Pink & Blue
Virtual Q&A for the Avant-garde, Bold & Cute! program: 9/22 (Thu) 8PM EDT
Virtual streaming available in the U.S. from 9/16 12:00 AM EDT - 9/29 11:59 PM EDT.
Not sure what tickets/passes to get? Check our Festival Pass page.
Description
Dir. by Carmen LoBue
USA | 2021 | Romance, Drama, Family | 13 min
Lenapehoking (Brooklyn). Present day. Crea Madden (Kaydx), a Genderfluid freelance artist and their partner of four years Armani Cruz (Jojo Brown), a Trans Femme accountant and extreme planner, are gripped with fear when they find themselves unexpectedly pregnant. In the heat of the moment, they choose to raise their child gender-free but as Crea’s belly grows, cracks in their relationship appear. A fight ensues about how to raise their child outside the gender binary and which color items their child should have. Is it too late for Crea and Armani to restore the tenderness in their relationship and find the common ground they need to raise their child together?
Director's Bio
Carmen LoBue (they/them) is a Queer Non-Binary Afro-Pilipinx American filmmaker with a passion for social activism that is expressed through their work as a creator. Carmen’s early recognition includes Paper Magazine's "Paper Predictions: 100 people taking over 2019" and the Tribeca Disruptor Foundation (Craig Hatkoff) and The Legacy Lab’s 2018 New Legacy Maker Honoree. LoBue directed Season One of the dramedy web series Cheer Up Charlie (Hollyshorts, Urbanworld Film Festival ‘19 and more). Their work on Cheer Up Charlie also earned them a nomination for Best Director at TOWEBFEST in 2019. Carmen took on all roles for the sci-fi short film O, Ryan Executive Produced by Jennifer Esposito (A Rebellious Act). Upcoming film O, Ryan is a queer dystopian psychological thriller addressing the opioid epidemic and Black mental health in America. Most recently, they directed on Hulu's Initiative 29 “Your Attention Please: Tao Leigh Goffe” streaming now.
Director's Statement
"This film is important because it provides us with an intimate look at conscious parenting through the lens of a Trans couple. It is beautiful to see a couple face the challenge of parenthood. They are interrogating their own levels of awareness, personal beliefs, and examining their limitations along the way. And they consciously do so for the love of their first-born child. I am especially interested in seeing an interracial couple who each identify differently, face the challenge of parenting together.
Much like the characters in this film, as a Queer Non-Binary Afro-Pilipinx human my personal journey to find liberation includes re-parenting myself as an adult in a heteronormative, patriarchal, oppressive society. I must consciously decolonize my mind. I believe that these characters have been on a similar journey of finding peace and liberation before this child was conceived.
I believe that a story like this is universal. It speaks to the primal need to identify ourselves and to find liberation in the process of "naming" yourself on your own terms. It speaks to the collective's conscious need to respect and honor those who are different than you as well as the need to hold space for others to be their full selves from a space of love. The journey happening in this film from the perspective of a couple seeking to bring new life in the world is akin to the journey I hope to see in the world at large."
- Carmen LoBue