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Help Xenia Get to Her 1st Major Film Fest!

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UPDATED: A FEW THINGS I’M BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND has been selected to be a part of the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival !! Out of more than 8000 SUBMISSIONS, 79 short films were chosen and mine was one of them!

Hi, I’m Xenia! I am now an award winning filmmaker and visual artist. This past year (2021) I graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a BFA in Film + Video. My thesis film won the top awards within my school like the Peter Rose Award, the Florence Whistler Fish Award and the Shannon D. Moore Award but I could've never imagined the ways this film would blossom in the coming months.

I now have this amazing opportunity to expand the audience of my film and speak to people who would’ve never encountered this work, this perspective, on their own. I have the chance to make important connections and represent my film and artistry at nationally renowned film festival. But I have to get there .

The Festival is held in Park City, Utah: one of the most expensive destinations in the United States. By fulfilling my new goal, I should be able to afford the trip in January.

All the funds raised prior to today (12/13/21) were used to purchase a laptop and other equipment used to create the film. Since I never reached my goal, I decided to relaunch the gofundme and change the title to match my current goal: getting to SLAMDANCE!

Why This Film Matters and Where It Has Gone

Synopsis: Surf the glittering channels of Xenia's mind in this highly saturated, musical spectacular where she and an old friend, Pearl, begin making sense of the issues between Xenia and her boyfriend, Keke.

This film is a true labor of love. Created in the isolation of the pandemic, Matthews uses fragmented form and innovative visuals to assess issues of anti-blackness through the intimate lens of young love.
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I think the moment I knew this film mattered was seeing how many people it affected. So many people told me that they had never seen these issues presented that way. After festivals, people would comment or come up to me saying my film made them cry both happy and sad tears.

This country loves violent, tragic narratives about racism, slavery, and police brutality but these narratives never center love and healing. That’s something that people found in my film.

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A few months after I graduated, my film got selected for the Black Femme Supremacy Film Festival  (Baltimore, MD)- a truly wonderful team welcomed my film with love and engaged with it honestly. They treated me like a filmmaker.

In the fall, A Few Things was selected for the Indie Memphis Film Festival in Memphis, TN and the Topaz Film Festival in Dallas, TX. I went to Memphis with my mom to meet the wonderful programmers and artists I had met on zoom a few weeks prior. This festival had great opportunities for black filmmakers including and online and in person Black Creator’s Forum that was as informative as it was fun. They also embraced my film with open arms and I won both the Jury and Audience awards in my category!

In November, I went to Houston for the Houston Cinema Arts Festival  and saw my film for the first time in person! My film stills were on the front page of the website and took up half a page in the program! Some new friends were so gracious to let me tag along with them and spend time in that beautiful city.

That leads us to now, December 2021. This month I am celebrating 2 selections: Slamdance (Park City, UT) and the Denton Black Film Festival (Denton, TX). Both will occur in January.

What the Funds Are For

These funds will be used for lodging at and transportation to the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City Utah. My film is scheduled for January 22nd and both lodging and plane tickets are disappearing rapidly! So please share this if you can’t donate.

What Your Support Means To Me

Your support has meant the world - from family and friends, to teachers, to classmates, to filmmakers, and even my mom’s coworkers - it means the world that you all have supported me this far. Like I said before, I went to school to make films and you all have helped me create something truly special.

This story is one that we’re familiar with, one that’s extremely relevant and until we get to a place in this country where anti-blackness doesn’t permeate all aspects of our society, we will need these stories. We need these stories not only to call out but to call in - to be introspective, to take care of ourselves as black people. And it would be everything if you would help me bring this story to more eyes, hearts, and minds.

Donations 

  • melissa ferrari
    • $40
    • 3 yrs
  • Kimberly Redman
    • $20
    • 3 yrs
  • Tony Nguyen
    • $25
    • 3 yrs
  • Daniel Laabs
    • $100
    • 3 yrs
  • Sara Renner
    • $20
    • 3 yrs

Organizer

Xenia Matthews
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA

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