LOGLINE
In a Pennsylvania town, a reserved teenager attends a forced double date with her best friend, amid the pressures of senior year.
SYNOPSIS
Kitty and Ramona navigate their senior year in Pennsylvania before heading to different colleges. Feeling insecure about her inexperience, Kitty joins Ramona, her boyfriend Lucas, and his friend Finn on a double date. After a violating game of truth-or-drink, Kitty leaves the group, and finds herself alone by a lake.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
I am fascinated by the pressures of transitional periods in life, when one reflects on their past. My thesis film, "Kitty," created at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, explores the period of time when high school seniors await college decisions and begin envisioning the next four years of their lives. While many prepare to leave their hometowns with a bittersweet sense of anticipation, Kitty, the protagonist, faces a different reality: she will attend community college just thirty minutes away, while her best friend Ramona plans to attend college on the West Coast. In "Kitty," she grapples with her desire to grow within the confines of familiarity, reimagining the next stage of her life in an altered reality. Through Kitty’s story, I aim to capture the uncertainty of the transition from teenhood to adulthood and the longing for a fresh start when there is no clear escape. My senior year of high school in Portland, Oregon, I grappled with the discomfort of inhabiting "my old life," as I transitioned into a newer version of myself. After I received my acceptance letter from New York University, I began to view familiar places and people as a figment of my past. When I arrived in New York, I met a girl named Kenzie from Pennsylvania. She and I bonded over our shared experiences struggling with our desire to grow within the confines of our hometowns. When she took me to visit her town in Pennsylvania, I pictured her high school experience there. I imagined how her urge to leave must have been exacerbated by the confines of suburbia. That is when I conceived my idea for "Kitty." The story about a girl who wants to leave her hometown, but cannot. Through this film, and much of my work, I explore the dichotomy between personal transformation and place.
KEY CREW
Heather Hill - Director
Heather Hill is an award winning writer and director originally from Portland, Oregon, in her final year at NYU Tisch. She focuses on female driven narratives in her work, shedding light on the struggles and triumphs of girlhood. Her most recent film, "Wings," which she wrote and directed during her semester abroad in Prague, won first prize at the New Visions and Voices festival at NYU. Heather has worked as a pre-production intern at Public Record in Brooklyn, NY and an intern at the Tin House Writers Workshop in Portland, OR.
Steven Zambon - Director of Photography
Steven Zambon is a New York-based cinematographer shooting both commercial and narrative work. He’s worked with fashion brands such as Reece Cooper Inc and Laurel Blue and musical artists like Hannah Jadagu and Pluko. He enjoys the collaborative and fast paced nature of film production and creating evocative images.
Rachel Lee - Producer
Rachel Lee (she/her) is a multi-faceted producer. She has been with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for a year now, working as an Assistant Company Manager and overseeing Artist Services and greenroom hospitality. Outside of the performing arts realm, Rachel explores different mediums of art creation, primarily finding herself in the producer disposition in the world of film. Her main values reside in art that empowers education, creativity, and liberty.
Gili-Jo Froman - Producer
Gili-Jo Froman is a South African producer and cinematographer in her final year at NYU Tisch. After spending a few months producing Prague, Gili-Jo is very excited to bring her work back to New York and collaborate with Heather for her thesis film, ‘Kitty’. Gili-Jo has developed her skills as a producer most recently on ‘Overs’, ‘A Small Elegy’, ‘Physical Therapy’, and ‘Gemini’. She has worked in sales and distribution with Celsius Entertainment at the Cannes FIlm Festival and also as an assistant camera technician at Arri Rental in London. In her projects, she values effective communication and innovation to cultivate collaborative environments.
Leila Glenn - Casting Director and Associate Producer
Leila Glenn is a director and producer completing her final semester at NYU Tisch, where she studies film and television. Originally from Berkeley, CA, Leila has honed her skills working with notable production companies, including A24 and NFL Media, and currently interns in the Commercials and Features department at Park Pictures NYC. She has a strong background in production coordination, collaborating with various teams to bring projects to life. Leila has partnered with Heather Hill on multiple productions and is now excited to cast and co-produce Kitty, bringing her dedication, creativity, and experience to this new project.
ACCOLADES
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