Simon isn’t just super talented at football – he’s also sensational at voguing, but he keeps his dance skills secret. His best friend Les wants him to break free from the conformity of his team – but can Simon really embrace both ballroom and his true self? A new short film will show us, but first the project needs your support on Kickstarter…
By Cass Virdee
‘Realness With A Twist’ is a short film about a young talented footballer who feels as though he has to hide his secret passion for voguing – until his best friend Les pushes him to reach out of his comfort zone and be who he authentically is.
Cass Virdee, the film’s director, writes…
‘Realness With A Twist’ is an original and heartfelt unheard story that is so relevant today.
As a female British-Indian filmmaker, I am driven and inspired by my past of tackling prejudice. This drives me to make films championing the bravery it takes to be your authentic self especially when facing prejudice.
‘Realness With A Twist’ is inspired by this past and by my present, ever-growing passion to support and celebrate individuality.
I’m a keen and vocal filmmaker about the absolute need for equality and diversity in society, in film, media, and behind the camera.
I feel as though I’ve been preparing to tell this story for what feels like my entire adult life. Giving a vision and a voice to our protagonist Simon’s journey is exactly why I feel I need to be a filmmaker.
This story fills me with unstoppable passion and motivation to make ‘Realness With A Twist’ a heart-felt, character driven, ambitious film!
What makes this film unique is that we will also be casting our key talent from the LGBTQ+ community.
Warren and Karteer (playing Simon and Les) are both members of the House of Miyake-Mugler.
They are real-life best friends who are non-actors. Authentically a part of the London Ballroom scene, they are the real deal!
We hope that this film will shine a light on LGBTQ+ players in sports, promote inclusivity in football and help spread the message to be your true authentic self.
With the recent coming out of footballer Jake Daniels, we feel that this film will have even more importance today, to further continue to help people accept and be who they truly are within the sporting community.
How you can help
You can donate! Unfortunately, film-making is a costly business and we will need to pay for a number of things such as: locations, talent fees, transport, props, art design, costumes… the list is endless but with your help, we will have enough to get the film made.
It all adds up and a small contribution of just £10 could mean the difference between us reaching our target or not. Kickstarter is an ‘all or nothing’ crowdfunding tool, meaning that we have to make our target or we don’t get anything! *
There are also a number of rewards that you can receive depending on the amount donated. These range from having your name in the credits, tickets to the screening, all the way up to being an executive producer!
We are a quarter of the way through our funding target of £5k, but still have a way to go. So please, pledge what you can and help us reach our target and deliver this film!
* Please note that Kickstarter will only take the money from your account at the end of the campaign in July, if we successfully meet our target.
You can spread the word – and the great thing about this is that it’s free! Simply talking about our project or sharing it online, such as on Instagram, will increase the reach of our campaign and really help us out.
Back ‘Realness With A Twist’ on Kickstarter.
Follow on Instagram at @realnesswithatwist.
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