Experiencing Interruptions?

NOW AND NEVER

In a visual and sonic love letter to filmmaking, NOW AND NEVER’s ever-changing aspect ratios and color palette help navigate the fractured, claustrophobic mind of Harriet, a woman in the midst of an anxiety attack, as she is visited by the embodiment of the voices in her head. In an effort to outrun their taunting and depression, Harriet digs into her ancestral memory to banish their influence, realizing she must be present in order to awaken to win priority in her own life. Adapted from trans playwright and 2019 O’Neill finalist Natalie Nicole Dressel’s stage play and starring Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier (HBOMAX's The Sex Lives of College Girls) disappearing into all five roles, the film also reflects cultural elements from the producing team’s ancestral roots such as a lullaby sung in Malayalam and a dance to Carnatic percussion to demonstrate the full apotheosis of Harriet’s mental health healing journey.

  • Kymberly Harris
    Director
    Rose's Turn, FAITH, I Heard Sarah
  • Natalie Nicole Dressel
    Writer
  • Kymberly Harris
    Adapted by
    Rose's Turn, FAITH, I Heard Sarah
  • Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier
    Producer
    East Bay, Boris and the Bomb
  • Rohi Mirza Pandya
    Producer
    Hiding Divya, Modern Day Arranged Marriage
  • Anu Hodges
    Producer
    These Thems, All Hale
  • Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier
    Key Cast
    "Harriet, Memba, Willabee, Now & Never"
    NCIS LA (CBS), The Sex Lives of College Girls (HBOMAX), Just Add Magic (Amazon), Criminal Minds (CBS), Heroes (NBC)
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 16, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    45,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4k UHD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Valley Film Festival
    Los Angeles, California
    United States
    August 6, 2022
    World Premiere/North American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Chicago South Asian Film Festival
    Chicago, Illinois
    United States
    September 24, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Chelsea Film Festival
    New York, New York
    United States
    October 15, 2022
    East Coast Premiere
    Official Selection
  • 4th Dimension Independent Film Festival
    Bali
    Indonesia
    October 26, 2022
    International Premiere
    Best Actress Winner
  • DC South Asian Film Festival
    Washington DC
    United States
    November 6, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Austin After Dark Film Festival
    Austin, Texas
    United States
    November 7, 2022
    Nominee: Best Dark Fantasy Short
  • New Filmmakers NY
    New York, New York
    United States
    October 25, 2022
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Kymberly Harris

Kymberly Harris is a Director/Writer/Producer and founder of Firsthand Films. She wrote and directed the award-winning shorts Rose’s Turn (2017), that was at Cannes, and FAITH (2018), winner of Best Short at New York City International Film Festival. Her feature film I HEARD SARAH is on a festival tour and won the Robert Rodriguez Best Indie Auteur Award at the Bare Bones International Film Festival (2021).

She has directed several plays in NYC and LA (Rogue Machine, Theatre for the New City, Pacific Resident Theatre). A published and produced playwright, several plays written by Kymberly have been produced in NYC (Cherry Lane, la mamma, Harold Clurman Theatre). Her play FAITH is the only drama published in the anthology, Proofread or Die!, featuring works by colleagues and friends of the late David Foster Wallace. She assisted James Ponsoldt and Jason Segel on the film The End of the Tour. Some acting credits include originating the role of Holly in Eric Simonson’s BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY opposite Tracy Letts, and the workshop of Terrence McNally’s IT’S ONLY A PLAY opposite Thomas Sadoski, Josh Radnor, and Lisa Kudrow.

Kymberly is interested in stories that personally deal with how we are formed by our families and by society, and how that affects our ability to connect to each other. Regardless of the scope or genre of the world of the story, her work is going to examine this thread of human relationship and consider the specific psychology of each character.

Themes of interest: family dysfunction, the arts, mental health, female empowerment, social consciousness

Instructor: Lee Strasberg Film and Theatre Institute
Acting Coach: Select private clients, including an Emmy winner.
Member: AEA, AFTRA, SAG, Dramatists Guild, Women in Film, Alliance of Women Directors
Voter: Ovation Committee

BA: Knox College in French
MA: Illinois State University in Theatre
MFA: The Actors Studio Drama School at the New School, Acting and Playwriting.

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Director Statement

To choose hope now is the greatest challenge of our lifetimes.

Stories of mental health and isolation are universally compelling and relatable, which is a truth certainly magnified via the recent global pandemic. We rediscover a sense of relationship with ourselves and to our sense of identity, particularly if we live alone as our main character Harriet does. When Harriet became isolated, the thoughts in her head amplified to a haunting place, one that tortured her about yearning for the past and contemplated about being better prepared for the future.

What unfolds is a battle between what happened, what might happen, and what’s happening right now. It’s an existential battle that Harriet must wage in order to tap into her struggle with her voices’ restrictive messaging in order to heal and integrate them to find freedom in being present. When we do that for ourselves, we discover what’s necessary to evolve past our limiting beliefs: Self Love.