Lekha sneaks out of her suburban home, determined to fulfill her prom night fantasy at a party thrown by her High School’s heart-throb. But she gets more than she bargained for and tonight may change her outlook forever.

Surviving adolescence is challenging enough, but navigating American teenage-hood coupled with Indian daughterhood may, at times, seem impossible, even for strong and resourceful Lekha. “You are not like them” declares a smiling Dartmouth-bound Michael. It is meant to be a compliment, but for Lekha it’s a double-edged sword that presses upon her eternal otherness. 

With a commanding presence, Nivita Chaliki effortlessly breathes life into an unpredictable and memorable heroine who may not always navigate with grace the conundrum that is adolescence, but will certainly do so on her own terms. Perceptive and crisp storytelling that is at once tender and delightfully gutsy marks Swetha Regunathan as a thrilling filmmaker to watch.

DIRECTOR

Swetha Regunathan is a writer and filmmaker finishing her MFA in the Grad Film program at NYU. She participated in the 2020 Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab and the inaugural 1497 Writers Lab and is a 2020-21 IFP Marcie Bloom Fellow. Her short films have received awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Peter S. Reed Foundation, and the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. She was a finalist for the SHOWTIME Tony Cox Screenplay Contest, shortlisted for a Lexus Short Films award, and in the final round of the Sundance New Voices Lab. Swetha also produced IF THERE IS LIGHT, a short documentary which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and streamed on Le Cinema Club and Hulu. Swetha also holds a PhD in English, and her writing has appeared in Huffington Post, n+1, and Guernica.