Abby and Emily Go To Palm Springs

Two women try not to kill each other on their first vacation together aka a modern queer love story.

Abby is an artist, Emily is an army officer; they come from opposite worlds yet have fallen hard and fast for each other and must navigate their completely different love languages on the way to what could be forever or the end of the road. 
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In the tradition of John Cassavetes, Wong Kar Wai and Jane Campion, this short film takes a brief glimpse into the lives of two people in love trying to understand each other.

  • Hellin Kay
    Director
    Anatomy, Was Once
  • Hellin Kay
    Writer
    Anatomy, Was Once
  • Hellin Kay
    Producer
    Anatomy, Was Once
  • Nancy Degnan
    Producer
    Buck Run
  • Michelle L. Morby
    Producer
  • Jessie Cohen
    Key Cast
    "Abby"
    Good Trouble
  • Victoria Vico Ortiz
    Key Cast
    "Emily"
    American Horror Story, Vida
  • Jessalyn Wanlim
    Key Cast
    "Liz"
    Workin Moms
  • Bob Clendenin
    Key Cast
    "Bartender"
    Scrubs, Cougartown
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 14, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    35,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Red
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Hellin Kay

After emigrating from the Soviet Union to Baltimore Maryland as a kid Hellin picked up her first camera at 14 and has been telling stories with it ever since. Growing up on the East Coast she was heavily influenced by punk music, art and politics. She attended Bard College in New York, where she earned her BA & MFA in film, studying with Adolfas Mekas, Carolee Scheemann and Peggy Ahwesh, while writing and directing seven short films, all completed with loans, credit cards and scholarships.

Most recently she wrote, directed and produced the short film Abby and Emily Go To Palm Springs, which will premiere in 2020. She was a finalist for Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative and wrote, directed and produced the film Anatomy, which screened at New Filmmakers NY in 2018. Her films, Borscht, Barry Paul, Every Woman Was Once A Little Girl With Dreams and Was Once A Girl were all screened and honored at multiple US film festivals. Her film Every Woman Was Once A Little Girl with Dreams (with a cameo from punk music legend Ian MacKaye) was selected by Miranda July for the first Miss Moviola Project. She wrote, directed and produced Was Once A Girl on location in Moscow Russia, which screened at the IFFM in New York and was written up as a “One To Watch” by Amy Taubin in the Village Voice and Mary Glucksman in Filmmaker Magazine and then won Best Short at the San Diego Film Festival.

She is currently developing a feature film on Janis Joplin’s senior year of high school and a female centered pilot on the world of entertainment as well as developing Intimate Lies, a scripted series based on the true account of British Gossip columnist Sheila Graham's three-year relationship with writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, while he struggled through his last few years of life in Hollywood, during the 30’s and 40’s.

In between, Hellin has directed and produced numerous music videos, branded content, and advertising while also working as a photographer and fashion director for clients all over the world including Vogue Russia, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar Russia, i-D, Nylon and Spoon Paris.

She is an avid road tripper, music lover, and film fanatic.

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