Private Project

MAD SUMMER

A lonely 13-year-old girl longs to skateboard like her older brother, but when she finally gets her hands on his board, she finds herself alone and unprepared.

  • Larissa Salazar
    Writer
  • Larissa Salazar
    Director
  • Jessica Stossel
    Producer
  • Larissa Salazar
    Writer/Director
  • Emu Haynes
    Cinematographer
  • Aleia Jacobs
    Editor
  • Paola Michaela
    Production Designer
  • Ryan McGovern
    Key Cast
  • Isabella Nossa
    Key Cast
  • Bombette Martin
    Key Cast
    Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Coming of age
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 20, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • NFFTY Story Starts Here Screenplay Competition

    Best Short Screenplay
  • Bridgeport Film Festival

    Finalist
Director Biography - Larissa Salazar

Originally from Fairfield, CT, Larissa moved to Southern California to pursue Film Production and Peace Studies at Chapman University. She is both a writer and a director pursuing humanistic stories with social themes. Her passion for empathy and desire to eradicate apathy drives her filmmaking. She actively uses her Peace Studies degree to inform her creative processes.

In her free time she loves to read, write, listen to music and podcasts, camp, hike, and learn about new topics.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

As a long-time fan of coming-of-age films, it has always been a dream of mine to make one. Even though Mad Summer has a lot of skateboarding, action, and a few stunts, at its core, it is the sincere and delicate story of a young girl growing up. I want to tell this story to increase the representation of female skateboarders in the media and explore their place in popular culture. I'd like to put the skateboarding community on display with this film and show both its positive and negative elements. Skate culture can be amazingly welcoming, but it can also be toxic and misogynistic. Take, for example, one of the world's most prolific and successful skaters, Nyjah Huston, who once said he "personally believes that skateboarding is not for girls at all. Not one bit." My hope is that Mad Summer will prove him wrong.
My main connection to this story can be seen in the sibling dynamic. As a child, I absolutely adored and idolized my older brother. He was the coolest person in the world; it was my personal mission to replicate and impress him. If I didn't have his approval, I had nothing. I wanted to be involved in everything he was involved in. Even though he could be mean, it was obvious how much he cared about me. His tough-guy front was paper-thin. He was always ready to protect and defend me. In this sense, Mad Summer was particularly easy to write because I drew directly from what it was like to grow up with him. In many ways, this story is an ode to my older brother and is very close to my heart.