Support a Student Short Film: "When We Are Older."

“When We Are Older” is a short film that explores the common ties between girlhood and womanhood as seen through female friendships. The film follows a young group of girls at a sleepover dipping their toes into adulthood and a group of friends in their 20s getting ready for a night out.

Director's Note

Hi, my name is Diana Soukup, and I am entering my senior year of film school at DePaul University. When I first came to DePaul, I started in the directing concentration. However, I quickly switched to producing after feeling intimidated by everyone's abilities around me. Although I love producing and am pursuing it, I have always wanted to direct my own film. Three years later, I met incredible people at DePaul who encouraged me to pursue this dream.

This film is very special to me for many reasons. It tells the story of girlhood and womanhood. My roommates and I have spent countless hours discussing our childhood experiences. We quickly bonded over shared experiences that we thought were unique to each of us. We found similarities in our sleepovers, first-time drinking, how we interacted with boys in middle school and much more. I had never felt so close to people who understood me so well. My talented roommate, Marie, decided to turn these conversations into a script. This film is a tribute to the invisible bonds that connect women.

This film is important not only because it originated from conversations with my best friends but also because it holds personal significance for me. I only truly realized the importance of being a woman and its effects on my identity when I entered a predominantly male space. Film school can sometimes be challenging, with many more obstacles to overcome simply because of being a girl. Earlier this year, I felt discouraged by this, but it was my roommates who helped me out of that negative mindset. Now, empowered by everyone around me, I am making a purely girly film. It's nothing extravagant, just something so girly that I am proud to fully embrace and call my own.

Writer's Note

Hi, my name is Marie Purich, and I am a film and television student in my senior year of film school at DePaul University. I began my career at DePaul as a screenwriting major and slowly learned that I wanted to focus more on the producing side of all things film and TV. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I finally switched my concentration to show running to focus on a path in television writing and production.

Writing this film has become something very personal and therapeutic for me. Growing up in a family of 4 girls and with a mother who had 6 sisters, I found the concept of girlhood very near and dear to my heart. I love this film so much for a lot of different reasons. The narrative delves into the themes of girlhood and womanhood, a subject that profoundly connects with my own experiences and the relationships I've forged with my friends and sisters. Our early years, particularly our girlhood, are a subject we frequently bring up. These wonderful women and I have become closer through discussions about growing up and shared experiences as girls. The film aims to honor the common experiences that bind women together and pays tribute to the unseen threads that bind us. Through my writing, I have tried to portray the female experience as authentic as possible to highlight the connection between womanhood and girlhood.

This project has great personal significance for me because it was inspired by many real-life experiences between my best friends and me. Being a woman has impacted me in so many ways, and coming into myself as a young woman has allowed me to fully embrace womanhood. However, every day brings a new challenge and a new lesson. Film school has been difficult, and being a girl has offered many of its own set of hurdles. These lessons have shown me a path that has allowed me to connect with others in my field and with my older sisters and friends. Their friendship and support gave me the confidence to completely embrace who I am.

Having these experiences and coming into myself as a woman, I can now write an unashamed feminine film. Our film is a celebration of girlhood that I'm happy to have any part of and express through my writing. This film is a monument to the beauty and power of female relationships, the common experiences that mold us into who we are, and how our past may influence our future and the future girls that may come after us. It is an ode to women and the shared experience of being a girl, just a girl.