Wanna see a good movie about queers? SUCH A THING EXISTS.

Dee Rees, an NYU film school grad and Sundance Screenwriting & Directing Lab Fellow, produced “Pariah” as a short film in 2006 and it was screened at over 25 film festivals. Now they’re making it into a full-length feature to debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and they need your help to make it happen. There’s only 10 days left to pledge support for their kickstarter campaign:

We’re almost there and just need to pay for our music clearances, sound mix, and help bring some of our fabulous cast out to the festival to help in the effort to bring the film to a theater near you. You’ve help us make it this far, please help us go a bit further and make our dreams come true.

Description:

At the club, the music thumps, go-go dancers twirl, shorties gyrate on the dance floor while studs play it cool, and adorably naive 17-year-old Alike takes in the scene with her jaw dropped in amazement. Meanwhile, her buddy Laura, in between macking the ladies and flexing her butch bravado, is trying to help Alike get her cherry popped. This is Alike’s first world. Her second world is calling on her cell to remind her of her curfew. On the bus ride home to Brooklyn, Alike sheds her baseball cap and polo shirt, puts her earrings back in, and tries to look like the feminine, obedient girl her conservative family expects. With a spectacular sense of atmosphere and authenticity, Pariah takes us deep and strong into the world of an intelligent butch teenager trying to find her way into her own. Debut director Dee Rees leads a splendid cast and crafts a pitch-perfect portrait that stands unparalleled in American cinema.

Trailer for the short:

Bonus: remember Chelsea from South of Nowhere, who for some reason I think dated Glen which was dumb. Anyhow, she’s in it and so is Keenan Ivory Wayan’s sister, Kim.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!