In the cells of your body are the songs of your ancestors.
-Joan Henry
-Joan Henry
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, 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.
SYNOPSIS
Noelia is a whip-smart community organizer and single mother of two 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 the ringing in her ear is getting worse. Despite her ambition to run for office someday, 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 believes that her ancestors are trying to tell her something and that Noelia must listen closely and watch for the signs.
Later, when Noelia’s boss tells her she’s losing her job, she gets invited to interview for a position that could change the course of her career, but there's one catch: it's the next day and she'll have to find last-minute childcare. As she sets out to find care for her kids, the ringing begins to morph into strange sights and sounds. Noelia senses that something bigger is at play as she works through a series of obstacles to try to make it to the interview and follow her dreams.
THE PROOF OF CONCEPT
In this scene from the proof of concept, Noelia is on her way to drop off one of her sons so she can head to her interview when she gets a call.
Noelia is a whip-smart community organizer and single mother of two 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 the ringing in her ear is getting worse. Despite her ambition to run for office someday, 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 believes that her ancestors are trying to tell her something and that Noelia must listen closely and watch for the signs.
Later, when Noelia’s boss tells her she’s losing her job, she gets invited to interview for a position that could change the course of her career, but there's one catch: it's the next day and she'll have to find last-minute childcare. As she sets out to find care for her kids, the ringing begins to morph into strange sights and sounds. Noelia senses that something bigger is at play as she works through a series of obstacles to try to make it to the interview and follow her dreams.
THE PROOF OF CONCEPT
In this scene from the proof of concept, Noelia is on her way to drop off one of her sons so she can head to her interview when she gets a call.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
For the past 6 years, I have made a series of narrative short films that have won awards and screened around the world. My work often features women of color wrapped in themes of feminism, resistance and social justice. And I’m obsessed with the moments where we unlock an inner truth and it leads us to move forward and grow as humans.
I am now preparing to make a feature film. Similar to previous work, the subject matter connects with a social issue: childcare. But the project is a leap for me in scope as well as visual style. While past work has been almost documentary like, this film will be much more of a visual and aural experience using color and sounds to convey Noelia’s interaction with a manifestation of her ancestors.
The film is largely about single motherhood and access to childcare. In Oregon, 31% of children live in single-parent households. While single motherhood is revered by some and stigmatized by many, the reality is that single mothers face unjust, systematic hurdles that are too often ignored. Single working mothers are about twice as likely to be poor than single working fathers, even when they work full-time. In a state with one of the shortest school years, and among the most expensive childcare nationwide, single mothers are often forced to make impossible choices on a regular basis. Through this film, we aim to show that single mothers are fierce problem-solvers whose daily logistical challenges are made worse by societal barriers like lack of affordable healthcare, stigmatization and low wages. Noelia illuminates this struggle while also showing exactly what's at stake when single mothers are kept from realizing their potential.
The other prominent theme that appears in the film is transgenerational trauma, a science-backed phenomenon when trauma experienced by one generation is passed down to another. In this hyper-political moment, we are seeing the inevitable result of centuries of 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 it’s 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 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 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.
Ultimately, the film combines social realism with thriller elements as it examines single motherhood and the importance of the current moment as we strive to correct the wrongs of the past. This is a film about right now.
For the past 6 years, I have made a series of narrative short films that have won awards and screened around the world. My work often features women of color wrapped in themes of feminism, resistance and social justice. And I’m obsessed with the moments where we unlock an inner truth and it leads us to move forward and grow as humans.
I am now preparing to make a feature film. Similar to previous work, the subject matter connects with a social issue: childcare. But the project is a leap for me in scope as well as visual style. While past work has been almost documentary like, this film will be much more of a visual and aural experience using color and sounds to convey Noelia’s interaction with a manifestation of her ancestors.
The film is largely about single motherhood and access to childcare. In Oregon, 31% of children live in single-parent households. While single motherhood is revered by some and stigmatized by many, the reality is that single mothers face unjust, systematic hurdles that are too often ignored. Single working mothers are about twice as likely to be poor than single working fathers, even when they work full-time. In a state with one of the shortest school years, and among the most expensive childcare nationwide, single mothers are often forced to make impossible choices on a regular basis. Through this film, we aim to show that single mothers are fierce problem-solvers whose daily logistical challenges are made worse by societal barriers like lack of affordable healthcare, stigmatization and low wages. Noelia illuminates this struggle while also showing exactly what's at stake when single mothers are kept from realizing their potential.
The other prominent theme that appears in the film is transgenerational trauma, a science-backed phenomenon when trauma experienced by one generation is passed down to another. In this hyper-political moment, we are seeing the inevitable result of centuries of 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 it’s 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 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 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.
Ultimately, the film combines social realism with thriller elements as it examines single motherhood and the importance of the current moment as we strive to correct the wrongs of the past. This is a film about right now.
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. We have fiscal sponsorship. We are finalizing the above proof of concept and preparing for a crowdfunding campaign in April. We hope to film this summer!
TEAM
Dawn Jones Redstone, Writer/Director
Dawn (she/her) is an award-winning queer, Mexican-American 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.
Ana del Rocío, Lead Actor
Ana del Rocío (she/hers) is a community organizer and nonprofit executive director who helps increase the representation of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color in public office. Before stepping into her current role, Ana spent ten years in the public sector as a teacher, policy and research director, and chief of staff to Oregon's first Latina state representative. After a successful career working behind-the-scenes to improve the way government serves its people, Ana now helps government look more like the people it serves. Ana enjoys trying new foods, live music of all kinds, and managing her small team of organizers-in-training: Tupac, age 7; and Inti, age 4. She has previously acted in the short film We Have Our Ways. Noelia will be her feature film debut.
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, Production Coordinator
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--experience that has given him 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.
Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba, Composer/Musician
Y La Bamba has been many things, but at the heart of it is singer-songwriter Luz Elena Mendoza’s inquisitive sense of self. Their fifth record, Mujeres, carries on the Portland-based band’s affinity for spiritual contemplation, but goes a step further in telling a story with a full emotional spectrum. Coming off Ojos Del Sol, one of NPR’s Top 50 Albums of 2016, Mujeres exhibits the scope of Mendoza’s artistic voice like never before. “Music is an extension of everything I have inside. It’s how I emote,” Mendoza says.
Kenya Juarez, Communications Strategist
Kenya (she / her) grew up in Woodburn, Oregon with her first-generation Mexican immigrant family. She is a communications professional with experience in ballot measures, legislation, digital campaigns, and fundraising. Kenya believes in her own voice—and using it to pursue
social justice. She is committed to pursuing messages that empower and elevate people of all walks of life. Outside of work, Kenya spends her time at concerts (before COVID) and loves cheering on the Portland Trail Blazers.
Additional Team Members:
James Jones, Editor. Jasmine Vazquez, Colorist. Rachel Saldivar, Sound Recordist.
