Light Go Shining

After the fall of Roe v. Wade, the lives of two women in Louisiana intersect: a pregnant 16-year-old and a second-wave women’s rights activist (80s) at the end of her life. This is a story about the fallout. This is a story about collective grief. This is a story about how each generation continues to fight. Ultimately, this is a story about two women.
Project type: Fiction Short
Project status: Production
Writer/Director: Max Olson
Producer: Corrine Dye
Co-Producer: Julia Corcoran
Cinematographer: Audrey Biche
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Logline
After the fall of Roe v. Wade, the lives of two women in Louisiana intersect: a pregnant 16-year-old and a second-wave women’s rights activist (80s) at the end of her life. This is a story about the fallout. This is a story about collective grief. This is a story about how each generation continues to fight. Ultimately, this is a story about two women.
Synopsis
In the dark hallway of a house, Jo (80) looks at herself in the mirror. Her younger days as a women’s liberation activist in the 1960s feel far away as she hears the sound of the news playing out of her palliative care nurse’s phone. She asks her nurse to play an old tape for her, a video she captured of a powerful women’s rights protest.
Across town, BILLIE (16), a sharply perceptive force of nature, finds out that she is pregnant. Living in a state in which abortions are illegal, she desperately seeks help by asking the father, HUNTER (16), to drive her twelve hours out of state. Scared and immature, Hunter ignores her and Billie finds herself entirely alone. Angry and terrified, Billie stands in a sea of bodies in a dark auditorium, singing with her school choir.
This land is your land. The camera creeps towards her.
This land is my land. Her face goes pale.
This land was made for you and me. She rushes out of the room.
The school nurse sends her to meet her mother, SARAH (45), who happens to work as a nursing aid for Jo. When Billie’s conservative mother ignores her, Billie walks into a dark hallway and screams into her sweatshirt, losing hope that she will find release. She hears the sound of a video of women yelling in the streets playing in the other room. Billie walks into Jo’s bedroom and sees the old video playing. The two women watch together, transfixed by the power of the images. Jo reaches out and touches Billie’s hand.
Billie walks out into the blue of the evening light and watches a group of little girls play freely in the street. She looks into the camera, staring directly at us.
Meet the Filmmakers
Max Olson – Writer/Director
Max Olson (they/them) is a non-binary writer-director and video artist based in Los Angeles. Their multifaceted work explores alienation, gender and the body, aiming to hold up a mirror to the restrictive structures of our world with an eye towards transcendence. Max has an MFA in directing from the American Film Institute and was a 2023 Telluride Festival FilmLAB fellow. Their short film Nico will premiere in competition at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and was shortlisted for a CANNES LIONS Young Director Award.
Corrine Dye – Producer
Corrine Dye (she/her) is a story-centered producer. Her talents lie in fostering unique narrative projects—bringing an idea to life from initial concept through final delivery. She is recognized for her ability to identify an artist’s voice and draw their intent to the forefront in development. In building relationships with creatives and crews, she is trusted as a calm and decisive leader on set. Corrine has a BS in Business from University of Denver and an MFA in Producing from the American Film Institute. Prior to narrative film, Corrine’s background is in producing advertising and music videos, working for North Six, a global collective of image creators.
Julia Corcoran – Co-Producer
Julia Corcoran (she/her) is a film and television producer from Sydney, Australia. Currently residing in Los Angeles studying producing at the American Film Institute Conservatory as the recipient of the Screen Australia – AAA – Onbass Scholarship. Before moving to LA she worked in varying producing capacities on titles including Mr Inbetween (2018-2021), Judy & Punch (2019), Top End Wedding (2019) and Dom and Adrian (2020).
Audrey Biche – Cinematographer
Born in France and raised in Barcelona, Shanghai, and the Caribbean, Audrey Biche (she/her) is a cinematographer currently in Los Angeles. A graduate of the American Film Institute, she has worked as a camera operator and cinematographer on narrative films as well as indie documentaries throughout France, Italy, Bulgaria, Kenya, and the United States.
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Contact
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