The Concert

Farrah and Lisa hang out in Angie’s basement, waiting on her dad to give them a ride to their first big rock concert. Safe in their warm, wood paneled hang-out, they talk about boys and even rehearse their own fledging metal band – The Giant Feminist Electric Mares! But their fun and excitement is cut short. They face what so many women face. And they face it together. A realistic coming of age story that pulls no punches told from the girl’s point of view.

  • Elizabeth Bourgeois
    Director
    Avenue Q (Broadway/Off-Broadway Associate Costume Designer)
  • Elizabeth Bourgeois
    Writer
  • Hays Hitzing
    Producer
    Hostile
  • Nancy Nagrant
    Producer
    Miracle Baby
  • Grace Malartsik
    Key Cast
    "Angie"
  • Sophie Ryann Farnan
    Key Cast
    "Lisa"
  • Demitris Owens Jr.
    Key Cast
    "Farrah"
  • Tyler Williams
    Cinematographer
  • Stephen Takashima
    Editor
  • Darren Morze
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Coming of Age, Girl's Stories, Women's Stories
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 34 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 30, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Elizabeth Bourgeois

Liz Bourgeois is a designer and director with twenty years of credits including Big Apple Circus, Broadway, Lincoln Center, AMC, MTV, VH1, and PBS. Film Designs include 2023's Spider and Jessie (starring Mckenna Grace, Dacre Montgomery & Jesse Williams), The Winged Man (written by José Rivera), Andy Across the Water, and Strings. Her directing and writing work have been shown in the American Living Room, New York and Midtown International Fringe Festivals. Her designs have been commissioned by Marriott, Ricoh Copiers, and the US Open; and exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial and Kennedy Center. Her writing, design and direction have been awarded an Emerging Filmmaker Grant from Film Florida and the Arts of Citizenship grant from the state of Michigan, and received commendation from the Ohio House of Representatives. She has been an Artist in Residence at Yale, MassMOCA, and Bard. She has an MFA in Design for Theatre and Film from NYU. She resides in Tampa Florida.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The directorial focus is on creating tension with a focus on time, conveying the “waiting” experience of early teen life. Girls are so often forced to wait – for their parents, for boys, to be told what to do, or to be shown what they are.

Part slice-of-life and part suspense film, the story describes one formative night in three girl's lives. Independently minded outsiders obsessed with rock, romance, and rebellion, they face hard lessons on female adulthood.

The camera moves through their home with the girls and mother who inhabit it. The pacing is purposeful, with time stretched out, the moments often lost in music. There is tangible apprehension and tension in the space, as they wait for their lives to start. A wall clock acts as a metronome, providing a sensory pulse of the young girls lives on hold.

The time period for the film is purposefully ambiguous, floating vaguely in a late 20th and early 21st century. There is a specificity and precision to the production elements, with rich texture: wood wall paneling, afghan blankets, well-loved overalls, a father’s collection of records and instruments.

Music is central to the girls experience and worldview, as they seek out their individual and group identities in pop music terms. Imbued with girl power, girl rock, teen idealism and endless possibility, they reference Sonic Youth, Sinead O'Conner and Garbage, with Britney Spears and Screaming Females thrown in for good measure. In their basement jam session, we hear the first glimpse of their future riot girl sound.

The climax of the film is jarring and potentially alienating. Unreal in its brutality, but all too familiar to women around the world. While the girls are not the direct victims, they are victimized in the moment.

Faced with a choice at the end, their finished song soars over the closing credits.