Bring 'Dissonance' to Life: A 90s Feature Film Journey

Hey Everyone! I'm embarking on an incredible journey to produce my very first feature film called "Dissonance"! It's going to be a "period piece," if you will, set in the late 1990s about a 13-year-old black teen who is a "cool nerd" (not like Urkel lol) who's ready to take 7th grade by storm! But there's one problem - his own best friend has been avoiding him for most of the summer. When our cool nerd finally catches up to his BFF, he learns he's not only not cool, but apparently he's "not black enough" to hang out with anymore! Yikes!!

If you're interested in seeing where this story goes, and you're a fan of the roaring 90s, complete with "da bombs," swishy pants, flannel shirts, CD players, landline phones, and no social media in sight - this is for you! And yes, I grew up as a late 90s/early 2000s kid!

A little about me! I'm an independent, African-American female filmmaker who's always been just a little bit different!

I've always felt like an "out of place" black person, but I could never describe why or how that was. While I grew up in a family of black people, I was a minority amongst my peers from middle to high school and even college. When I did interact with other black people my age, I could tell there was a stark difference in how we acted, and people would point out my "proper, sweet valley girl speech" or they'd ask where I was from (even though I grew up in MD), or they'd comment on my being quiet, etc. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that I was acting against a stereotype and people weren't sure what to do with that. I know there are other black people (or even other persons of color) who have felt like an outlier because they didn't embody the norm, and it was probably incredibly difficult to make friends with people that looked like them. Aside from that, I know all of us have struggled at one point or another with fitting in due to personality differences, varying interests, traumatic experiences, and everything in between. While this film will feature an African-American boy, it's really a story for anyone with a differing human experience.

I'm crazy excited to make this film though because I'm ready to tell this story that has been buried in the back of my mind for decades (just 3 lol)! And I really want to add another diverse image and story to the big screen that I've struggled to find and see!

This film is a huge undertaking, but it feels like now is the time! We're going to start shooting in mid-July through September, but we're deep in pre-production now! We even secured a public middle school to shoot in, to make it as authentic as possible!

All funds will go to a professional crew with great gear, a talented cast, 90s style clothes/props/set dressing, meals, insurance, and post-production (editing, sound mixing, music composition, and color correction). We'll be as efficient as possible while making sure skilled crew members and actors/actresses get paid what they deserve!

Thank you so much for your support! I'll share updates on our progress along with behind-the-scenes photos as we bring this film to fruition!