Private Project

Bittersweet

BITTERSWEET is an immersive, non-linear look at a timeless love that is cut short by maternal mortality.

  • Myrakel N Baker
    Director
  • Luca Del Puppo
    Producer
    "Green Book" "Glass"
  • Myrakel Baker
    Producer
  • Laughton Royce
    Key Cast
    "Gilded Age"
  • Safiya Harris
    Key Cast
    "Our Town"
  • Luca Del Puppo A.I.C.
    Director of Photography
    "Green Book" "Glass"
  • Filipp Penson
    Assistant Camera
    "Captain America: Civil War" "Green Book""
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 46 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 30, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    35mm Film
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Myrakel N Baker

Writer/Director/Producer: Myrakel Baker is a passionate artist based in both New York City and Texas. She produces character-driven stories rooted in identity and belonging. Throughout the years, she's worked in various positions in television and film, including the critically-acclaimed documentary PELOSI IN THE HOUSE (HBO) and THE JINX (HBO).

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Director Statement

“This film sublimely captures the inspirational resilience of a young couple. The story weaves the couple’s unyielding quest for love and overcoming the trauma and heartbreak of losing a partner to health complications.”
- Myrakel Baker, Director

In 2020, the news was inundated with statistics like: “Black women are three times as likely to die from labor complications.” Despite growing awareness of these issues and medical advancements over time, the numbers of Black women dying in childbirth have continued to climb.

BITTERSWEET is at the intersection of race, gender and identity and driven by my experience and advocacy of my sister’s birthing experiences. This film is representative of my desire to explore maternal mortality with nuance and through character-driven lens, as well as my interest in hybrid approaches to narrative and experimental film.

Through the memory of the couple, the two lead the audience into a parallel narrative of the beginning of their love story. The present and past create overlapping stories that will give the narrative a considerable emotional charge, given that the current story of Kim’s pregnancy is still unfolding.

We will overlap several levels – material, emotional, human, intimate -- at the narrative level and in the cinematography and film editing, emphasizing different colors, rhythm changes, original music and audio effects created in support of different settings and moods.