Although the arts industries pride themselves on being creatively enlightened, the #MeToo movement has shown they are hardly “safe” workplaces for women (or any other marginalized group). As such, our VOD and web series picks for this month all concern the specific struggles of being a woman trying to make a living in the arts.
In Joyce Wu’s feature film “She Lights Up Well,” an actress has difficulty being cast in New York, so she goes back home to Detroit, temporarily, to make some money. There, she finally finds hope by pursuing her own theatrical project.
“Barely Adults,” our web series pick for the month, mines comedy from a balancing act many young people face when they enter the workforce: succeeding in a tough corporate environment while maintaining their own personal ambitions.
Our final pick, “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow” takes on a darker tone. Sunday Emerson Gullifer’s short is a drama that depicts the dynamic between an actress and her abusive director. The project also explores our culture’s habit of canonizing texts with insidious, sexist messages.
Here are our web series and VOD selections for the month of August.
Web Series
“Barely Adults” – Written and Directed by Christine Sanders
Recent college graduate Paige Anderson (Amber Avant) is burdened with student loans and is painfully underemployed. She struggles to find work with her degree in film, but luckily scores a coveted gig working as an assistant to high-powered television producer Kendra Hawthorne (Bahiyah Hibah). However, the job is no cakewalk — Paige must manage Kendra’s ridiculous demands while juggling her personal life, all the while navigating the varied personalities in her office. Meanwhile, Paige’s best friend Vanessa Rodriguez (Thalia Romina) is having difficulties dealing with her overbearing family as well as her long-term boyfriend. Together, Paige and Vanessa must work through the anxieties of being post-recession millennials in New York City.
Writer-director Christine Sanders drew many of the moments in “Barely Adults” from her own life. “You go to college, you get out [and] you’re a little naive about how things work,” she said in an interview. “Sometimes that’s compounded when you’re a young woman of color and you’re by yourself and no one else looks like you. Like, ‘How do I navigate this? Who can be trusted? Who can’t?’” Though Sanders has noted that the web series’ target audience is women of color, ages 21-34, “Barely Adults” is instantly appealing to WOC at any stage in their careers because it captures the universal nuances of being lost in intimidating work environments.
You can watch all of the episodes of “Barely Adults” on the series’ website.
VOD
“She Lights Up Well” – Written and Directed by Joyce Wu
In “She Lights Up Well,” struggling NYC actress Sophie Chang (writer-director Joyce Wu) decides to temporarily move back home to Detroit to save up some money. When dropping her grandmother off for her rehearsals of “The Mikado” at the community theater, Sophie becomes acquainted with the various members of the lively local theater troupe. When the show’s director steps down, Sophie, swayed by the presence of her old high school crush, decides to take charge. In doing so, Sophie brings together not only her community, but three generations of her own family.
Wu combines the struggles of being an Asian woman in performance with the anxieties of losing your way and running out of steam in your job. By going home, Sophie learns how her passion for acting came to be, and receives exactly the jumpstart she needed to keep going in her career.
“She Lights Up Well” is available to buy or rent on iTunes.
“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” (Short) – Written and Directed by Sunday Emerson Gullifer
Writer and director Sunday Emerson Gullifer has remarked that her short film was “born of love and anger.” This sentiment is made completely apparent upon watching the short, entitled “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.”
When actress Lizzie (Matilda Ridgway) is cast in a production of “Macbeth,” its director makes her instantly wary. Though a highly celebrated auteur, his methods are overly combative and abusive toward the cast. Slowly but surely, his behaviors begin to bleed into his directing techniques, as the already violent play becomes more and more physical and aggressive. On opening night, Lizzie is forced to take drastic measures to regain control of not only the narrative of her character, Lady Macduff, but her own trajectory as an actress.
In under 30 minutes, the short challenges the violence that exists in canonized materials like Shakespeare’s plays, and how women are conditioned to accept acts of terror in their daily lives. Indeed, it is not difficult to make connections between the short and the real-life consequences of abuses and gendered violence within art and artistic productions. “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow” is, therefore, a must-watch for anyone who is invested in the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” is available to watch on Vimeo.
