Experiencing Interruptions?

Pretty Little Pills

A headstrong and jaded high school student engages in ever-deepening self-destruction and romanticizations of her own suicide in a struggle against clinical depression.

  • Nicole Heetland
    Director
    What Goes Unsaid
  • Nicole Heetland
    Writer
    Orbit, Unorthodox, What Goes Unsaid
  • Jaime Zurzolo
    Producer
    Highly Functioning, Who Killed Lonnie Jones?, The Hardest Decision
  • Sydney DoZois
    Key Cast
    "Harlow"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 10, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    4K
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of Colorado Denver
  • University of Colorado Denver CineFest 2019
    Denver
    May 10, 2019
    Best Junior Project
Director Biography - Nicole Heetland

Nicole Heetland is an award-winning filmmaker and aspiring force of nature. Her whole life has been a love affair with the arts, but she is drawn to film because it synthesizes writing, visual art, and music – three of her passions. Nicole was a nationally award-winning journalist and editor-in-chief for the newsmagazine The Lake. It was during this time that she discovered her passion for storytelling. Her main interest in film lies in writing and directing. She is currently pursuing a BFA at the University of Colorado Denver.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I wrote this film, in short, to illustrate the complexity of depression. Even with all the pain it brought, depression became a friend to me, a sort of home that was hard to leave. After a while, It was difficult to see past that darkness and fight through it or against it. Pretty Little Pills tells the story of a girl who needs to manifest her emotional pain, to see it and know it’s real, and is a result of this desire in myself.