We are proud to have our writer/director, producers, and cinematographer all be women of different backgrounds. We’re also pleased to have a cast and crew that extends that range of diversity, which made for a passionate team who worked hard to bring this story of a bold young Black woman to life.

Magnolias is a combination of our filmmaker’s background, environment, and artistic voice. We hope audiences are just as excited as us to have more stories showing diverse female leads who are at once conflicted and empowered. Our story highlights a powerful family and also touches on the topic of the weakness of men when it comes to a woman’s beauty. 

Our short was written and directed by Lenea Key. Magnolias started as a short story loosely based on the close-knit relationship between Lenea, her father, and brothers. The story was expanded to a pilot episode which was then condensed into a short screenplay for Lenea's final thesis film at New York Film Academy. 

Shot on the beautiful Virginia Beach oceanfront, this project focuses on Luna who is the youngest child in a family of spies - the Magnolias. While on the verge of an upcoming fashion show, she is asked to go on her very first mission and then has to decide if that’s the life she wants to pursue. Blending together action, comedy, a film noir influence, and a badass protagonist, Magnolias is an example of the types of projects that need to be seen more often. As the landscape for visual storytelling begins to expand to include a wider array of voices, we hope to eventually turn this short into a series and go further into Luna’s story. 

In order to get there, we need your help. We are currently in post-production and hope to use the money raised with this campaign to help with the editing process, sound design, distribution, and festival fees. Our goal is to make this short successful and reach as wide an audience as we can. To achieve this, we hope to get into festivals with a strong short. However, our bigger dream is to turn this story into an episodic TV show, allowing us to continue exploring each of the Magnolias. 

 

To help and to continue with us along our journey:

FOLLOW OUR CAMPAIGN - Like our Seed&Spark page above and follow us on our social media pages.

PLEDGE/CONTRIBUTE - Support us by pledging what you want or choose an incentive or wishlist item listed on our page here. 

SPREAD THE WORD - You can also support us by sharing your excitement for this project. Link this campaign page and/or tag us @magnoliasfilm on your social networks. 

Each of these actions bring us a step closer to our goal and we appreciate everyone's help on our way there. Grateful to have your support.