Do You Trust Me?
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Romantic Comedy, Drama
It's a love story rooted in culture, memory and comida casera, a familiar feeling to many yet rarely shown with intimacy and respect. Capturing the quiet longing of young love, comfort of family and powerful nostalgia of "what could’ve been," all wrapped in the warmth of a Guatemalan kitchen.
Do You Trust Me?
Los Angeles, California | Film Short
Romantic Comedy, Drama
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $20,650 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
68 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
It's a love story rooted in culture, memory and comida casera, a familiar feeling to many yet rarely shown with intimacy and respect. Capturing the quiet longing of young love, comfort of family and powerful nostalgia of "what could’ve been," all wrapped in the warmth of a Guatemalan kitchen.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
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"Do You Trust Me?" is a tender, character-driven short film that takes place in a cozy, family-owned restaurant in the heart of Los Angeles. At the center of the story is Liz, a 27-year-old plus-size Latina who works as a server in her mother’s restaurant. Intelligent, introverted, and quietly strong, Liz lives a routine life filled with the comforting sounds and smells of her family's kitchen until a familiar face from her past walks through the door.
Tony, her childhood best friend and former classmate, unexpectedly returns to town after 10 years away. What begins as an awkward encounter slowly unfolds into a beautiful rediscovery of old feelings, unspoken truths and the bittersweet possibilities of love. Through a series of quiet moments, warm breakfasts, and nostalgic conversations, Liz and Tony reconnect, not just with each other, but with the parts of themselves they had buried under time, hurt and hesitation.
This film explores themes of self-love, cultural identity, healing, and the magic of second chances, all grounded in the heart of a working-class Latina family. Liz’s character offers representation that is often missing in mainstream media: a plus-size Latina woman who is not defined by stereotypes but by her depth, humor, vulnerability, and strength.
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Drawing inspiration from 13 Going on 30, teen romance anime (Kimi ni Todoke, Say I Love You, Ao Haru Ride), and My Big Fat Greek Wedding which captures the warmth, whimsicality, and emotional sincerity of the characters and their world. However, visually I want to merge the styling of Coppola’s soft lighting, pastel tones, and introspective framing with Gerwig’s colorful nostalgia, playful symmetry, and practical textures.
You may be asking why should I be the one to tell this story? Well it's because I AM LIZ! This story is not just inspired by my experiences, it is my experience. This film reflects three pillars of who I am:
- My mom — my best friend, my safe space, my biggest cheerleader. Our relationship is full of love, trust and truth. We’ve laughed through chaos and cried through change. That kind of bond isn’t often shown on screen especially between Latina mothers and daughters with all the nuance, humor, and quiet strength it holds. Even when times get tough, she's always there to listen.
- The boy I’ve carried feelings for since childhood. Not some neat, picture-perfect romance, but one filled with confusion, longing, friendship and real emotion. Sometimes we love people in ways that are complicated and that doesn’t make those feelings any less true.
- My Guatemalan pride living in Los Angeles which is a mix of culture, language and identity that has shaped me not as background, but as the core of who I am.
But here’s the part I don’t often say out loud:
Growing up, I was very shy. I struggled to speak up even when my heart was full of thoughts and feelings. I was the quiet girl in the back always observing and feeling everything, but rarely saying a word and when you don’t see yourself reflected on screen, in books, in love stories, it starts to feel like maybe you don’t belong in those spaces either. I felt things deeply, but kept them tucked away, unsure if there was space for my voice, my perspective, or even my story. Being vulnerable felt like a risk I wasn’t brave enough to take. Over time, I realized that silence didn’t protect me, it only made me feel more invisible. This film is my way of reclaiming my voice, the one I buried for so long. It’s my act of healing. It’s my leap of trust in myself, in second chances and in the idea that even quiet girls can be heard when they speak from the heart. This is more than a movie to me. It’s a love letter to the younger version of myself who didn’t think she could ever take up space. It’s a promise to every girl who’s ever felt like her story was too small and it’s my loud, proud, heartfelt YES to showing up fully as I am.
As a plus-size Latina, I grew up loving film, especially rom-coms and Disney movies, but rarely saw girls who looked like me falling in love, being desired, or owning their narrative with confidence and complexity. I was tired of seeing characters like me used as the comic relief, the sidekick, or simply erased altogether. If there ever was a narrative about a plus-size lead, they would often throw hurtful jabs about their weight or in order to be considered "beautiful," they needed to lose the weight. With my film, while my lead, Liz is plus-size, there's so much more to her and in fact, her size is never mentioned because I want audiences to love Liz for her person. This is the opportunity to shift that narrative. Liz, the character, is plus-size, but that’s not her story. Her story is about love, identity, longing, and growth and that’s what makes her powerful. Her size isn’t a punchline, an obstacle, or a “before” photo. It’s simply a part of her. I want audiences to love Liz not in spite of who she is, but because of who she is.
"Do You Trust Me?” is my way of reclaiming space in a world that has too often told women like me to shrink. This film is deeply personal. It captures the awkwardness of first love, the weight of unspoken feelings and the joy of rediscovering connection in unexpected places. It honors the quiet resilience of daughters, the strength of immigrant mothers, and the culture that shapes us. I’m passionate about telling stories that celebrate underrepresented voices, particularly within our Latine communities—stories rooted in authenticity, cultural pride, and emotional intimacy. I believe in creating work that reflects our world as it truly is: diverse, beautiful, and worthy of being seen.
We’re currently raising funds to make this story a reality. Where it can reach the people who’ve been waiting to see someone like themselves in the spotlight. Whether you’ve lived this story or you believe in what it stands for, your support means everything.
- If you’ve ever looked for yourself in a story and didn’t find it…
- If you’ve ever been told you had to change to be loved…
- If you’re ready to see a plus-size, Latina lead take up space, fall in love, and own her narrative then this film is for you.
Please consider donating or sharing our campaign. Help bring Liz’s story — our story — to the screen. It’s time the world sees it too!
.jpg)
Representation in film still has a long way to go, especially for Latina women who don’t fit Hollywood’s narrow standards of beauty. Liz is a complex, relatable lead who challenges those norms. This film embraces softness, awkwardness, joy, and cultural richness through food. We’re not just making a film, we’re creating space for stories that reflect the real, nuanced, and beautiful lives of our communities.
Once we’re fully funded and filming is complete, our short will head into post-production at the end of October 2025. We’re aiming to finish by December 2025—just in time to start submitting to film festivals across the country and around the world!
Our Stretch Goals:
If we surpass our goal, every additional dollar will help us take this project even further:
- Polished post-production – professional sound mixing, color grading and an original score to bring the story to life
- Festival submissions – fees to submit to 30+ top festivals
- Accessibility features – open captions and translations in Spanish and English so more people can experience the film
- Community screenings – team up with local partners to host screenings and conversations around the story
By supporting this campaign, you’re helping uplift Latino voices, celebrate cultural heritage and show that love stories can and should include all kinds of people. Please check out our available incentives, we’ve created some special rewards to thank you for your support! We understand that not everyone can contribute financially, so we invite you to help share our campaign through social media, friends and family. If you can share this campaign with at least 5 people, this will help broaden our message far and wide. Thank you for believing in this story. Thank you for believing in us!
Make sure to follow us on Seed & Spark and our Instagram @doyoutrustme_film where we’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes, updates and be able to connect with all of you who’ve been waiting for a story like this. For the girls who’ve always deserved to be the main character, just as they are.
.jpg)
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cast
Costs $3,200
Support our talented cast in bringing Liz, Tony, Alicia, Aaron and the rest of the characters to life.
Crew
Costs $12,550
Support our talented crew in bringing Liz and Tony's world to life.
Locations and Set Operations
Costs $2,750
Pays our beautiful location and anything else we need to operate smoothly on set.
Equipment and Rentals
Costs $3,650
Support our production in securing a camera, lenses, lights, mics, recorders, and accessories.
Post-Production
Costs $3,500
Covers the cost of our post-production team including: editor, colorist, sound designer, composer and featured artist
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Writer & Director: Jacqueline Ayala-Alonzo
Jacqueline Ayala-Alonzo is an award-winning director and producer of Guatemalan and Mexican descent from Los Angeles, CA. She strives to bring authentic Latino stories to the big screen and is always eager to try out new things. From a young age, Jacqueline has enjoyed films and creating stories. Growing up, she would go to the movies with her mother and would often stay after the credits to read all the names of the filmmakers who were involved in creating each film. She's an active member of Chicana Director's Initiative, Women in Media, Women in Film, Latinas Acting Up and NALIP. Her short film and directorial debut, La Siguanaba made its LA premiere at Golden State Film Festival 2023. She's currently in the festival circuit with La Siguanaba where it has been recognized at 12 festivals. The film won the "Community Filmmaker Award" at COAWFF 2023 and won the "Audience Favorite Award" at NWFFest 2024. She is directing her next short film titled "Do You Trust Me?" in October 2025.
Co-Producer: Denise Diaz
Denise Diaz is a producer who has experience producing over 10 short films. Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA Denise immersed herself in stories from books to films. Her love for being creative took shape into producing. Denise received her B.A. in Film Studies at Willamette University and her M.F.A. in Producing from Mount Saint Mary’s University. She won Best Producer at the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival in 2021. When choosing a project to work on Denise looks for diverse stories where she can uplift voices. Her goal in life is to help amplify the storytelling she would have loved to see growing up.
Co-producer: Josslyn Glenn
Josslyn Glenn is a LA County born Belizean and Chicana transgender producer, writer, and film curator dedicated to promoting nuanced representations of queer and trans people of color that have historically been under- and misrepresented in media. While studying at UCLA, she wrote her first book, She Rotates with Pluto: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists member has produced award-winning branded, editorial, scripted, and unscripted projects screening internationally, such as PeroLike’s “Being Queer in the Latino Community” and the Emmy-winning ABC News special Soul of a Nation Presents “Pride: To Be Seen” and Emmy-nominated Soul of a Nation Presents “The Freedom To Exist with Elliot Page.” In 2019, she garnered a Production Fellowship on Netflix’s feature documentary, Disclosure. When she is not craving asada fries, she is writing her second book, Tranny Pants, an anthology of fictionalized short stories based on the familial and romantic lives of trans people she has interviewed.
Co-producer: Arianna Lemus
Arianna Lemus is the driving force behind MíraLA Enterprises. As a first-generation Mexican-American actress, producer, and entrepreneur, Arianna combines her passion for storytelling with her expertise in media production to help brands connect authentically with their audiences. With a background in pageantry as Miss Colorado USA 2023 and experience leading the MíraLA Film Festival, she is committed to amplifying diverse voices and delivering content that inspires and engages.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
"Do You Trust Me?" is a tender, character-driven short film that takes place in a cozy, family-owned restaurant in the heart of Los Angeles. At the center of the story is Liz, a 27-year-old plus-size Latina who works as a server in her mother’s restaurant. Intelligent, introverted, and quietly strong, Liz lives a routine life filled with the comforting sounds and smells of her family's kitchen until a familiar face from her past walks through the door.
Tony, her childhood best friend and former classmate, unexpectedly returns to town after 10 years away. What begins as an awkward encounter slowly unfolds into a beautiful rediscovery of old feelings, unspoken truths and the bittersweet possibilities of love. Through a series of quiet moments, warm breakfasts, and nostalgic conversations, Liz and Tony reconnect, not just with each other, but with the parts of themselves they had buried under time, hurt and hesitation.
This film explores themes of self-love, cultural identity, healing, and the magic of second chances, all grounded in the heart of a working-class Latina family. Liz’s character offers representation that is often missing in mainstream media: a plus-size Latina woman who is not defined by stereotypes but by her depth, humor, vulnerability, and strength.
Drawing inspiration from 13 Going on 30, teen romance anime (Kimi ni Todoke, Say I Love You, Ao Haru Ride), and My Big Fat Greek Wedding which captures the warmth, whimsicality, and emotional sincerity of the characters and their world. However, visually I want to merge the styling of Coppola’s soft lighting, pastel tones, and introspective framing with Gerwig’s colorful nostalgia, playful symmetry, and practical textures.
You may be asking why should I be the one to tell this story? Well it's because I AM LIZ! This story is not just inspired by my experiences, it is my experience. This film reflects three pillars of who I am:
- My mom — my best friend, my safe space, my biggest cheerleader. Our relationship is full of love, trust and truth. We’ve laughed through chaos and cried through change. That kind of bond isn’t often shown on screen especially between Latina mothers and daughters with all the nuance, humor, and quiet strength it holds. Even when times get tough, she's always there to listen.
- The boy I’ve carried feelings for since childhood. Not some neat, picture-perfect romance, but one filled with confusion, longing, friendship and real emotion. Sometimes we love people in ways that are complicated and that doesn’t make those feelings any less true.
- My Guatemalan pride living in Los Angeles which is a mix of culture, language and identity that has shaped me not as background, but as the core of who I am.
But here’s the part I don’t often say out loud:
Growing up, I was very shy. I struggled to speak up even when my heart was full of thoughts and feelings. I was the quiet girl in the back always observing and feeling everything, but rarely saying a word and when you don’t see yourself reflected on screen, in books, in love stories, it starts to feel like maybe you don’t belong in those spaces either. I felt things deeply, but kept them tucked away, unsure if there was space for my voice, my perspective, or even my story. Being vulnerable felt like a risk I wasn’t brave enough to take. Over time, I realized that silence didn’t protect me, it only made me feel more invisible. This film is my way of reclaiming my voice, the one I buried for so long. It’s my act of healing. It’s my leap of trust in myself, in second chances and in the idea that even quiet girls can be heard when they speak from the heart. This is more than a movie to me. It’s a love letter to the younger version of myself who didn’t think she could ever take up space. It’s a promise to every girl who’s ever felt like her story was too small and it’s my loud, proud, heartfelt YES to showing up fully as I am.
As a plus-size Latina, I grew up loving film, especially rom-coms and Disney movies, but rarely saw girls who looked like me falling in love, being desired, or owning their narrative with confidence and complexity. I was tired of seeing characters like me used as the comic relief, the sidekick, or simply erased altogether. If there ever was a narrative about a plus-size lead, they would often throw hurtful jabs about their weight or in order to be considered "beautiful," they needed to lose the weight. With my film, while my lead, Liz is plus-size, there's so much more to her and in fact, her size is never mentioned because I want audiences to love Liz for her person. This is the opportunity to shift that narrative. Liz, the character, is plus-size, but that’s not her story. Her story is about love, identity, longing, and growth and that’s what makes her powerful. Her size isn’t a punchline, an obstacle, or a “before” photo. It’s simply a part of her. I want audiences to love Liz not in spite of who she is, but because of who she is.
"Do You Trust Me?” is my way of reclaiming space in a world that has too often told women like me to shrink. This film is deeply personal. It captures the awkwardness of first love, the weight of unspoken feelings and the joy of rediscovering connection in unexpected places. It honors the quiet resilience of daughters, the strength of immigrant mothers, and the culture that shapes us. I’m passionate about telling stories that celebrate underrepresented voices, particularly within our Latine communities—stories rooted in authenticity, cultural pride, and emotional intimacy. I believe in creating work that reflects our world as it truly is: diverse, beautiful, and worthy of being seen.
We’re currently raising funds to make this story a reality. Where it can reach the people who’ve been waiting to see someone like themselves in the spotlight. Whether you’ve lived this story or you believe in what it stands for, your support means everything.
- If you’ve ever looked for yourself in a story and didn’t find it…
- If you’ve ever been told you had to change to be loved…
- If you’re ready to see a plus-size, Latina lead take up space, fall in love, and own her narrative then this film is for you.
Please consider donating or sharing our campaign. Help bring Liz’s story — our story — to the screen. It’s time the world sees it too!
Representation in film still has a long way to go, especially for Latina women who don’t fit Hollywood’s narrow standards of beauty. Liz is a complex, relatable lead who challenges those norms. This film embraces softness, awkwardness, joy, and cultural richness through food. We’re not just making a film, we’re creating space for stories that reflect the real, nuanced, and beautiful lives of our communities.
Once we’re fully funded and filming is complete, our short will head into post-production at the end of October 2025. We’re aiming to finish by December 2025—just in time to start submitting to film festivals across the country and around the world!
Our Stretch Goals:
If we surpass our goal, every additional dollar will help us take this project even further:
- Polished post-production – professional sound mixing, color grading and an original score to bring the story to life
- Festival submissions – fees to submit to 30+ top festivals
- Accessibility features – open captions and translations in Spanish and English so more people can experience the film
- Community screenings – team up with local partners to host screenings and conversations around the story
By supporting this campaign, you’re helping uplift Latino voices, celebrate cultural heritage and show that love stories can and should include all kinds of people. Please check out our available incentives, we’ve created some special rewards to thank you for your support! We understand that not everyone can contribute financially, so we invite you to help share our campaign through social media, friends and family. If you can share this campaign with at least 5 people, this will help broaden our message far and wide. Thank you for believing in this story. Thank you for believing in us!
Make sure to follow us on Seed & Spark and our Instagram @doyoutrustme_film where we’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes, updates and be able to connect with all of you who’ve been waiting for a story like this. For the girls who’ve always deserved to be the main character, just as they are.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cast
Costs $3,200
Support our talented cast in bringing Liz, Tony, Alicia, Aaron and the rest of the characters to life.
Crew
Costs $12,550
Support our talented crew in bringing Liz and Tony's world to life.
Locations and Set Operations
Costs $2,750
Pays our beautiful location and anything else we need to operate smoothly on set.
Equipment and Rentals
Costs $3,650
Support our production in securing a camera, lenses, lights, mics, recorders, and accessories.
Post-Production
Costs $3,500
Covers the cost of our post-production team including: editor, colorist, sound designer, composer and featured artist
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Writer & Director: Jacqueline Ayala-Alonzo
Jacqueline Ayala-Alonzo is an award-winning director and producer of Guatemalan and Mexican descent from Los Angeles, CA. She strives to bring authentic Latino stories to the big screen and is always eager to try out new things. From a young age, Jacqueline has enjoyed films and creating stories. Growing up, she would go to the movies with her mother and would often stay after the credits to read all the names of the filmmakers who were involved in creating each film. She's an active member of Chicana Director's Initiative, Women in Media, Women in Film, Latinas Acting Up and NALIP. Her short film and directorial debut, La Siguanaba made its LA premiere at Golden State Film Festival 2023. She's currently in the festival circuit with La Siguanaba where it has been recognized at 12 festivals. The film won the "Community Filmmaker Award" at COAWFF 2023 and won the "Audience Favorite Award" at NWFFest 2024. She is directing her next short film titled "Do You Trust Me?" in October 2025.
Co-Producer: Denise Diaz
Denise Diaz is a producer who has experience producing over 10 short films. Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA Denise immersed herself in stories from books to films. Her love for being creative took shape into producing. Denise received her B.A. in Film Studies at Willamette University and her M.F.A. in Producing from Mount Saint Mary’s University. She won Best Producer at the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival in 2021. When choosing a project to work on Denise looks for diverse stories where she can uplift voices. Her goal in life is to help amplify the storytelling she would have loved to see growing up.
Co-producer: Josslyn Glenn
Josslyn Glenn is a LA County born Belizean and Chicana transgender producer, writer, and film curator dedicated to promoting nuanced representations of queer and trans people of color that have historically been under- and misrepresented in media. While studying at UCLA, she wrote her first book, She Rotates with Pluto: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists member has produced award-winning branded, editorial, scripted, and unscripted projects screening internationally, such as PeroLike’s “Being Queer in the Latino Community” and the Emmy-winning ABC News special Soul of a Nation Presents “Pride: To Be Seen” and Emmy-nominated Soul of a Nation Presents “The Freedom To Exist with Elliot Page.” In 2019, she garnered a Production Fellowship on Netflix’s feature documentary, Disclosure. When she is not craving asada fries, she is writing her second book, Tranny Pants, an anthology of fictionalized short stories based on the familial and romantic lives of trans people she has interviewed.
Co-producer: Arianna Lemus
Arianna Lemus is the driving force behind MíraLA Enterprises. As a first-generation Mexican-American actress, producer, and entrepreneur, Arianna combines her passion for storytelling with her expertise in media production to help brands connect authentically with their audiences. With a background in pageantry as Miss Colorado USA 2023 and experience leading the MíraLA Film Festival, she is committed to amplifying diverse voices and delivering content that inspires and engages.