Private Project

A Single Evening

"A Single Evening" is a queer musical short film about dating and loneliness. Minnie, an annoyed and single bisexual woman, navigates her way through yet another lonely night while personified dating apps serenade her with songs about her inability to find love.

  • Ashlei Hardenburg-Cartagena
    Writer
  • Ashlei Hardenburg-Cartagena
    Director
  • Jose Alvarez
    Producer
    Killer Unicorn
  • AJ Mattioli
    Producer
    Killer Unicorn
  • Rebecca Hidalgo
    Key Cast
    "Minnie"
  • Karolena Theresa
    Key Cast
    "Kasey"
  • Ashley Monique Menard
    Key Cast
    "Ms. Match"
  • Jenna Sofia
    Key Cast
    "Drea"
  • Chris Jehnert
    Key Cast
    "Tim"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Musical, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 50 seconds
  • Production Budget:
    11,400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED, Sony A7S
  • Aspect Ratio:
    21 x 9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Ashlei Hardenburg-Cartagena

Ashlei Hardenburg-Cartagena is a queer Germa-Rican from Jersey City, New Jersey. Raised on cheerleading and Bon Jovi, she considers herself a karaoke princess with a passion for drama. After graduating from Vassar College with a B.F.A. in Film, she worked production in New York on shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Her TV pilot script Jersey Rican was a quarterfinalist in the 2018 Final Draft Big Break Competition - Diversity Category, and a quarterfinalist in the WeScreenplay TV Pilot Contest in 2019. She was the Roadmap Writer's September 2019 Diversity Initiative winner. She also produced the student documentary Paper State: Undocumented, Unafraid, Undeterred, which won Best Student Documentary at the American Pavilion in the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

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Director Statement

Nobody wants to be alone. At least that’s what I told myself when I was surfing through various online dating apps, eager to find anyone to fill the void. I wrote songs about my online dating experience, and so a musical was born.

A SINGLE EVENING is a dark comedy; a story about Minnie, a bisexual Latina, struggling with online dating and loneliness. It’s not just about trying to find a date or someone to hook up with, it’s about the process of self-curation. Each app seems to call for a different version of YOU. That process of selecting the best parts of yourself (or even making them up) is a soul crushing experience. Turns out, Minnie and I weren't the only ones who felt this way.

After sharing the script, I found that others were relating to Minnie’s story about confusion and heartache in the dating world. Beyond self-curation, the musical script tackled the complex emotions behind the concept of dating. In the opening song, “Pressure,” the lyrics directly address: “Are you happy with yourself? Do you need somebody else?” This implies that someone else might make you happy. But why would you need someone else? Just so you don’t have to be alone right now? Because you might find ‘‘the one?’ No one really knows how to answer that, and I was moved to bring this story to life so that others could know they weren’t alone in answering these questions.

In this nuanced, musical exploration of the online dating scene, I wanted dating apps to be personified to exemplify the versions of ‘selves’ Minnie had created in each app. After being abandoned by friends because of their obsession with dating and apps, Minnie finds solace by deleting these apps so she can get closer to reclaiming her true self, not the various advertised ones. I want everyone who watches this film to find the humor in it, I want them to find something to relate to and, most of all, I want them to know that they are not alone.