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 | HOLY WEEK
| East Coast Premiere |
| Cast: | Blue Smiley | | Crew: | Producers: Emily Rappaport, Chase Niesner - Screenwriters: Charlotte Istel
| | Email: | charlotteistel gmail.com |
synopsis
A lot can happen in a dayâ€"especially the day Jesus died. Between fantasizing about Pastor Ellen, getting her braces off, fighting over an Easter ham, and making out with a girl in the organ loft, fourteen-year-old Ingrid spends Good Friday wandering Brooklyn, contemplating her sexual and spiritual identity.
director
Charlotte Istel has previously written and directed two short narrative films, CLOT and MICKY, both accepted into various film festivals including the Boston LGBT Film Festival and the LA Independent Film Festival. Charlotte was a finalist for the 2016 Sundance YouTube New Voices Lab, as well as a finalist for the 2017 Sundance Episodic Storytelling Lab. Since graduating from Oberlin College in 2014, Charlotte has worked as a Production Assistant on various TV series and feature films including seasons 3 and 4 of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, HAPPYISH, 6 BALLOONS, and I LOVE DICK. Most recently Charlotte worked as Executive Producer's Assistant for Reza Aslan's series BELIEVER. Charlotte was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and currently resides in Los Angeles.
filmmaker's note
HOLY WEEK is a coming of age story that examines the nature of a millennial religious community, unpacks the conventions of the heteronormative family narrative, and explores the anxiety of growing from girlhood into womanhood.
I was that young (unknowingly) queer girl who grew up in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, and attended a radically progressive Methodist church whose creed was deeply rooted in social justice and providing a welcoming place of worship for all. Often American Christian communities are generalized in the media as cockamamie conservatives. I want to narrow in on a specific religious community that defies social stereotypes and allows a diverse and multicultural congregation to unite under one faith.
I hope to offer a different interpretation of the “coming out” experience (How can one “come into oneself” if one is also “coming out?”) and explore a more layered, intersectional understanding of what sexuality means for different people. I want to explore the intersection of spirituality and sexuality from two women’s viewpoints—a grieving widow and her 14-year-old daughter.
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