Nessa Norich
Filmmaker, Theater Artist & Coach
A queer romantic comedy set in Brooklyn
Follow the trials and triumphs of a pivotal day in Reyzl’s dating misadventures as she sets out to find the intimacy she craves.
Synopsis
Jelly Bean is a portrait of Reyzl, a queer woman who is earnestly seeking romance on dating apps that she can not hack. Lacking any strategy to vet a perfect match, Reyzl decides to date whoever the algorithms choose. Catastrophe ensues when Reyzl's first online date turns out to be an appalling disappointment. When an unexpected opportunity for intimacy presents itself a second time, will Reyzl have the courage to open herself up and grasp it?
Written & Directed by Nessa Norich
Starring: Nessa Norich, Yoni Lotan, Lio Mehiel, Cara Francis, Maeve Bell, Diana Oh
Jelly Bean Trailer
Director's Statement
Bring back rom-coms... but make them gay!
Jelly Bean is a voyeuristic satire of contemporary dating based on my misadventures searching for partnership online. The film's aesthetic is a callback to dark comedies made in the '90s, like Muriel's Wedding and Welcome to the Dollhouse, that tell stories of ostracized women who long for love. Flamboyant outsiders portrayed by filmmakers like Miranda July, Todd Solondz and Jane Campion, are the characters I fall in love with. The friction between the alienation these women experience and the colorful crass worlds they inhabit touches me so deeply, it tickles me. Jelly Bean emulates this contrast, reflecting the bizarre aspects and brutal truths of online dating as a queer woman, using romantic comedy tropes.
I began to write autobiographically about my search for love as a queer, Jewish woman, and ultimately, the narrative became a kind of spell, a conjuring of partnership. In writing this script, I discovered my deep desires. I specified my definition of romance. Jelly Bean's central character Reyzl, realizes her happy ending when she meets someone who naturally gravitates to her idiosyncrasies. I wanted her to discover, as I did, that our desires and needs are complex and nuanced, deserving of attentive curiosity. Romance is a careful odyssey of discovery of the other. I want to tell a love story in which two people find a mutual attraction, not because either of them fits into a conventional box, but because they share a unique and specific flavor of weird.
Production Team
Screenwriter & Director: Nessa Norich
Co-Executive Producers: Katy McClellan, Nessa Norich, Todd Lindsay
Cinematographer: Michael Parrella
Assistant Director: Katy McClellan
Camera Assistant: Hannah Roodman
Second Camera/Drone Operator: Blaine Dunkley
Production Designer: Domenica Garcia
Production Assistant: Sara Norich
Sound Mixer: Anastasia Goldberg
Gaffer: Grace Giffune
Makeup: Brianna Ashley Chin
Hair: Kylie Lefkowitz
Post Production Team
Editor: Kendall Payne
Colorist: Marika Litz
Original Score: Emily Bielagus
Sound Design: Jesse Malings
Score Mix & Master: Catharine Wood, Planetwood Productions, LA
Project Timeline
October 13-15, 2021: Production, Brooklyn, NY
February 2022: Notification of Women in Film grant
March 2022: Kickstarter campaign goal reached
October 2021 - June 2022: Post-Production
August 9, 2022: World Premiere - Flicker’s Rhode Island Film Festival | Award: “Best Actress” to Nessa Norich
August 18, 2022: NY Premiere - Hudson Valley Film Festival
September 27, 2022: European Premiere - Oslo Fusion Festival, Norway
October 15, 2022: New York City Premiere - NewFest
November 5th, 2022: Bushwick Film Festival
November 9th, 2022: Greenwich Village Film Festival
December, 2022: Anchorage International Film Festival, Anchorage AK
February, 2023: Laemle Theater, Los Angeles
February, 2023: Austin Revolution Film Festival
April, 2023: Florida Film Festival, Orlando, FL
April 2023: Sunscreen Film Festival, St. Petersberg, FL
April 2023: Blackbird Film Festival, New York
June 2023: New Filmmakers LA, Los Angeles
June 2023: CinePride, Nantes, France
June 2023: Out Film CT, Hartford CT
June 2023: Fresh Fruit Festival, Fruits on Film | Audience Choice Award
July 2023: Deep in the Heart Film Festival, Waco TX
September 2023: Pheonixville Film Festival, Pheonixville, PA
October 2023: Iris Prize Festival, Cardiff, UK
With support from: The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts