1091 Pictures ha released the official trailer for WHAT SHE SAID, the all new feminist dark comedy feature releasing on digital platforms on September 14th, 2021.
A “kitchen sink family drama with a black comedy heart” (and an almost entirely female crew, WHAT SHE SAID follows Sam, portrayed by Jenny Lester who also produced the film and penned the screenplay. When Sam decides to drop the charges against her rapist, her friends and siblings gather to stage a Thanksgiving intervention.
You can take a look at the footage in the video player below:
PHD candidate, Sam, should be nearly finished with her dissertation. Instead, she’s spent the last year in and out of court pursuing charges against her rapist. When she receives news that the trial is postponed yet again, Sam heads to her family’s remote cabin in the Virginia woods, effectively ghosting everyone in her life.
Jenny Lester said of writing and starring in WHAT SHE SAID:
“It is frustrating that in most portrayals of survivorship, we learn what someone has been through instead of who they are. As more and more women started sharing their stories (often anonymously) online over the past few years, the question that kept itching in my mind was, “Who was this woman before this event that is now synonymous with her identity? Who is she now as she picks herself back up and returns to her life?”
As we approached our first feature, we knew we didn’t need to add another “SVU” version of survivorship to the zeitgeist, and instead wanted to focus on what is hopefully a very human story about a deeply nuanced and often flawed woman and her messy, mis-stepping, well-meaning chosen family that raillies around her. Putting together a predominantly female, enby, and queer crew and creative team to help tell it was absolutely paramount.”
Amy Northup said of her directorial debut:
“The ways we consume media affects how we see the world around us, and if the stories of sexual assault we see are homogenous, limited, and singular, it makes it infinitely hard to see the layers of impact, to believe the people in our actual lives who come forward and say this happened to me.
When all we see is perfect victimhood we turn around and demand it. This film, for us, was one version of a story that won’t meet that demand.”
Pre-Order WHAT SHE SAID here.
