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Logline

An optimistic administrator, who isn’t having a great workweek, tries to give herself a pep talk until two other personas actually appear and help her compose her thoughts for an upcoming meeting – yup – with a Karen!

Synopsis

When you love your job or the career you are working in, there are bound to be some ups and downs. But you don’t ever want the low points to be microagressions or challenges of your competency. According to leanin.org, Black women, in particular, deal with a greater variety of microaggressions and are more likely than other women to have their judgment questioned in their area of expertise and be asked to provide additional evidence of their competence.

“Pullin’ It Together” is a comedic fantasy short film that may or may not be based off a personal workplace experience! Sometimes you want to “clap back” as we say, but we need to also keep our jobs. It’s a lose-lose situation – you are being berated, having indirect discriminatory remarks said while trying to do your job and KEEP your job to continue to have a roof over your head.

I wanted this short to show how we sometimes have to have an internal dialogue with ourselves to get us through the days but what if your psyche actually appears?! In this short, Ke’Osha is getting ready for work when her two psyches appear – Mellow Ke’Osha and Woke Ke’Osha. Mellow and Woke have varying opinions at times but hey, that’s why we gotta talk things out sometimes. She needs help navigating through an upcoming meeting after her white supervisor tells her and her team (who are also people of color) some distasteful comments and challenges their proficiency.

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Meet the Filmmakers

Joenique C. Rose – Director/Writer/Producer

Hailing from Central Florida, Joenique C. Rose moved to LA in 2008 to attend USC where she earned a Master of Education in Higher Ed Administration. After graduation, she worked at the USC Volunteer Center for 4 years as a supervisor all while studying and understanding writing and producing. After her short, “Keys”, that she wrote and directed, she enrolled at the AFI Conservatory as a Producing Fellow.

In 2017, she became a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow where she produced the short, “Emergency”, which in 2018 won the Special Jury Award at Sundance, the Grand Jury Narrative Award at SXSW and co-produced the feature version where it premiered at Sundance 2022. Joenique strives to create stories of the intersectionality of people of color to see themselves on the big and small screens.

In the meantime, to pay the bills she uses her first Master’s degree and is currently the Manager of Inclusion and Diversity at the AFI Conservatory.

Guo Guo- Producer

Based in LA and holds an MFA in producing at the AFI Conservatory, Guo Guo’s producing credits include 2022 Sundance and Berlinale official selection feature documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power; the Palme d’Or nominated Ayka, winner of Best Actress at Cannes (2018); 12 Citizens, best picture at the Rome International Film Festival (2015); Meiduo, a Shanghai International Film Festival Media Award (2018) nominee; Amazon Prime’s Soft Sounds of Peeling Fruit that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival (2021); HBO Max’s Mass Ave, winner of DGA Student Film Awards (2022); as well as 44-episode Chinese TV Series Be With You that has enjoyed over 1 billion views; UN premiered 10-episode documentary mini-series Food 2050 that shot in 8 different countries. A participant in 2020 BAFTA LA Newcomers program, Women In Film 2020 Mentoring Program and able to communicate fluently in English and Mandarin, Guo Guo currently serves as the Head of Production at Media RED.

Minolae Jain – Production Designer

Minolae Jain is a graduate student from American Film Institute, L.A. with her MFA in Production Design. Prior to this, she received her Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in Interior Design from Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore. Originally from India, she is a science student with a flair for arts and management. She is an innately curious being with a keen eye for detail and design.

Christine Douglas – Editor

Christine Douglas is a film editor based in Los Angeles. Growing up in a military family, she lived in six different states across the US, exposing her to different people, lifestyles, and environments. Her love for editing grew as she learned how to hand splice 16mm film in an undergraduate cinematography course at the University of Virginia. Christine has since gone on to receive her MFA in Film Editing at the American Film Institute, and now works in post production while continuing to edit shorts and feature films.

Tiffany Román Louk – Composer

Tiffany Román Louk is a Puerto Rican producer, composer and pianist based in Los Angeles, California. She has composed and produced soundtracks for several films, Youtube series and TV spot commercials. Some of her music has been showed at the Banco Popular Especial 2021, Regal Cinema LA Live 14, the Mexican telenovela Doña Flor Y Sus Dos Maridos, and the Youtube Channel Extra History. In 2016, her string quartet “Sonambulo Enamorado” was performed by L’Anima String Quartet in Athens, Greece as well as the Berklee String Quartet in Boston, MA.
She has had the opportunity to work alongside composers Heitor Pereira (Despicable Me 1,2,3), Fil Eisler (Empire FOX), Ruy Folguera (Nina) and Lucas Vidal (Fast And Furious 6, Palmeras En La Nieve) on their film and TV projects.
She completed her BA in Film Scoring and Music Production at the Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia, Spain in 2016. Was fortunate enough to study under the guidance of composer George S. Clinton (Austin Powers).

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.