Evan Roberts impressed a lot of people with his extremely entertaining short film, Yeah, Kowalski!, about a young LGBT teen who’s desperate to grow armpit hair. Now he’s raising fund for a new movie, a documentary called Arvind.
One of the things many liked about Yeah, Kowalski! is that while the main character is queer, that’s just something that’s there, but isn’t the main subject of the movie. It seems it will be a similar story with the new film, as while the 16-year-old subject is LGBT, it’s his incredible story that’s the movie concentrates on.
Here’s the synopsis from the film’s Kickstarter campaign: ‘Arvind’s mother- a first generation immigrant from India- was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BDP) and depression. During a bitter divorce trial with Arvind’s father, she attempted to poison Arvind, 3, and his older brother, Arjuna, 6, as well as herself.
‘After 12 years Arvind’s mother was released from prison and attempted to contact her sons. The brothers brought her to court and were successful in securing a life-long protective order against her.
‘In response, Arvind wrote a play called MOMMY with his mother as the main character. The documentary ARVIND follows his life during this process.’
The play premieres in the US at the end of this month, and the funding will allow Roberts to complete telling the story.
Robert commented to HuffPo, “LGBT youth, and specifically LGBT youth of color, aren’t represented often in film and media. This lack of representation in the media can make someone feel invisible to the rest of society. I think it’s important that minorities groups, such as queer youth, are depicted in ways that are affirming and aspirational but also authentic and complex. I also want to tell a universal story that many people can find an entry point into, and where sexuality is part of a character’s development, not a defining characteristic. I hope audiences will relate to Arvind and connect with him through his experience of bringing his story to the world — and perhaps be inspired to do the same.”
If you’d like to help fund the film, head over to Kickstarter. [Read more…]
