Blush

Amidst the humidity of a bustling metropolis, a group of teenagers navigates identity, friendship, and the messiness of growing up. The girls' basketball season has come to an end, and summer break feels closer than ever before. Tonight, Nadia explores a first love. Best friends Alex and Leah are forced to say goodbye as graduation nears. Mina struggles with an all-consuming crush. 

Blush takes an improvisational approach, blending characteristics of the actors' real lives to create an authentic snapshot of youth in Singapore. 

  • Ana Chavez
    Director
  • Ana Chavez
    Writer
  • Bill Gentry
    Executive Producer
  • Ana Chavez
    Executive Producer
  • Mitchka Saberi
    Producer
    She Raised Me, The Golden Cage
  • Zhi Qi Yeo
    Producer
    The Old Man and His Car, Tequila Sunset, Fishbowl
  • Cheryl Tan
    Producer
  • Kai Milla Karunanithi
    Key Cast
  • João Guilherme Fonseca da Silva
    Key Cast
  • Jade Clementine Weckx
    Key Cast
  • Phoebe Summer Wadham
    Key Cast
  • Mary Rose Jacob
    Key Cast
  • Shiao-ya Huang
    Director of Photography
  • Ana Chavez
    Editor
  • Tate Egon Chavez
    Composer
  • Ethan Zeitman
    Sound Designer
    All the Walls Came Down, This Really Happened, Dirty Towel
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Coming-of-Age
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Singapore
  • Country of Filming:
    Singapore
  • Language:
    English, Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • WAVE Grant Showcase
Director Biography - Ana Chavez

Born in LA & raised in Singapore, Ana Chavez is an LA-based filmmaker & video artist. She holds a BA in Film from UC Santa Barbara, where she first explored storytelling through documentary editing.

In 2021, her short script Her and I won Best Screenplay at the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s 10-10-10 Program. The film screened at multiple regional festivals, picking up nominations for Best Comedy and Best Actress at the Official Latino Film Festival in Palm Springs. Ana was awarded the Wavelength Grant in 2025.

Ana enjoys filming on Super 8, & has documented for Living Earth, Leaving Records, A Club Called Rhonda, & dublab. She’s also a mentor at Las Fotos Project in Boyle Heights.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In March of 2023, after seven years of living in California, I visited my hometown of Singapore. What I expected to be a celebratory and grounding homecoming, turned out to be a sweaty and confusing few months.

The trip was a reminder of all the complicated nuances I felt growing up as a Chicana in Southeast Asia, floating in both worlds and not feeling rooted in either. “Where are you from?” has always been a stressful question.

As I looked around at my bedroom walls, filled with album art I had slipped out of CDs, notes and photographs collected from friends, so many memories of my teen years came flooding back to me. I was amazed at how much of myself I had left behind in Singapore. I reminisced on all the late nights, staying up talking to a first crush, or sharing belly laughter with friends in bustling hawker stalls. It's these relationships and memories that have grounded me in this limbo of where I feel I belong.

I dedicate Blush to the kids who don't quite know where home is, to the third culture kids searching for themselves. Through a teenage gaze, Blush embraces identity as a complicated discovery, a collage of memories that evolves with each world one explores, and person they connect with.