Nana Dara Is Gay Short Film
It's 1973 in small town Texas, and Nana Dara can’t hold her secret in any longer. “Nana Dara is Gay” is about what goes down when a septuagenarian comes out to her step-children: the bible thumping, gin toting Miss Debbie and her “sister who dresses like a mister”, Eddie.
This short is a proof of concept for the limited series based on the novel, Sugar Land.
Sugar Land The Novel
Based on characters from the novel SUGAR LAND by tammy lynne stoner, Nana Dara Is Gay approaches potentially heartbreaking issues with humor and a bit of magical realism. The core question the film asks is: If physical life is, at its core, imprisonment, how can we ever be free?
Sugar Land The Series
A southern fried, one-hour TV series based on the award-winning novel. After Miss Dara's forbidden love is discovered, she's forced to work in a savage men's prison where she meets real life blues singer and violent prisoner, Lead Belly, who literally sings for a pardon, inspiring her to break out of her own prisons - any way she can.
The Team
As filmmakers, we are committed to producing stories that are not traditionally shown on the screen. Nana Dara is a woman in her 60s who finds love with the local seamstress in Sugar Land, Texas in the 1960s. It's only when she comes out to her step-children, she also finally embraces who she really is. Our diverse cast and crew (LGBTQ/POC) is being led by a predominantly FEMALE team!
Advocate’s Best of 2018, was a Top Five for 2018 by Powell's booksellers, received a starred Kirkus Reviews, and was called "writing at its finest" by the New York Journal of Books. She's been published two dozen times in journals and anthologies, was nominated for a Pushcart twice (once a special mention) and a Million Writers Award, is a VCAA scholar, and a Sou-Wester writer-in-residence. Several short films she's written have gleefully gone to festival. On the side, tammy is the publisher of Gertrude lit journal. She lives in Lake Oswego, OR with her ladyfriend and their three children and is most often found in the bathtub.
Andrea Maxwell Producer/Director
is a queer independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She has worked as a VFX editor at Marvel Studios on numerous blockbuster films including: Wakanda Forever,
Spider-man Far From Home and Black Widow. As a producer/director/editor, she has created web series, behind the scenes featurettes and the first gay friendly children’s TV show, Dottie’s Magic Pockets. Her projects have screened all over the world including: Outfest (Los Angeles), Frameline (San Francisco), Inside Out Toronto and The Melbourne Queer Film festival. Her last short film Honey and Clover: A Recipe for Disaster screened at Short Film Corner, Cannes Court Metrage, Diversity in Cannes, Dances with Films, Hollywood and won Best Comedy Short at The Franklin International Film Festival.
tammy lynne stoner Writer
Her novel SUGAR LAND (Red Hen Press, 2018) won an IPPY, was shortlisted for the Crook's Corner Prize, was a finalist for a Forewords Indie Award, an Amazon #1 Bestseller, made the
Theresa Burkhart Gallagher
Producer
is a writer, producer, and actress based in LA and working in stage, television, and film. Her scripts are lauded as "rapid fire Lucy Ricardo routines interpreted by Cheech & Chong" (Backstage West),
Diana C. Zollicoffer Producer
is a writer, director, producer. In 2017, Diana was the 1st woman of color to direct for the Australian Theater Company. She produced the environmental documentary "Forgotten Bayou", the award-winning
short films “Schmoolie The Deathwatcher” (AmazonPrime) and “Bridget & Iain” (Cannes Film Festival Court Metrage, Bentonville, Manchester), Honey and Clover: A Recipe for Disaster (Short Film Corner, Cannes Court Metrage, Diversity in Cannes and Dances with Films, Hollywood.) She directed/co-wrote the pilot episode of "Anny Minute Now" web series. She co-wrote "Free Agent: The Benjamin Brown Story" to be directed by Mykelti Williamson. She produced the NAACP Theater Award-nominated international play "innocentFLESH" about teen-sex trafficking. Diana's a theater graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Washington DC. She's currently developing a feature film about an Asian-American firefighter “FU: A love story in reverse with BondIt/Buffalo 8 Productions.
acerbically golden" (Entertainment Weekly), and "guaranteed to leave you howling!" (Los Angeles Magazine). Theresa's short film Schmoolie the Deathwatcher, praised as "a stunning gem" (HuffPost), is now streaming on Amazon. Alongside Jim Gaffigan and Anna Gunn, Theresa has a supporting role in the indie comedy Being Frank, directed by Miranda Bailey which premiered at SXSW and enjoyed a theatrical release. Her feature film version of Schmoolie The Deathwatcher is in Development with Miranda Bailey set to Direct, and Joshua Bachove (Minari) set to Produce. Her short film Honey and Clover: A Recipe for Disaster that she co-wrote, produced and starred in screened at Short Film Corner, Cannes Court Metrage and Diversity in Cannes. She also Produced the feature film Swamp Lion (Dir. Torben Bech) with a fantastic team, shot on location in Mc Allen Texas, Premiering at Austin Film Festival 2021. A lover of Stand-Up she Produced the recent Amazon Prime stand up comedy specials Matt Gallagher: A Stumble in the Woods and Jimmy Shin's A Wok of Shame. Dedicated to diversity and to singular storytelling, Theresa is drawn to creating deeply flawed characters: those at their very lowest points and at crossroads. Audiences find themselves rooting for these unique underdogs on their unexpected and darkly comical journeys to heroism.
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