Veneracion
Come on and meet the squad!
Our team is made up of an extremely talented and diverse group of film students from York University. We all share the common goal of embracing underrepresented stories and using our talents to show such stories on screen.
(Hiding in the trees) Haaris Qadri (Left to right) Alicia Hewitt, Bailey Johnson, Lemon Luo, Vanessa Sandoval
Photographer: Adam Van Boxmeer
Absent: Christian Anderson, Meagan Veneracion, Susan Le, Monica Thi, Rebecca Fadoju, Aida Pena, Tirath Sandhu, Boaz Allon, Samantha Hottman, Madeline Atkins, Mark Li
So maybe you don’t have money to give because you just saw Paramore in concert (we are jealous) well that’s a bummer but you can still help by liking our facebook page and following us on the gram and Twitter @gwenthefilm! Don’t forget to tell your friends too!
Now you might be saying “I don’t have twitter and I hate facebook because I have too many relatives on it!”
Fear not beloved because we also have a tumblr account to bring back the nostalgia! @gw3n2008.
We are also in need of furniture for our set. This includes:
- Sofas
- Lamps
- Dining chairs
- Rugs
- Paintings
- Book Shelves
If you have anything you can’t wait to get rid of please email us at gwenthefilm2018@gmail.com