Hidden Flora (Queer Feature Film) Finishing Funds

My name is Ryan Rox. I am a queer, Latine Director, Writer, and Actor of Trans Non-Binary experience, living and working in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I currently work as the Artist Support Manager at the film organization Femme Frontera, supporting marginalized Femme and Non-Binary filmmakers of color from border regions, with an emphasis on those in Las Cruces, El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. I've written and directed several short films including SHIPPING THEM - an autobiographical dramedy that explores navigating gender identity as a closeted, queer, Latine youth in a border town; while being raised by parents dealing with divorce, alcoholism and generational toxic masculinity. I'm grateful to have showcased my work at TRANSlations, The Bush Films, Santa Fe Film Festival, Melbourne Women In Film, Cine Las Americas, and many more. My work and I have been supported by Femme Frontera’s Filmmaker Grant with mentorship from Aitch Alberto(Dir. "Aristotle and Dante Explore the Secrets of the Universe"); and Film Fatales’ Fatales Forward Fellowship with mentorship from Olivia Peace(Dir. "Tahara"). My primary filmmaking focus is telling queer stories from a queer perspective, while creating jobs for LGBTQIA+ individuals, bringing awareness to our humanity, and sparking empathy in those unfamiliar with and possibly misinformed about the community.

Since 2020, I’ve written and directed four unique short films that each helped me tackle different traumas of my past. “Crawl” uncovered my desire to help real people and families through the power of film. “Quiet Hours” was a means of digging deeper into the monster that is addiction and my first venture into exploring queerness on screen. “That Tingling Sensation” was my way of healing my heart, which was first broken by the loss of my stepdad at age 16. “Shipping Them” helped me work out my gender journey and was the most personal story I’d ever written, until now…

"Hidden Flora" is an autobiographical queer romantic dramedy feature that follows Roxii(played by Luca Silver), a non-binary trans femme hopeless romantic, as they reflect on formative past relationships. The film addresses the unspoken awkwardness and dangers of exploring one’s queer sexuality without queer sex education, as well as gender identity, sexual abuse, addiction and suicidality through a personal, therapeutic lens.

"Hidden Flora" has allowed me to explore the things I’ve put off dealing with for over a decade - my sexuality and sexual trauma that have shifted, crescendoed, and defined what sex means to me today. I just turned 30 and I wholeheartedly feel that once I realize this film, the final piece of my therapeutic puzzle, all the trauma of my life so far will be behind me. I will have a clear slate and can finally stop living in the past, and just start... living. I hope ripping the band-aid off and opening up about my deepest, darkest truths will help bandage others with similar wounds, especially queer others.

Why is Queer Representation Important?

"It can be an incredibly isolating experience for someone to question their sexuality or gender identity, but queer media representation shows them that they're not alone. A person may not realize that others have gone through something similar to themselves, or even that their experience has a name. Being able to recognize what they have gone through on-screen, perhaps without ever having tried to put it in words before, can be an incredibly liberating experience. This is especially true for less visible or understood labels such as non-binary gender identities."

-Autumn Cejer

We officially finished filming principal photography on July 16, 2023. We filmed the entire film in 14 days entirely in New Mexico.

Our fundraising goal of $10,000 will be used for post-production expenses, including editing, special effects and graphics, sound, mixing(dialogue, score, Foley, ADR, etc.), music and photo licensing, color grading/correcting, closed captioning, and film festival submission fees and travel expenses.

Every donation of $1 or more gets your name in the credits, as a thank you from us to you!

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