First Girl I Loved
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Drama, LGBTQ
Anne, a teenager in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, tries to navigate high school, young love, and her love for biking.
First Girl I Loved
Los Angeles, California | Film Feature
Drama, LGBTQ
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $40,015 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
167 supporters | followers
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Anne, a teenager in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, tries to navigate high school, young love, and her love for biking.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
The Story
Anne Santos, of the San Fernando Valley, is seventeen, Hispanic, and gay. And she's about to experience her first love.
There are things you can't change. Your ethnicity. Your sexual orientation. The way you look. The way you talk. But Anne will try. She'll alternately embrace and reject her ethnicity, her sexuality, even the way she talks, all in the name of fitting in.
I gravitate towards stories of youth in crisis. THE YOUNG KIESLOWSKI was about someone who didn't want to be a parent but pretended like he did. FIRST GIRL is in a sense the opposite. She's ready to be herself, to have her first love. But this will not be easy to admit.
The next generation is going to come along and figure this all out a lot better than we have. Being gay is becoming less ‘a difference to tolerate' and more something that simply is. It's not about acceptance or rejection. It's not about being proud or ashamed of who you are or where you come from.
For me, it really all comes down to love. And, as Anne will discover, before you can really love someone, first you have to love yourself.
-Kerem Sanga, writer/director
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Location Rental Fee
Costs $10,000
We'll be using vibrant and exciting locations to make FIRST GIRL feel real and look great!
Wardrobe package
Costs $3,500
In order to all of our characters into this world, specific wardrobe is a must!
Steadicam
Costs $1,500
To achieve the cinematic look DP Rick Diaz and director Kerem Sanga want, steadicam is a must.
Cargo Van
Costs $4,500
We're probably not strong enough to carry all our equipment between locations, but we could try?
Music Licensing
Costs $5,000
Kids like music. So do we. We also like paying musicians properly to use their tunes!
Legal & Accounting Services
Costs $4,500
Yep, we need to get the lawyers involved (trust me, it's better that way).
Share this update!
About This Team
Kerem Sanga, Ross Putman, and Dave Hunter began collaborating as graduate students at USC, where they were a part of the MFA Writing for Screen and Television program. Together, they developed a screenplay that became Kerem's debut feature, THE YOUNG KIESLOWSKI. It premiered at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the audience award for "Best Narrative Feature." The film then went on to play the Bend, Mill Valley, Twin Cities, Chicago International, Woodstock, Leiden, Sonoma, Cleveland, and Reno/Taho Film Festivals. It won the audience award at the Cleveland International, Bend, and Mill Valley Film Festivals, and the Jury Award at the Sonoma International Film Festival.
With Kerem as a writer/director and Ross & Dave as producers, they founded PSH Collective, a production company focused on bringing unique points of view, fresh voices, and young talents to the screen. FIRST GIRL is their follow-up film, though they are also producing the punk-rock rom com DINNER IN AMERICA, and the female-driven comedy ESKIMO SISTERS, with Danny Leiner (HAROLD AND KUMAR) directing.
Seth Caplan is an award-winning producer known for producing the 2007 indie hit IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and sold to IFC, later winning the Cassavettes award at the Independent Spirit Awards. He has been actively producing indie film for the past decade, mostly recently the action thriller THE WELL, which Dark Sky is releasing this summer, and KIESLOWSKI, alongside Ross and Dave. Seth has been a fan of Kerem's writing for years, having first noticed him while Kerem was still a student at UT-Austin.
Mickey Cottrell is the publicist for FIRST GIRL's campaign, having served as the publicist for THE YOUNG KIESLOWSKI, both at LAFF and for its upcoming theatrical release.
Also returning are cinematographer Ricardo Diaz, editor Ryan Brown, and composer John Swihart.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
The Story
Anne Santos, of the San Fernando Valley, is seventeen, Hispanic, and gay. And she's about to experience her first love.
There are things you can't change. Your ethnicity. Your sexual orientation. The way you look. The way you talk. But Anne will try. She'll alternately embrace and reject her ethnicity, her sexuality, even the way she talks, all in the name of fitting in.
I gravitate towards stories of youth in crisis. THE YOUNG KIESLOWSKI was about someone who didn't want to be a parent but pretended like he did. FIRST GIRL is in a sense the opposite. She's ready to be herself, to have her first love. But this will not be easy to admit.
The next generation is going to come along and figure this all out a lot better than we have. Being gay is becoming less ‘a difference to tolerate' and more something that simply is. It's not about acceptance or rejection. It's not about being proud or ashamed of who you are or where you come from.
For me, it really all comes down to love. And, as Anne will discover, before you can really love someone, first you have to love yourself.
-Kerem Sanga, writer/director
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Location Rental Fee
Costs $10,000
We'll be using vibrant and exciting locations to make FIRST GIRL feel real and look great!
Wardrobe package
Costs $3,500
In order to all of our characters into this world, specific wardrobe is a must!
Steadicam
Costs $1,500
To achieve the cinematic look DP Rick Diaz and director Kerem Sanga want, steadicam is a must.
Cargo Van
Costs $4,500
We're probably not strong enough to carry all our equipment between locations, but we could try?
Music Licensing
Costs $5,000
Kids like music. So do we. We also like paying musicians properly to use their tunes!
Legal & Accounting Services
Costs $4,500
Yep, we need to get the lawyers involved (trust me, it's better that way).
Share this update!
About This Team
Kerem Sanga, Ross Putman, and Dave Hunter began collaborating as graduate students at USC, where they were a part of the MFA Writing for Screen and Television program. Together, they developed a screenplay that became Kerem's debut feature, THE YOUNG KIESLOWSKI. It premiered at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the audience award for "Best Narrative Feature." The film then went on to play the Bend, Mill Valley, Twin Cities, Chicago International, Woodstock, Leiden, Sonoma, Cleveland, and Reno/Taho Film Festivals. It won the audience award at the Cleveland International, Bend, and Mill Valley Film Festivals, and the Jury Award at the Sonoma International Film Festival.
With Kerem as a writer/director and Ross & Dave as producers, they founded PSH Collective, a production company focused on bringing unique points of view, fresh voices, and young talents to the screen. FIRST GIRL is their follow-up film, though they are also producing the punk-rock rom com DINNER IN AMERICA, and the female-driven comedy ESKIMO SISTERS, with Danny Leiner (HAROLD AND KUMAR) directing.
Seth Caplan is an award-winning producer known for producing the 2007 indie hit IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and sold to IFC, later winning the Cassavettes award at the Independent Spirit Awards. He has been actively producing indie film for the past decade, mostly recently the action thriller THE WELL, which Dark Sky is releasing this summer, and KIESLOWSKI, alongside Ross and Dave. Seth has been a fan of Kerem's writing for years, having first noticed him while Kerem was still a student at UT-Austin.
Mickey Cottrell is the publicist for FIRST GIRL's campaign, having served as the publicist for THE YOUNG KIESLOWSKI, both at LAFF and for its upcoming theatrical release.
Also returning are cinematographer Ricardo Diaz, editor Ryan Brown, and composer John Swihart.