An African American woman living away from her family in Los Angeles yearns to be recognized for more than her physical attributes. In cultivating the friendship of a male office mate, she aspires to a relationship where romance is not a factor, seeking someone who can "see her as she is," rather than see only what he wants to see. (UCLA Film & Television Archive)
Direction
Larkin's patient, observational Black feminist lens.
Writing
Dialogue that interrogates without preaching.
Acting
Saxton-Federella's restrained, searching performance.
Director
Alile Sharon Larkin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of the L.A. Rebellion movement — Black filmmakers at UCLA rejecting Blaxploitation for poetic, political cinema. Larkin was literally building the canon they said didn't exist.
The 51-minute runtime wasn't artistic choice alone — Larkin made this as her MFA thesis, working within academic constraints that accidentally created perfect structural tension: too long for short, too short for feature, like Alana herself existing between categories.
US
