Bad Blood

On an Autumn Friday, 10-year-old Olivia receives her period for the first time. However, she shields the truth from her mother, Sharon, and her older sister, Andrea, in hopes of attending a sleepover at the family's church. Blind to her young sister's experience, Andrea continues to defy her mother's wishes as she searches for freedom and her identity outside of their family unit. Unable to communicate as they wish they could, these two sisters find themselves navigating their coming-of-age stories as they try to overcome the guilt of their shame together.

  • Caitlyn Johnson
    Director
    Seeds, THOTless, Off Day
  • Caitlyn Johnson
    Writer
  • Marshall Wayne Cooper
    Director of Photography
  • Caitlyn Johnson
    Producer
  • Andreas Nicholas
    Producer
  • Madison Spicer
    Key Cast
    "Olivia"
  • Chinonyerem Achilike
    Key Cast
    "Dre"
  • Bernice Wallace
    Key Cast
    "Sharon"
  • Lauralie Mufute
    Key Cast
    "Bri"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Coming of Age
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 16 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    6,100 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - NYU Tisch School of the Arts -- Kanbar Institute of Film and Television
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Caitlyn Johnson

Caitlyn Johnson is an award-winning filmmaker and is currently an MFA candidate at Tisch School of the Art’s Kanbar Film Institute. Her background includes cinematography, editing, and development concentrated in interdisciplinary and radical storytelling. In 2018, CJ co-created and directed the highly acclaimed web series, Seeds (OTV), which follows four Black young women while navigating relationships through their friendship and conversation. CJ’s work has allowed her to develop her own creative outlets for Black filmmaking. As CJ continues to evolve as a writer and director, she hopes to continue the tradition of Black storytelling as it pertains to the expansive and varying Black experience in the U.S.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I am drawn to storytelling that reflects Black girlhood through its varying stages. These stages offer life-changing experiences that alter our trajectory and give insight into lessons we keep as we are molded into autonomous individuals. What is unique about stories of Black girlhood is our understanding of the world and how that world may view us in return. With that in mind, I wanted to interrogate the formative lessons of my own life and how experiences of my youth are prevalent in my day-to-day life as a Black woman.

What I was able to trace led me back to my body and the two emotions I quickly began to associate with this vessel: shame and embarrassment. This film investigates how our environments and familiar relationships lie pivotal in the roadmaps of our lives. Furthermore, it attempts to relay the tradition of the Black Coming of Age stories. Burnett’s My Brother’s Wedding, Lee’s Crooklyn, and Lemmons’ Eve’s Bayou have greatly influenced my understanding of the genre and how that looks when the Black experience is centered in those narratives.

These films prompted me to ask myself what a Coming of Age story looked like for Black youth from traditional backgrounds growing up just as the world around them began to rapidly change.