Private Project

A Bird Hit My Window and Now I'm a Lesbian

After a mysterious girl shows up at Gray's doorstep holding the corpse of a bird that had just cracked her window, an impromptu bird funeral changes the way Gray views herself and her lesbian identity.

  • Carmela Marie Murphy
    Director
  • AJ Dubler
    Director
  • Carmela Murphy
    Writer
  • AJ Dubler
    Writer
  • Carmela Murphy
    Producer
  • AJ Dubler
    Producer
  • Jordan Gantos
    Key Cast
    "Gray"
  • Cecile Lopez
    Key Cast
    "Fionn"
  • Timmothy Sullivan
    Key Cast
    "Alex"
  • Justin Graff
    Original Score
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Romance, Drama, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 56 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 9, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    1,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Director Biography - Carmela Marie Murphy, AJ Dubler

Carmela Murphy is a filmmaker and artist specializing in stop motion animation and screenwriting. She received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Spring 2024. She adores telling narrative and fantastical stories that explore the weird and the wonderful.

AJ Dubler is a stop motion animator, 2D animator, and storyboard artist. They have experience working on stop motion productions and creating their own films. AJ is the recipient of the Presidential Scholarship at SAIC and graduated with distinction in Fall 2023.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

"A Bird Hit My Window and Now I'm a Lesbian" is our debut short film. The ultimate message of the film is the rejection of the desire for male validation. For many women and femme people, male desire and attention acts as a social currency. Many women rely on this desire for validation as well as self and social worth. Realizing one's lesbian identity forces one to acknowledge and process this. Coming out often means a rejection and mourning of this previous life. When a bird hits a window, it is generally a male bird seeing his reflection and believing it is a rival attempting to usurp his territory or his women. He flies into the window to destroy his rival. In this case, his rival is femme queerness. In a male-dominated heteronormative world, it is the death of the bird that acts as the catalyst to the film.

We structure the film into three parts. Act one is the rejection of the desire for male attention. Act two is the intimacy and intensity of one's first lesbian relationship. Act three is acceptance.

Our film uses humor intertwined with vulnerability to tell a unique story of love and grief for oneself.