Mary is a teenage girl living in Nazareth in the year Zero (but speaking
in modern dialogue). She’s a normal teen: horny. But when Mary gets
knocked up by a hot, married shepherd, and might get STONED to death
for adultery, she and her gay best friend Joseph hatch a plan to save
their lives in this cuckoo patriarchal town.
They’ll convince everybody that God made Mary pregnant --
with the new Messiah.
Carter Huang
Weixiang "Carter" Huang, hailing from Xiamen, China, is a graduate of Michigan State University's Media & Information program. Carter's journey with editing began in middle school, where he continuously utilized his resources and knowledge to create, realizing the emotive power of editing. He has been involved in the editing and sound design of over 30 short films, documentaries, commercials, and mini-series. At the same time, he is passionate about cultures and history. During his college years, he minored in Japanese literature. Currently, he is editing a short film from Bangladesh. Now, as an editor, 2D compositor, and sound designer, he seeks to explore comedy editing techniques and inspire emotions through a harmonious blend of sound and visuals.
EDITOR
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Jodi Savitz
JODI SAVITZ is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a Bachelor of Arts in
Theatre and Gender Studies and also studied filmmaking at the Universidad
Nacional de las Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Based in NYC, Savitz worked as a
professional cinematographer and director, capturing both narrative and verité
stories with political, religious, and LGBTQ themes. Her first feature film, GIRL ON
GIRL (2016) received viral attention - with over 500,000 Facebook followers - for its
representation of the LGBTQ community and feminine lesbian identity. In 2019,
Savitz spoke at SXSW and NAB on Panasonic's panel on socially conscious
filmmaking.
Hector Martinez
PRODUCER
Hector Martinez is a story-centered producer. In building relationships with
creatives and crews, he is trusted as a calm and decisive leader on set, Thanks
to years of Catholic guilt! Hector's background is creating content for many
notable brands for over ten years, such as Virgin Voyages, Carnival Corp., Tim
Horton's, Disney, and St. Jude Children's Hospital. His short film ROAM was
featured in the South Florida PBS filmmaker series, which resulted in a regional
Emmy® nomination for Directing. While his confessions might not make it to the
big screen, the next time you see him on set, remember that he's producing his
way to redemption, one film at a time!
Ali Rosenthal
DIRECTOR / WRITER
Ali Rosenthal was born in New York City, to a Jewish dad and a Christian mom. They
neither baptized nor bat mitzvahed her, and now she is very confused. She has
experience directing five narrative short films, social media ads for Bark Box (a dog toy
company) and Meet Cute (a Rom-Com podcast producer), and music videos (Pan
Arcadia’s “THE AIRPLANE SONG”). Ali also loves developing projects and worked in
development at Lyrical Media, where she helped produce the film HOW TO BLOW UP A
PIPELINE. She’s loved honing her craft at the AFI Conservatory, where director Allan
Arkush said she has gotten “very confident with where to put the camera.” Score!!
When she was younger she had dreams she was the Virgin Mary.
Abbie Vance
Abbie Vance has 10 years of experience in Art Departments for film and
television. Her passion for all aspects of visual storytelling has taken her
into the roles of Production Designer, Art Director, Property Master, and
more. A graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory with an MFA
in Production Design (class of 2022), her film credits include Art Director for
THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW (2020) and Propmaster for NINE DAYS (2021).
Her commercial Production Design clients include Entrata and Team Liquid,
and her speculative work includes concepts for Steven Soderberg’s THE
KNICK and Disney’s JOHN CARTER. Abbie loves big stories that inspire big
feelings, and learning new things as often as possible.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
- I used to have dreams that I was the Virgin Mary. The dreams were so vivid and
frequent that I kind of thought… well what if I am?! So, right before I planned to lose
my virginity, I literally prayed and gave God a couple days’ notice in case God wanted
to make any impregnation moves. I was like:
- Dear God, I am planning on Doing It. If there was any truth to those dreams of
immaculate conception… now’s sort of the time. Basically just giving you a heads
up. Respectfully… you have 72 hours. Amen.
- Mind you, I wasn’t raised religious. Mary wasn’t a part of my life growing up in
secular, liberal Manhattan. So why did she pop up so much in my dreams and my
ideas about virginity?!
- Because JudeoChristian beliefs are ingrained in Western society, Mary has long been
the blueprint (conscious or unconscious) for how women are supposed to act: pure,
virginal, obedient, pious, gentle, and unquestioning.
- But this blueprint is totally unattainable!! I mean, come on, who was the architect on
this thing?! Women can’t be virginal and also a mother! So we fail one way or another,
and we feel ashamed. I strongly believe that the worship of Mary’s virginity (and
equating it with her moral purity) has directly led to a shame around sex that is
emotionally and physically harmful to girls and women all around the world. And,
coincidentally, shame is really good at keeping people unempowered.
- So, we’re retelling the Bible’s most sacred story, but with a teen Mary who loved sex. She’s
just a normal 16-year-old (and “16” is generous) teenage girl, who’s mean to her mom,
makes mistakes, gets horny, and lies about things. She’s a real person, not some ideal!!
- Oh, and Joseph is quite gay. So the town of Nazareth doesn’t really like either of them.
- We’re satirizing the conservative ideologies of the biblical world, many of which are still at work
today. Religion can be beautiful, but not when it’s used to oppress women and the LGBTQ+
community!
- Ali Rosenthal
Writer/Director, “TEEN MARY”
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Ali Rosenthal (Director)/ ali.r.rosenthal@gmail.com
Hector Martinez (Producer) / hec.martinez13@gmail.com
Get in Touch!