About this project

CLICK PLAY ABOVE TO WATCH OUR TINY LITTLE TRAILER!!!

Chapter One

In the first chapter of Michelle Tea's legendary novel Valencia, you the reader experience first-hand what the first few weeks in San Francisco can feel like for a young queer punk girl.  In this introductory chapter, you see that while Michelle is a naive creature in San Francisco, she can see right through the falsities and frailties of this exclusive queer community – perhaps more than they can see themselves. 

We are asking for $1000, which is less than the entire cost of the film. This is the minimum amount that we will need to make ends meet. Anything above our goal will only make the creation of this project more and more possible and all the more beautiful, and take less out of our starving punk rock artist pockets. Thank you!!!

"I want the audience to make a connection that these kinds of interactions – the kind a queer woman tends to experience when she first moves to the bay of confusion, creativity, insatiable lust, wonder, exclusivity, rejection, and revelations – could happen anywhere, to anybody, and let all of the following chapters play off of that idea." - Courtney Trouble, director

"Valencia’s first chapter contains a graphic and somewhat hilarious fisting scene, and I thought it would be really great to hand that part of the book off to someone who is not afraid of such things! Hence alt-porn producer Courtney Trouble of No Fauxxx will be kicking off the 21-film salute. "  - Michelle Tea, author of Valencia

This short film intends to keep the DIY (do-it-yourself) punk rock style of film-making using high production values. We are shooting on a rented Canon 7D and have built our own dolly's, tripods, and other shooting equipment. 

The Project

Valencia (The Movies), is an epic, independent collaboration between 21 filmmakers, each of who has accepted the challenge of translating one chapter of the award-winning novel Valencia into a 5-minute short film. Bringing together filmmakers and other media artists, including photographers and video artists, Valencia will retell the cult classic story of one twenty-something queer girl’s romp through 1990s San Francisco, earnestly chasing down urban adventure with a down-the-rabbit-hole sense of wonder. Each filmmaker will shoot their chapter with their own cast, in their own style, and according to their own interpretation, bringing 21 different reads to this dyke adventure story. Once completed, the string of films can and will be shown together, as well as each be able to stand alone as short narrative films, creating 21 short films that operate together to tell a sprawling and energized narrative.