Filming is complete, and we are almost done with editing. But we need your help! We need to pay our incredible post-production team, and also afford the entrance fees to film festivals so we can get this film shared as widely as possible.

The Story:

Our story follows Willow, a young woman who has spent her life devoted to her work in the church, but who struggles to accept a key aspect of her identity: that she’s gay. Instead of facing what should be a simple fact of life, she is taught to ignore it, choosing instead to remain the perfect, ideal example of what it means to be “Christian”. However, this all comes crashing down around Willow when she finds herself drawn to Keoni, a new (and proudly queer) member of her Bible study. As her relationship with Keoni deepens, the pressure starts to rise: after all these years, does Willow really want to continue on the “straight and narrow” path that she was taught?

This is a thought-provoking, heartfelt depiction of one girl’s journey navigating identity and faith, and learning to embrace life with all its quirky, confusing twists and turns. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and most of all you’ll become deeply enamored with the beautiful, unorthodox love story that is Petrichor.

Meet our protagonist, Willow.

To the world, Willow's life is perfect— she’s attending her dream college, sees her loving parents every week, and is girlfriend to the president of the campus’ Bible study. What could possibly have pushed her to the point of believing it was better to live a heavy, heartbreaking lie than be herself?

Willow is a bright, caring, passionate young woman, but in the years leading up to the current day, she has lost much of that vivacity. She is a prime example of the terrifying, but all-too-real progression many people experience as they are indoctrinated into believing they must hide their identities for the sake of not becoming a sinner. But more than that, Willow is an example of the immense strength and bravery the LGBTQ+ community demonstrates by living as their authentic selves, in spite of what many of us were taught.

While this is not a “Christian” film, it is a film that deals heavily with the topic of religion.

The effect of conservative Christianity has been especially harmful to queer individuals. We are seeking to present an alternate narrative: that being gay and faithful are not​ mutually exclusive. Being queer shouldn't determine our outlook on faith. We should have the freedom to be ourselves authentically, even if we call church home.

We want to be clear: this is not about drawing people to the church. Rather, it is an effort to help heal some of the wounds the LGBTQ+ community has sustained from conservative religions, and to give a voice to a small percentage of the population that do find their identities in both the queer community and the church. We simply want to create a constructive space that illustrates how queerness and faith can coexist.

As queer individuals who have struggled with faith and queerness firsthand, our aim is to help people battling with their understanding of queerness and faith to feel empowered to own their full, nuanced identities, and to help spark conversations of where queerness and religion can positively intersect.

Our budget for shooting was $12,500-- and we are in need of another $1200 in order to get us through these final stages of production and share this film as widely as possible.

We didn't make this film to keep our to ourselves-- we made it to share with the world so that other individuals who can relate to Willow's struggles with queerness and faith can feel a sense of community and know that they are not alone in their struggle.

There are so many other ways to support our film in addition to donating money! Are you an individual with friends who might be interested in supporting this film? Do you have a business that may be able to help us with the premiere? Do you have resources that can help us share the film in organizations, classrooms, theaters, etc.? You can be as creative in your donation as you want!

Let us know if you’d like to partner with us! We’d be more than happy to talk.

One of the simplest ways to support the film is by following us on social media! Like, comment under, and share our posts to help us reach a wider audience!

Instagram: @NovelteaFilms

Facebook: Noveltea Films

Tik Tok: @NovelteaFilms

Want to share with others, but don’t know what to say? Here are some examples that you are welcome to copy and paste. We want sharing to be an easy way to support!

Support @NovelteaFilms as they crowdfund for “Petrichor”, an LGBTQ+ short film that takes a unique view on faith and queerness! https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/petrichor

Just watched the pitch video for “Petrichor”! I’m so excited to support this LGBTQ+ production— check it out!

https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/petrichor