Flower Girl - short film - 7mins - Digital - 2020
Story Creator and Writer
A Cycle One Exercise for the American Film Institute Conservatory
Flower Girl is a short drama about awakening and reclaiming one’s own power against adversity and fear. It explores the long, dark night of the soul that we must all overcome at some point in our lives when we outgrow what no longer serves us, or perhaps what never served us in the first place.
The story is set in 19th Century England, in what was commonly referred to as a Human Zoo or Freak Show. Our protagonist is Lucretia, a young woman of unknown origins who is afflicted with floral-like growths. She is pregnant with her first child.
Kidnapped and sold into a circus when she was just a toddler, Lucretia has only ever known sideshow business and exploitation. Sir Albert, her significantly older husband, and the owner of the sideshow that Lucretia belongs to, has no interest in starting a family but he is interested in adding to his collection of human oddities.
As complications arise during labor, Lucretia begins to awaken something sacred and ancestral inside of her. She sees Albert for who he really is and the weight of the trauma she has been subjected to. With this understanding, there’s no going back. It is up to Lucretia to save herself and her child by any means necessary.
Directed by Prem Santana - Produced by Yuzhong Ge- Screenplay by Liz Vazquez - Cinematography by Augusto Garcia -
Production Design by Yibo Kou - Edited by Tianze Sun
Starring Bianca Grava, Stuart Howard, Mark Wind