Elephant: A Dark Comedy
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"Elephant!" is a dark comedy framed around the stigmas associated with mental health in youth, and black cultural assimilation. My team and I aim to shed light on two topics not so easily explored and quite frankly swept under the rug in many communities. Many people believe it is best to avoid publicizing mental illness as it is an internal battle that an individual should handle privately. Others hold tight to the notion that it’s the community’s responsibility to encourage those same individuals to speak openly, in hopes of de-stigmatizing mental illness.
The film begins with an eleven-year-old Black girl named Amara who enters a predominately white school halfway through the year. In an attempt to assimilate, Amara adopts a new name and creates an identity much different from her own. Along this journey Amara befriends an affluent, yet troubled, classmate named Holly. This encounter births a contrasting, yet parallel, relationship between the two. The death of their unity arises when Amara unknowingly reveals weighty information about Holly's mental health to their peers. Elephant!'s title derives from the popular expression, “the elephant in the room." While the title symbolizes Holly’s mental health, which becomes glaringly obvious to all, but goes unmentioned, the title also symbolizes Amara's blackness in a sea of white. Two Elephants with presence that cannot be ignored.
As a millennial and sibling to a Gen-Z, I believe we are more enlightened about mental illness, but we are not aware of the optics of talking about mental health. Thus, we put aside our needs for far too long until it becomes too destructive to not address. My hope is that "Elephant!" can spark conversation that aids in destigmatizing mental health disorders in youth. With this in mind, a feature length version of "Elephant!" is my top priority. I see this as an opportunity to push this weighty conversation in a more heartening direction.
While we are no strangers to micro-budget filmmaking, any & all funds will help us elevate our production value. In addition... receiving financial backing (of any sorts) helps leverage our ability to receive further investments. We hope that you can view Chinwe's past work in “Lovebites” and see a director with a clear vision and refined visual style that is capable of portrayal the widest range of human emotions in a short amount of time.
The filmmakers behind “Elephant!” strive to shift the narrative of mental health in children long past the short film! For nearly a year our team has dedicated an abundance of time, energy and our sparse financial gain to bring out the best in Elephant. Though our production team strives to quality in all that we do, without candid support it is nearly impossible for us to continue prospering through such unyielding times.
About the crew:
Chinwe Okorie (Writer & Director): Chinwe Okorie is a Nigerian-born writer, director, and editor in Austin, TX. At age six, she immigrated to the United States and watched her first film, Titanic. It was then that her love affair with cinema began. While in college, she made a huge splash by launching a student-run TV station. Named after the school’s mascot, Topper TV was honored with The Rising Star Award, and Study Breaks magazine featured Chinwe as their Next Big Thing in 2014. Last year, she edited her first feature film Ultimate World and has more projects such as Uncomfortable Woman, Stolen Plans and Access Granted slated for 2020. Chinwe’s recent short film titled Lovebites was selected to screen at the 2020 AFS shortcase. Currently the production company behind HBO’s Insecure is streaming Lovebites on Issa Rae’s YouTube channel.
Check out "LoveBites": https://youtu.be/0QaCrUHnz_8
Keirra Ewah (Producer): Keirra Ewah is a Nigerian-American creative producer based out of Austin, Texas. At age twelve Keirra took a trip to the movie theatre where she witnessed the magic of the motion picture, Slumdog Millionaire. This experience birthed her admiration for national and international film creation. In the early months of 2015 a team of six, including Keirra, poured their efforts into The Archer Hadley Story: a short documentary that aided the crew in winning seats at the 2015 White House Film Festival. Along with honorable mentions at events like the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and PBS NewsHour SRL. While only a sophomore in college, Keirra was the associate producer for a single feature-length film, three short length films and assisted in content curation for Tennessee State University’s partnering companies. Currently, Keirra is in the post-production phase for two short films geared towards West-African liberation.
Blake Nelson (Director of Photography): Blake Nelson is an accredited director of photography, operating out of Austin, TX. An alumnus of the University of Texas, at Austin, Blake joined the local film company, Arc and Light to continue cooking up magic. In the past, Chinwe and Blake have collaborated to construct alluring images presented in Lovebites. This piece of work would soon capture the attention of local and national film critics and even the attention of Issa Rae. Recently, Blake won the Audience Award at the Kodak 100 Feet of Film competition and premiered his film Spowiedź at the Atlanta Film Festival.
Ashley Guaragna (Casting Director): Owner and CEO of Ashley Guaragna Casting, Ashley’s passion for artistic expression through filmmaker collaboration has greatly aided independent filmmakers, like Chinwe, in delivering memorable cinematic shorts. From Sarah Byington’s Let Me Do Right to Marisela Campos’ Lupe, Ashley’s Master of Fine Arts background denotes the level of allegiance and loyalty to her craft. Her casting notices can be found on sites like: The Texas Film Commission, Actors Access and Backstage. Local indie filmmaker testimonials, on Ashley’s behalf, stand in to reinforce Ashley’s cultivating service and mission.
It's the season of giving, so we thank you for being an early supporter of emerging voices! Our team looks forward to one day sharing this story with you...
Words from the writer - "I drew inspiration from personal history to make “Elephant!”. In the sixth grade, I moved to a predominately white school and befriended a troubled girl. One day, the young girl tells me that she was having a bad day and wanted to end her life. The next day she didn't show up to class and I relayed this information to my teacher—panic ensued, and more teachers got involved. The conversation shifted when the troubled girl showed up to school and denied ever making a statement about ending her life. Because I had recently emigrated from Nigeria, my teacher believed that I didn’t understand what I was saying and had encouraged me to never repeat what I heard. Looking back, I can see now that my teacher was trying to protect the girl from what was assumed as unsubstantiated gossip. I realized much later in life that this moment had shaped how I viewed sensitive topics about myself and others as something that could be damaging to one’s image, rather than something that should be investigated if there was an inkling of truth." -Chinwe Okorie
The film begins with an eleven-year-old Black girl named Amara who enters a predominately white school halfway through the year. In an attempt to assimilate, Amara adopts a new name and creates an identity much different from her own. Along this journey Amara befriends an affluent, yet troubled, classmate named Holly. This encounter births a contrasting, yet parallel, relationship between the two. The death of their unity arises when Amara unknowingly reveals weighty information about Holly's mental health to their peers. Elephant!'s title derives from the popular expression, “the elephant in the room." While the title symbolizes Holly’s mental health, which becomes glaringly obvious to all, but goes unmentioned, the title also symbolizes Amara's blackness in a sea of white. Two Elephants with presence that cannot be ignored.
As a millennial and sibling to a Gen-Z, I believe we are more enlightened about mental illness, but we are not aware of the optics of talking about mental health. Thus, we put aside our needs for far too long until it becomes too destructive to not address. My hope is that "Elephant!" can spark conversation that aids in destigmatizing mental health disorders in youth. With this in mind, a feature length version of "Elephant!" is my top priority. I see this as an opportunity to push this weighty conversation in a more heartening direction.
While we are no strangers to micro-budget filmmaking, any & all funds will help us elevate our production value. In addition... receiving financial backing (of any sorts) helps leverage our ability to receive further investments. We hope that you can view Chinwe's past work in “Lovebites” and see a director with a clear vision and refined visual style that is capable of portrayal the widest range of human emotions in a short amount of time.
The filmmakers behind “Elephant!” strive to shift the narrative of mental health in children long past the short film! For nearly a year our team has dedicated an abundance of time, energy and our sparse financial gain to bring out the best in Elephant. Though our production team strives to quality in all that we do, without candid support it is nearly impossible for us to continue prospering through such unyielding times.
About the crew:
Chinwe Okorie (Writer & Director): Chinwe Okorie is a Nigerian-born writer, director, and editor in Austin, TX. At age six, she immigrated to the United States and watched her first film, Titanic. It was then that her love affair with cinema began. While in college, she made a huge splash by launching a student-run TV station. Named after the school’s mascot, Topper TV was honored with The Rising Star Award, and Study Breaks magazine featured Chinwe as their Next Big Thing in 2014. Last year, she edited her first feature film Ultimate World and has more projects such as Uncomfortable Woman, Stolen Plans and Access Granted slated for 2020. Chinwe’s recent short film titled Lovebites was selected to screen at the 2020 AFS shortcase. Currently the production company behind HBO’s Insecure is streaming Lovebites on Issa Rae’s YouTube channel.
Check out "LoveBites": https://youtu.be/0QaCrUHnz_8
Keirra Ewah (Producer): Keirra Ewah is a Nigerian-American creative producer based out of Austin, Texas. At age twelve Keirra took a trip to the movie theatre where she witnessed the magic of the motion picture, Slumdog Millionaire. This experience birthed her admiration for national and international film creation. In the early months of 2015 a team of six, including Keirra, poured their efforts into The Archer Hadley Story: a short documentary that aided the crew in winning seats at the 2015 White House Film Festival. Along with honorable mentions at events like the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and PBS NewsHour SRL. While only a sophomore in college, Keirra was the associate producer for a single feature-length film, three short length films and assisted in content curation for Tennessee State University’s partnering companies. Currently, Keirra is in the post-production phase for two short films geared towards West-African liberation.
Blake Nelson (Director of Photography): Blake Nelson is an accredited director of photography, operating out of Austin, TX. An alumnus of the University of Texas, at Austin, Blake joined the local film company, Arc and Light to continue cooking up magic. In the past, Chinwe and Blake have collaborated to construct alluring images presented in Lovebites. This piece of work would soon capture the attention of local and national film critics and even the attention of Issa Rae. Recently, Blake won the Audience Award at the Kodak 100 Feet of Film competition and premiered his film Spowiedź at the Atlanta Film Festival.
Ashley Guaragna (Casting Director): Owner and CEO of Ashley Guaragna Casting, Ashley’s passion for artistic expression through filmmaker collaboration has greatly aided independent filmmakers, like Chinwe, in delivering memorable cinematic shorts. From Sarah Byington’s Let Me Do Right to Marisela Campos’ Lupe, Ashley’s Master of Fine Arts background denotes the level of allegiance and loyalty to her craft. Her casting notices can be found on sites like: The Texas Film Commission, Actors Access and Backstage. Local indie filmmaker testimonials, on Ashley’s behalf, stand in to reinforce Ashley’s cultivating service and mission.
It's the season of giving, so we thank you for being an early supporter of emerging voices! Our team looks forward to one day sharing this story with you...
Words from the writer - "I drew inspiration from personal history to make “Elephant!”. In the sixth grade, I moved to a predominately white school and befriended a troubled girl. One day, the young girl tells me that she was having a bad day and wanted to end her life. The next day she didn't show up to class and I relayed this information to my teacher—panic ensued, and more teachers got involved. The conversation shifted when the troubled girl showed up to school and denied ever making a statement about ending her life. Because I had recently emigrated from Nigeria, my teacher believed that I didn’t understand what I was saying and had encouraged me to never repeat what I heard. Looking back, I can see now that my teacher was trying to protect the girl from what was assumed as unsubstantiated gossip. I realized much later in life that this moment had shaped how I viewed sensitive topics about myself and others as something that could be damaging to one’s image, rather than something that should be investigated if there was an inkling of truth." -Chinwe Okorie
Organizer
Keirra Ewah
Organizer
Leander, TX