14 year old Isa is left home alone for the weekend while her mom takes her big brother on a college campus tour. When her brother's best friend Telly comes by the house looking for him, it becomes clear that Isa has a crush on Telly. She finesses her way into spending the afternoon with him under the pretense of wanting to buy weed. In order to impress him, Isa initiates a dine and dash. It works. The pair wind up sneaking into a friend's pool whose family is away for the summer. Once she finally makes her move and kisses him, Isa is confronted with the clear gap in their age and expectations.

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Grown by Jaja Meloche
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"I wanted to make a film that explores consent and the confusion around it. We can often be unaware that something is nonconsensual while it is occurring. Young people are especially vulnerable to this. Though society has started to form a deeper understanding and clearer language for consent, it can remain gray and difficult in practice. I wanted to blur the line as much as possible. I was interested in exploring verbal versus nonverbal consent, power dynamics of age and gender, and coercion. I think different people will react to, and interpret the events in the film differently.

Something that was important to me was creating a female character that was bold from the start. Too often in coming of age stories we get these reserved female characters whose arcs involve coming out of their shells. I really wanted a girl who was immediately fierce and who was driving the majority of the narrative rather than reacting to it. I also wanted to break from the traditional male archetype. Stories that explore similar themes often write male characters that are quite aggressive and are usually the ones pursuing the girl. I knew I needed someone with a more gentle energy who appeared non-threatening."

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// Credits //
Written & Directed by: Jaja Meloche
Starring: Isabel Palma & Joshuah Melnick
Producers: Rubbertape, Owen Lazur & Jeremy Truong
DP & Colorist: Julie Kupiec
Editor: Henry Hayes
Cast: Noam Shapiro, Michael Bergendorff, Missy, Julie Meloche, Kaleb Toren, Wilson Magee, Lance Bookbinder, Nicole Sweet
Associate Producer: Margaret Efthim
AD: Nicholas Sossi Romano
Production Coordinator: Rhea Li
1st Assistant Cam: Alex Lu, Allie Iacono
2nd Assistant Cam: Clinton Pang
Gaffer: Claire Halloran
Key Grip: Ronan Daly
Production Sound Mixer: Flora Kamimoto
HMU: Agnes Lin
Art Director: Deryan Celikkol
Set Dresser :Vivienne Liu
Supervising Sound Editor: David Britton
Original Music: Petra Schemmann
Title & Credits: Molly Valdez & Judson Valdez

ABOUT DIRECTORS NOTES
Since 2006 Directors Notes has curated the world's best independent films alongside exclusive daily deep dive interviews which provide behind the scenes insights into the inspirations and production stories of the most talented filmmakers on the planet.

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