An early still from our proof-of-concept shoot.
Artwork: Heldáy de la Cruz
Noelia (working title)
Genre: Drama with genre elements
Written and directed by Dawn Jones Redstone
Producer by Tara Johnson-Medinger and Ashley Mellinger
Director of photography: Sean Conley
Starring newcomer and single mother, Ana del Rocío
Logline
Just as the ringing in her ear mysteriously begins to flare up, a bold, single mother of two sets out to make it to a last-minute job interview and follow her dreams of a career in politics.
Description
Noelia is a whip-smart community organizer and Latinx, single mom who secretly struggles to get by. She pretends to be able to do it all, but she can’t find adequate childcare, her boss won't cut her a break and her stress-induced tinnitus is getting worse. Despite her ambition to run for office some day, she constantly has to choose her family over her career. One day she visits a curandera to try to get relief from the tinnitus. The healer tells her that her ancestors are trying to tell her something. She must listen closely and watch for the signs. Noelia dismisses the curandera’s advice.
Later, when her boss tells her she’s losing her job, she’s serendipitously invited to interview for a position with a newly-elected politician, but there's one catch: it's the next day and she'll have to find last-minute childcare. As her tinnitus grows stronger and she begins to sense that something bigger is at play. She sets out to find care for her kids so she can make it to the interview and fulfill her dreams.
A young woman with an incredible political will who is also a single mother of two sets out to make it to a job interview. This was the original premise of the fictional feature film, Noelia, inspired by collaborator and star Ana del Rocío’s experiences.
As the story evolved, I became interested in the concept of transgenerational trauma, a science-backed phenomenon where trauma experienced by one generation is passed down to another. In this hyper-political moment, we are seeing the inevitable result of centuries of racial injustice carried out against generations of BIPOC people. We carry this trauma that pushes us to overcome and address the wrongs of the past whether its by pushing for change in the streets or in public office. Although the concept of transgenerational trauma is focused on how we've been hurt, I'm also interested in how we are helped. How is it our bodies might carry the benefits of generations of strength and wisdom? How is that our ancestors might also transmit messages of resilience and strength to help us move forward? So while the story reveals and examines the realities of being a single mother of two, the film goes beyond the day to day struggle to explore how perhaps the experience of our ancestors in the past may come to bear in one woman's fight for her future and ours.
Progress to Date
The project has received small grants from Regional Arts and Culture Council as well as the Portland Art Museum/Northwest Film Center. A proof of concept has been shot and is currently in post-production.
Team
Dawn Jones Redstone, Writer/Director
Dawn is an award-winning queer, Latinx writer/director whose short films (like Sista in the Brotherhood) have screened around the globe. Her work features women of color and explores themes of resistance, feminism and the internal machinations that help us transform into the people we want to become. She’s the recipient of MRG Foundation’s Lilla Jewel Artist Award and was named a Woman of Vision by Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce. She’s been awarded four grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council in Oregon and in 2017, she was selected to shadow director Debra Granik on the set of Leave No Trace through the 5to50 program. She believes in using her hiring decisions to lift people up and help create a filmmaking community that better reflects our world. Learn more here.
Tara Johnson-Medinger, Producer
Tara Johnson-Medinger is an American film director, producer and champion of gender equality in the entertainment industry. Co-producer of the award-winning, music documentary The Winding Stream and feature film City Baby, her feature film directorial debut My Summer as a Goth will be released theatrically in 2020. An advocate for women in film, Johnson-Medinger honors groundbreaking female and non-binary filmmakers as Executive Director of the international Power of Women in Film Festival (POW Film Fest), while developing the next generation of media makers through the youth education forum she founded, POWGirls. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.
Ashley Mellinger, Producer
Ashley Mellinger is a mixed-race actor and producer whose work amplifies marginalized voices and helps contribute to more equitable filmmaking. She co-founded Desert Island Studios to create greater access to film resources within the creative community. After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and acting professionally for a decade, Ashley began producing. She has since worked on a feature, five short films, four commercials, and countless music videos in the span of three years. In 2018, she acted in a film directed by Dawn Jones Redstone at Hearts+Sparks Productions. Their first project together was the award-winning short film Magnificent. Ashley’s first feature as a producer was a Spanish-language movie shot on 16mm film. It premiered at Portland International Film Festival in 2020.
Sean Conley, Director of Photography
Sean Conley is a Director of Photography based in Portland, Oregon. At the age of 17, Sean picked up his Dad’s 35mm film camera and fell in love with photography and the ability to capture a moment in time. This informed his transition into cinematography where he shot skate videos for friends and eventually short films, music videos, commercials and narrative & documentary features. His work has screened around the globe and has dropped him into a wide variety of shooting conditions. His clients include Netflix, A24, Nike, and Adidas and his work has screened in Europe, Korea and the United States. Sean loves collaborating with directors to tell visually meaningful stories and is committed to being an ally for underrepresented voices in the industry. He is a member of the Oregon Media Production Association, the Freelancers Union and is on the Board of the Couch Film Collective.
Genre: Drama with genre elements
Written and directed by Dawn Jones Redstone
Producer by Tara Johnson-Medinger and Ashley Mellinger
Director of photography: Sean Conley
Starring newcomer and single mother, Ana del Rocío
Logline
Just as the ringing in her ear mysteriously begins to flare up, a bold, single mother of two sets out to make it to a last-minute job interview and follow her dreams of a career in politics.
Description
Noelia is a whip-smart community organizer and Latinx, single mom who secretly struggles to get by. She pretends to be able to do it all, but she can’t find adequate childcare, her boss won't cut her a break and her stress-induced tinnitus is getting worse. Despite her ambition to run for office some day, she constantly has to choose her family over her career. One day she visits a curandera to try to get relief from the tinnitus. The healer tells her that her ancestors are trying to tell her something. She must listen closely and watch for the signs. Noelia dismisses the curandera’s advice.
Later, when her boss tells her she’s losing her job, she’s serendipitously invited to interview for a position with a newly-elected politician, but there's one catch: it's the next day and she'll have to find last-minute childcare. As her tinnitus grows stronger and she begins to sense that something bigger is at play. She sets out to find care for her kids so she can make it to the interview and fulfill her dreams.
A young woman with an incredible political will who is also a single mother of two sets out to make it to a job interview. This was the original premise of the fictional feature film, Noelia, inspired by collaborator and star Ana del Rocío’s experiences.
As the story evolved, I became interested in the concept of transgenerational trauma, a science-backed phenomenon where trauma experienced by one generation is passed down to another. In this hyper-political moment, we are seeing the inevitable result of centuries of racial injustice carried out against generations of BIPOC people. We carry this trauma that pushes us to overcome and address the wrongs of the past whether its by pushing for change in the streets or in public office. Although the concept of transgenerational trauma is focused on how we've been hurt, I'm also interested in how we are helped. How is it our bodies might carry the benefits of generations of strength and wisdom? How is that our ancestors might also transmit messages of resilience and strength to help us move forward? So while the story reveals and examines the realities of being a single mother of two, the film goes beyond the day to day struggle to explore how perhaps the experience of our ancestors in the past may come to bear in one woman's fight for her future and ours.
Progress to Date
The project has received small grants from Regional Arts and Culture Council as well as the Portland Art Museum/Northwest Film Center. A proof of concept has been shot and is currently in post-production.
Team
Dawn Jones Redstone, Writer/Director
Dawn is an award-winning queer, Latinx writer/director whose short films (like Sista in the Brotherhood) have screened around the globe. Her work features women of color and explores themes of resistance, feminism and the internal machinations that help us transform into the people we want to become. She’s the recipient of MRG Foundation’s Lilla Jewel Artist Award and was named a Woman of Vision by Oregon Daily Journal of Commerce. She’s been awarded four grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council in Oregon and in 2017, she was selected to shadow director Debra Granik on the set of Leave No Trace through the 5to50 program. She believes in using her hiring decisions to lift people up and help create a filmmaking community that better reflects our world. Learn more here.
Tara Johnson-Medinger, Producer
Tara Johnson-Medinger is an American film director, producer and champion of gender equality in the entertainment industry. Co-producer of the award-winning, music documentary The Winding Stream and feature film City Baby, her feature film directorial debut My Summer as a Goth will be released theatrically in 2020. An advocate for women in film, Johnson-Medinger honors groundbreaking female and non-binary filmmakers as Executive Director of the international Power of Women in Film Festival (POW Film Fest), while developing the next generation of media makers through the youth education forum she founded, POWGirls. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.
Ashley Mellinger, Producer
Ashley Mellinger is a mixed-race actor and producer whose work amplifies marginalized voices and helps contribute to more equitable filmmaking. She co-founded Desert Island Studios to create greater access to film resources within the creative community. After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and acting professionally for a decade, Ashley began producing. She has since worked on a feature, five short films, four commercials, and countless music videos in the span of three years. In 2018, she acted in a film directed by Dawn Jones Redstone at Hearts+Sparks Productions. Their first project together was the award-winning short film Magnificent. Ashley’s first feature as a producer was a Spanish-language movie shot on 16mm film. It premiered at Portland International Film Festival in 2020.
Sean Conley, Director of Photography
Sean Conley is a Director of Photography based in Portland, Oregon. At the age of 17, Sean picked up his Dad’s 35mm film camera and fell in love with photography and the ability to capture a moment in time. This informed his transition into cinematography where he shot skate videos for friends and eventually short films, music videos, commercials and narrative & documentary features. His work has screened around the globe and has dropped him into a wide variety of shooting conditions. His clients include Netflix, A24, Nike, and Adidas and his work has screened in Europe, Korea and the United States. Sean loves collaborating with directors to tell visually meaningful stories and is committed to being an ally for underrepresented voices in the industry. He is a member of the Oregon Media Production Association, the Freelancers Union and is on the Board of the Couch Film Collective.
