FLourish, A Film By Heather Maria Acs

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Flourish features a brilliant cast with an array of intersectional identities, including Black, Asian, and Latinx leads who are trans, nonbinary, and queer, as well as immigrant and disabled.

A fabulous drag queen must disentangle from an unhealthy relationship, while a young, non-binary couple attempts nonmonogamy. Can the magic of a queer dance party bring the lovers together and the transformative power of drag set this queen free?

The out, queer actors have been featured on shows such as Broad City, Empire, Shameless, and Ramy, and have worked with Ryan Murphy, Lucy Liu, and Kal Penn, among others. Flourish features Justin Sams (Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger ), Poppy Liu (NBC’s Sunnyside ), Becca Blackwell ( High Maintenance ), Delfín Cano, Oskar Gantuah, Summer Minerva, Morgan Sullivan ( Dirty, Sundance 2020), and Ryan J. Haddad who plays the beloved recurring role of “Andrew” in The Politician.

Fusing humour and authenticity, Flourish reaches beyond LGBTQ coming out stories and trauma narratives, offering a fresh and fashion-forward, intimate portrayal of queer, radical subcultures. The characters rally against the status quo in order to survive and thrive in a destructive world. It is through this divergence and its challenges, that they find joy, community, mutual support, and love.

Flourish features fabulous costumes by Dusty Lynn Childers ( The Shawl, Sundance 2020) with wardrobe provided by Garo Sparo ( Project Runway finalist 2019) and Diego Montoya ( RuPaul’s Drag Race ), and a soundtrack featuring QTBIPOC artists, Cakes da Killa, Ah-Mer-Ah-Su ( Billboard’s Top LGBT artists) , Delish Da Goddess ( TNT’s Claws), and Cristy Road Carrera ( Next World Tarot ).

Flourish is part of an anthology series of shorts about queer, underground culture produced by FemmePower Productions. The first project, Flu$h – about queer hustlers and a group domination session that goes awry – premiered at the prestigious LGBTQ film festivals, Outfest (Los Angeles) and Newfest (NYC), and was an official selection of Oaxaca Int’l Film Fest (Mexico), Contrast Film Fest (Austin), Long Beach Queer Film Festival, and Seattle Queer Film Festival.

Created by a queer production company, FemmePower Productions, Flourish brings subcultural characters to the screen in a strong, narrative format, combining humour and drama, in the spirit of shows like Vida, Insecure, High Maintenance, and Broad City. Fun, sexy, and raw. Never before has the beauty, heartbreak, and nuance within multiracial, gender-expansive, queer communities of outsiders, punks, artists, and hustlers been presented like this. The characters do not die. We do not lose. We survive. And thrive. All while looking fabulous.

Flourish, will be available to a national audience at multiple online festivals Oct 8-Nov 15, including LGBTQIA+ festivals like Newfest NYC, Seattle Queer Film Fest, ReelQ Pittsburgh, Indianapolis Queer FF, and Hollyshorts – an Oscar-qualifying, non-LGBTQ+ specific fest.