Short Film | 21 minutes | Comedy, Drama | English
MONIQUE
My media honors thesis project Short film that took over a year of production and included a very talented cast & crew of 60+ people.
MONIQUE is about a graduating senior at college, who visits a school counselor a day before her graduation, airing out all the anxieties and fears she has about living a perfectly normal and more than adequate post grad life. She then goes to live what that life might be…What transpires after her graduation is a series of psychologically thrilling and humorous scenarios that can only either confirm or deny Monique’s fears.
Starring:
Audrey Freund as Monique | bridget orji as jacqueline | Ryan ritterby as quentin | olivia rouss as rachel | daylon de alva as mr. rossi | claire mcnerney as sally | nicholas geoghegan as john
MONIQUE started off as an idea about dealing with my own post-grad existential anxiety and accepting that whatever future I idealize will probably never be as good as I want it to be; and that’s completely fine.
I think the biggest appeal of making MONIQUE for me is knowing that I’m probably not alone in having these post grad anxieties and overthinking about the future in many ways. It warmed my heart to hear that many people who I worked with and also saw MONIQUE, thought of it as a relatable experience.
As much as I cherish the final product of that is MONIQUE, nothing will ever top the creative production process of directing, managing, learning, and exploring new ideas with my excellent cast and crew. Making this film was as much of an experience as MONIQUE itself.
Special thanks to:
Paul Mpagi sepuya | The Suraj israni Center for the Cinematic Arts | The Russell Foundation | The UCSD Media Teaching Lab | Triton Television| Lorena Mostajo | Brian “B+” Cross | Michael Trigilio | Alexandro Segade
As I plan to submit MONIQUE into the 2024 film festival circuit in these coming months, I unfortunately can’t upload it publicly just yet. For the public release of MONIQUE please wait any upcoming announcements here on my website or at the Triton Television Instagram (@ttv.ucsd). Alternatively, if you do have any questions about the film or would like to see the current version of it, please reach out to me.