crush(ed) // a coming of age short film

A charmingly awkward coming-of-age story that follows a middle schooler who attempts to get her childhood best friend to like her back.
Starring: Brianna Bras and Simon Val
Writer/Director: Amanda Gordon
Cinematographer: Mia Navarro
Producers: Ziyne Abdo and Amanda Gordon
Editor: Gabriel Guimaraes
Score: Cole Toto and Leo LaPlaca
Sound Design: Alex Moudgil
I’m so excited to share my first sync-sound short film Crush(ed)! (Yay I can write dialogue now?!) I started this script in a writing class during spring 2020 when the pandemic hit, but couldn’t film it until spring 2021 and was still limited to a crew of 5 people (including myself and the actors), due to my school’s production guidelines. But you know what they say: confinement breeds creativity. Or something like that.
When creating this film I set out to capture a uniquely middle school level of awkwardness and anxiety. I want people to watch through their fingers not because it's a horror movie, but because they know this moment all too well. Writing and directing this short film was a practice in making people feel. Feel weird. Feel sticky. Feel second-hand embarrassment. Feel shockwaves of cringe creeping down their spines. Like Maya Angelou said, “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
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