California resident and Iranian-American filmmaker Shawna Khorasani has a few short films and a literary webseries under her belt (with a few more in development). Today marks the premiere of the queer RomCom LoverGirl!
Shawna Khorasani’s premiere shows how much she wants LGBTQ+ teens to know that young queer adults can have normal dating lives similar to what they see in mainstream media.
LoverGirl, a lesbian high school romcom about a lovestruck teenager using grand romantic gestures to ask out her crush.
This sweet young adult flick has a ton of family love, great advice like “Just because she’s dated guys, doesn’t mean she’s straight,” irreverent humor in “This is a sign from Lesbian jesus herself,” and the sweetest big hearted friends a character could ever ask for.
Shawna Khorasani: “It was a blast! As corny as it sounds, my wonderful mother has always believed in me and supported me especially in my filmmaking journey! I can always count on her to help out with little tasks or help promote my work.”
It’s a slow moving short. There are moments where the pacing doesn’t support the comedy as well as it could. Actress Shoana T. Hunt does much of the heavy lifting with her lovable charm with Heather Muriel Nguyen who matches her youthful energy. But stories like this are just so heartwarming and the last few seconds of the piece makes it all for me!
Khorasani: “So often in mainstream media, we see LGBTQ stories that revolve around coming out, drama, or tragedy. We need more queer lighthearted and funny stories! I want young queer people–queer people of all ages, really–to see this, because I want them to be able to see a funny, cute romcom about a young lesbian asking out her crush and having it be completely normal.”
After a tough year Khorasani shared with me how she pressed on to build connections, learn the festival process, and how to advocate for her work. She has turned over a new leaf to take better care of herself and think outside the box, which is a gift we can all give ourselves going into 2021.
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