Queer cinema often falls too closely to being fetishized, leaving young adolescents feeling shame for those prickly sensations that are often buried. We hope to create an honest, unflinching portrait of femme youth while celebrating the specifics of sexuality.

- a coming of age short about girlhood, queerness, and those weird games you played with your friends.

ABOUT ME

Hello, my name is Gabrielle Carrubba and I am the director of Down By The Water.

A bit about me, I come from a theatrical background, specifically and currently making my Broadway debut as Zoe Murphy in Dear Evan Hansen. While most of my directorial experience has been in theater, I have had a passion for film, creating and directing music videos for other friends in the Broadway community. Pairing up with the genius writer that is Chloe Xtina, we shared similar feelings about our girlhoods, intimately discussing those weird and unspoken games we would play with our friends that definitely alluded to our sexual awakenings. While those stories are often glamorized or underplayed, we shared a common desire to portray girlhood as it really is. Raw, grotesque, magical, and special. Thus, Down By The Water was born.

DALLAS, a lanky fifteen-year-old late bloomer, lives on a farm in a town populated mainly by members of an extremist Baptist Church. She has a close and intimate friendship with fifteen-year-old SUSANNAH, a member of the church. Because Susannah’s world is heavily dominated by her religion, her relationships to others are highly chaperoned.  The rebel that she is, Susannah channels her energies and desires towards Dallas, twisting Dallas’ naivety to fit within the realm of Susannah’s rules. Yet, their intimate relationship to one another feels less like playing pretend and more emotionally involved for Dallas, blurring the line of game versus reality. 

Dallas observes the world of the church from the outside. Although she does not hold the same beliefs, she is very sheltered to the outside world. She witnesses the hypersexualization of the girls in the church -- all of them look extremely similar (white, blonde, inbred). Looking extremely different from the rest of the girls, Dallas explores the nature of her feelings throughout the film under Susannah’s world and rules, constantly questioning the norms of her own impulses. 

The film exists primarily in a world of women. Any and all intimacy is sacred and devoid of any male gaze. The only gazes we feel are that of each other, and that of Susannah's looming God. 

Discovering, well, accepting my queerness was an incredulous feat. I knew early on that this was in fact something prevalent, yet something a conversation with myself just wouldn’t suffice. I needed to feel every feeling.  As an adolescent, those prickly sensations towards women were comprised of envy, lust, and a primal desire. It was weird and specific and often unexplainable. 

I miss that representation in queer cinema. It’s often depicted through an inevitable male gaze, feeling fetishy and generalized. There’s almost a fear of telling those stories in the exact way they were for us, though obviously no one’s experience is the same, there is a lack of safety for us to discuss those intricate details of our youth. The way it was. The not glamorized version of it. 

As a storyteller, I feel the proud responsibility of creating safe spaces for arists to be seen. Genuinely seen. That’s what I aim to portray in Down by the Water. A lush yet brutal, soft yet rigid, fearless and safe examination of queer adolescence.

- Gabrielle Carrubba, Director

 

We are seeking an approximate budget of 10,000$. And I believe we can do it! With your help. 

With your generous contribution, we will be able to pay for: 

• Our cast and crew
• Our amazing camera rental 
• Our sound equipment 
• Housing for our team 
• Design
• Costumes 
• Transportation 
• Catering and Craft Services 
• Post production costs 

Don't forget to check out our incentives and see what fabulous perks you will recieve for your contribution! 

After (hopefully!) raising all we need, we will begin rehearsals with the cast both virtually and in person. Along with our intimacy director, we plan to be thoughtful and intentional with our takes, encouraging safety and communication the entirety of production. In addition to rehearsing, we will begin all the other pre-production needs: costumes, design, and composing our score.

We begin shooting our film August 30th, 2021 at a beautiful barn in PA. We have an exciting team of folks who are passionate about this story and truly believe in each other. (Everyone involved is fully vaccinated and crew will be masked the entire time.)

- the barn we will be shooting in! 

 

CONTRIBUTE - All financial donations will 100% be used towards production and post-production costs.

FOLLOW - On Seed&Spark and also our instagram page @downbythewaterfilm!

SHARE - Getting the word out on our film is equally as helpful as any contribution! It's the best way for us to achieve our financial goals. Every share, comment, and repost helps us immensely.

 

SPREAD THE WORD! 

We can reach our fundraising goal by getting the word out about our film to multiple networks. By sharing on your socials, sending emails to your friends, and telling those friends about this incredible team, YOU can help us achieve great success! 

Need help figuring out what to say? Try these:

Help actor and filmmaker @gabrielle.carrubba by supporting her and other queer artists have their stories told! Follow @downbythewaterfilm on IG and Seed & Spark! 

Tired of queer cinema feeling fetishy? Consider supporting filmmakers @gabrielle.carrubba & chl0extina by checking out their film Down By The Water on instagram & Seed and Spark! @downbythewaterfilm 

I sure do love a coming age story that's culty and queer! Don't you? If so, then you'd love the film DOWN BY THE WATER by @gabrielle.carrubba and @chl0extina. Their film looks incredible! Support them on IG @downbythewaterflm and Seed and Spark!

 

 

 

Thank you so much, and we'll see you Down By The Water <3