A sweet, faithful Christian finds herself drawn to a new openly lesbian woman in her Bible study, forcing her to either challenge her learned homophobia or risk burying her own hidden identity forever.
The Purpose: Why? |
The StoryOur story follows Willows, a young woman who has spent her life devoted to her work in the church, but who struggles to accept a key aspect of her identity: that she’s gay. Instead of facing what should be a simple fact of life, she is taught to ignore it, choosing instead to remain the perfect, ideal example of what it means to be “Christian”. However, this all comes crashing down around Willow when she finds herself drawn to Keoni, a new (and proudly queer) member of her Bible study. As her relationship with Keoni deepens, the pressure starts to rise: after all these years, does Willow really want to continue on the “straight and narrow” path that she was taught?
This is a thought-provoking, heartfelt depiction of one girl’s journey navigating identity and faith, and learning to embrace life with all its quirky, confusing twists and turns. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and most of all you’ll become deeply enamored with the beautiful, unorthodox love story that is Petrichor. |
While this is not a “Christian” film, it is a film that deals heavily with the topic of religion.
The effect of conservative Christianity has been especially harmful to queer individuals. We are seeking to present an alternate narrative: that being gay and faithful are not mutually exclusive. Being queer shouldn't determine our outlook on faith. We should have the freedom to be ourselves authentically, even if we call church home. We want to be clear: this is not about drawing people to the church. Rather, it is an effort to help heal some of the wounds the LGBTQ+ community has sustained from conservative religions, and to give a voice to a small percentage of the population that do find their identities in both the queer community and the church. We simply want to create a constructive space that illustrates how queerness and faith can coexist. As queer individuals who have struggled with faith and queerness firsthand, our aim is to help people battling with their understanding of queerness and faith to feel empowered to own their full, nuanced identities, and to help spark conversations of where queerness and religion can positively intersect. |
Why Portland?
It's no coincidence that Portland, Oregon is the setting for this film. Audrey could have chosen to shoot this film in California where many of her filmmaking peers are. However, she chose Portland because it has an incredibly diverse and accepting queer and ally community that has inspired this film's creation. When Audrey first moved to Portland a year ago, her life completely changed-- she found a community of people who wanted to support and protect each other. She was also in awe of the number of churches in the city that hang Pride flags on their buildings. Out of gratitude for how much moving here has changed her life, she decided to film this in the city that is near and dear to her heart.
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Community Support
There are so many other ways to support our film in addition to donating money! Are you an individual with friends who might be interested in supporting this film? Do you have a business that may be able to help us? Do you have resources that can help us bring this film to life? You can be as creative in your donation as you want! For example, you can:
Let us know if you’d like to partner with us! We’d be more than happy to talk.
One of the simplest ways to support the film is by following us on social media! Like, comment under, and share our posts to help us reach a wider audience!
Instagram: @NovelteaFilms
Facebook: Noveltea Films
Tik Tok: @NovelteaFilms
Want to share with others, but don’t know what to say? Here are some examples that you are welcome to copy and paste. We want sharing to be an easy way to support!
Support @NovelteaFilms as they crowdfund for “Petrichor”, an LGBTQ+ short film that takes a unique view on faith and queerness! https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/petrichor
Just watched the pitch video for “Petrichor”! I’m so excited to support this LGBTQ+ production— check it out!
https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/petrichor
- Share about us! Whether that be by social media or word-of-mouth, anything helps!
- Want to go one step further and be credited as a social networker on the film? If you’ve got a good social reach, this may be a great fit for you. Reach out to us and we’ll talk about what that means, and how you can take on that role.
Let us know if you’d like to partner with us! We’d be more than happy to talk.
One of the simplest ways to support the film is by following us on social media! Like, comment under, and share our posts to help us reach a wider audience!
Instagram: @NovelteaFilms
Facebook: Noveltea Films
Tik Tok: @NovelteaFilms
Want to share with others, but don’t know what to say? Here are some examples that you are welcome to copy and paste. We want sharing to be an easy way to support!
Support @NovelteaFilms as they crowdfund for “Petrichor”, an LGBTQ+ short film that takes a unique view on faith and queerness! https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/petrichor
Just watched the pitch video for “Petrichor”! I’m so excited to support this LGBTQ+ production— check it out!
https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/petrichor
Meet Our Team
The creative team involved in this production!
Audrey BoothWriter/Director/ProducerAudrey Booth is an award-winning actress, writer, and director. Her previous film, "Biracial Beauties", won entry into the A Place Called Sacramento Film Festival, where it was awarded the Community Spotlight award for its work in raising awareness about the often invisible struggles multiracial people face in today's world.
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Ren Parkwriter/director/producerRen Park is a graduate of Portland State University's film program. She also has a background in photography, and shot the concept photos for our film that you see above!
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