Had the opportunity of seeing this premiere at the out on film festival a year or so back. Immediately recognized it, as it was my favorite of the screenings that night. So happy to have it appear in my feed once more. Thank you for sharing, and creating something so beautiful ~~
Really well shot and acted film. Congrats Mya. I can totally understand people coming in expecting a LGBT short and being slightly disappointed with that in terms of queer content. As Mya said in her interview it's not explicitly stated on either character's sexuality, it's all about the tension and yearning. This is a short not about their sexuality but about the characters. Sure Mya could have made Logan, the abusive boyfriend into a woman to state the point "look she's lesbian". If you are looking for straight down the middle lesbian love story "The Traveler" isn't going to be the one to Scratch that itch. Plenty of great lesbian shorts on UA-cam that will give you that type of storyline. This a very understated film about two people who have a small amount of time to make a connection, it would have rung false if this ended up with them running off with one another. Honestly you could easily taken any sense of sexuality out of this and just made it about two women who have connection without it involving any hint of sexuality. And it would still be good.
I've come back to this short a little wiser and appreciate I think it was more their need not so much for each other but what their meeting can give to each other. Shay picking up a hitchhiker not so dissimilar to herself, a chance as it were to see herself if she had the strength to move on. For Cassie I think it becomes a reminder of why she is on her own journey, giving her the boost maybe she wasn't aware she needed. Shay giving Cassie her number early on could be seen not just as a kind gesture but also a way to stay connected to someone who has taken those first steps she longs for herself. I wonder if they did eventually meet once more if any kind of relationship would last once their connection through needing to move on was gone. I don't think my heart could take them braking up even if it did make a good short film. x
I liked the subtlty that is more real world, the clue was in the opening quote. Don't get me wrong, I love fairy tales too, hate evil endings, don't even particularly like simple "bad" endings to keep censors or majorities happy. But this kind of short has a place, so we can ponder what is and what could have been ourselves. For some, life is full of regrets, maybe don't be one of those people.
This isn't a film about anything LGBT, this is a film about a woman suffering under an abusive boyfriend. Sure there are these men, too many of them actually, but for one the vast majority of men isn't like that and for two the vast majority of women who have an abusive boyfriend or husband aren't queer. It makes an easy story to tell when the man in the story is abusive because that gives a good reason why his girlfriend will dump him, but to make a valid award winning LGBT short film it takes more than showing a dysfunctional hetero relationship and leave it to the viewers to imagine what the woman might do next if and when she gets out of that relationship.
Hey Thomas, I'm glad you watched the film and have opened the discussion about the true meaning of the project. Your perspective is valid. There is a video on my channel where I was interviewed about the project, and I discuss the different themes in the story. I invite you to watch that video as well. But, I will summarize it here.... this is a film about meeting people for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. The two women in the film are both in toxic relationships. One has a toxic romantic relationship with her boyfriend, and the other has a toxic family relationship with her mother. This film is about growth and breaking toxic/negative cycles. Not all women in toxic hetero relationships are queer, but some are. More than you can imagine, this goes for men and women. The film highlights these two women coming into each other's lives for a 'reason'. That reason is breaking toxic cycles and emotional growth. Cassie is further along in her journey than Shay, both physically and mentally. Although they come from different worlds, they seek similar things, which is what draws in the queer undertones. Although the film does not touch on sexuality, it is implied that the women are somewhere on the queer spectrum. I like to focus on normalization in my projects, and it is important to normalize queerness as a part of the human experience. This film is in no way implying that all relationships look this way. Rather, it is highlighting that they exist. Lastly, I would like to add that this film has already won numerous awards domestically and internationally, most of which were from lgbt film festivals. And was recently featured on PBS as a part of their lgbt block.
@@myasjourney Thanks for that detailed answer, I apreciate it very much. I can imagine a whole lot more than you would believe, because I'm a science guy, downright anti religious and the science about sexual orientation is absolutely clear. Roughly 1/3 of anybodys orientation is genetically inherited from the parents, meaning mostly hetero. The other 2/3 are pretty much plain random, meaning they build a spectrum that iffffffff one could draw a borderline between homo and hetero it would indicate roughly 33% of the worlds population being homosexual. Of course the correct numbers can never be precise, but as a wild guess one can estimate somewhere around 50% of all humans being queer to some degree. Alone the fact that even in the developped western world only 7-10% of the population identify as queer tells us how much work the queer community still has to do, because from the scientific facts we know so far, 4/5 of all queer people are closeted and most of them don't even know it themselves. Still what I said above remains valid, even though there are toxic relationships, the vast majority of relationships isn't toxic, meaning if you really want to represent the situation of queer people in the real world nowadays, you shouldn't focus on the exceptions where a toxic relationship makes the move out of it relatively easy. Have a look at movies like "An Unexpected Love", or the real world stories of people here on YT, like Kate Austin. If you ask me, if you want to make short films where something toxic has an easy solution, what you should focus on is the destructive influence of religion on todays society. Point out in your films how liberating it is for queer people to abandon religion. About the award winning part, have a look at websites that review movies like rotten tomatoes, compare the reviews of so called experts to the opinions of private users and you'll find out, in many cases "award winning" is a good reason NOT to watch a movie because the opinions of private viewers are fairly often the polar opposite of what expert reviews say. One of the best examples for a movie that normalizes queer relationships, got pretty much no attention at all in the media and some really harsh critics from the experts, but is by private users opinions one of the best films they have seen on this topic is the Japanese/German production from 2006 "Love My Life".
@@thomasg627 Sounds like you want her to make your perfect movie 😉 . Maybe you can make it yourself. And then you might enjoy others' movies more 🙂 . It would be boring if everyone made movies stereotyping a genre ... and redundant. But more than this, you simply have a preference for a style. This doesn't mean you are the fashion meister ... c'mon 😉 you know better than this. But let's see your movie here on youtube, I'll look for your name 👍 .
@@irenebaldwin8933 Let me guess ...... you never write anything critical, you just sweet talk cheerful comments, leaving producers totally in the dark as to why their project has only some 400 subscribers in almost a year? Believe it or not, every single constructive critics helps producers more on improving their projects than 1000s of sweet talking comments.
Had the opportunity of seeing this premiere at the out on film festival a year or so back. Immediately recognized it, as it was my favorite of the screenings that night. So happy to have it appear in my feed once more. Thank you for sharing, and creating something so beautiful ~~
Really well shot and acted film. Congrats Mya.
I can totally understand people coming in expecting a LGBT short and being slightly disappointed with that in terms of queer content. As Mya said in her interview it's not explicitly stated on either character's sexuality, it's all about the tension and yearning. This is a short not about their sexuality but about the characters. Sure Mya could have made Logan, the abusive boyfriend into a woman to state the point "look she's lesbian". If you are looking for straight down the middle lesbian love story "The Traveler" isn't going to be the one to Scratch that itch. Plenty of great lesbian shorts on UA-cam that will give you that type of storyline. This a very understated film about two people who have a small amount of time to make a connection, it would have rung false if this ended up with them running off with one another.
Honestly you could easily taken any sense of sexuality out of this and just made it about two women who have connection without it involving any hint of sexuality. And it would still be good.
I appreciate you for saying all of that. Thank you for watching!
I was impressed on every level. Sofia Riba as Shay even has some Jodie Comer vibes. Powerful.
I've come back to this short a little wiser and appreciate I think it was more their need not so much for each other but what their meeting can give to each other. Shay picking up a hitchhiker not so dissimilar to herself, a chance as it were to see herself if she had the strength to move on. For Cassie I think it becomes a reminder of why she is on her own journey, giving her the boost maybe she wasn't aware she needed. Shay giving Cassie her number early on could be seen not just as a kind gesture but also a way to stay connected to someone who has taken those first steps she longs for herself.
I wonder if they did eventually meet once more if any kind of relationship would last once their connection through needing to move on was gone. I don't think my heart could take them braking up even if it did make a good short film. x
Really good short film! Waiting for continuation. ❤ from Colombia 🇨🇴
Thank you so much! 🖤
@myasjourney are they going to be a part 2
They should
Really well shot and edited. Very nice job. Good performances.
Thank you, we really appreciate the kind words.
I agree, it was really hard to hear, even with a Bluetooth speaker.
Good film.
Kept me engaged to the end.
That is great to hear, thank you!
Thank you ❤
Hey!Enjyed,perfect traveler, ;)
Thank you!
I liked the subtlty that is more real world, the clue was in the opening quote. Don't get me wrong, I love fairy tales too, hate evil endings, don't even particularly like simple "bad" endings to keep censors or majorities happy. But this kind of short has a place, so we can ponder what is and what could have been ourselves. For some, life is full of regrets, maybe don't be one of those people.
This isn't a film about anything LGBT, this is a film about a woman suffering under an abusive boyfriend.
Sure there are these men, too many of them actually, but for one the vast majority of men isn't like that and for two the vast majority of women who have an abusive boyfriend or husband aren't queer.
It makes an easy story to tell when the man in the story is abusive because that gives a good reason why his girlfriend will dump him, but to make a valid award winning LGBT short film it takes more than showing a dysfunctional hetero relationship and leave it to the viewers to imagine what the woman might do next if and when she gets out of that relationship.
Hey Thomas, I'm glad you watched the film and have opened the discussion about the true meaning of the project. Your perspective is valid. There is a video on my channel where I was interviewed about the project, and I discuss the different themes in the story. I invite you to watch that video as well. But, I will summarize it here.... this is a film about meeting people for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. The two women in the film are both in toxic relationships. One has a toxic romantic relationship with her boyfriend, and the other has a toxic family relationship with her mother. This film is about growth and breaking toxic/negative cycles. Not all women in toxic hetero relationships are queer, but some are. More than you can imagine, this goes for men and women. The film highlights these two women coming into each other's lives for a 'reason'. That reason is breaking toxic cycles and emotional growth. Cassie is further along in her journey than Shay, both physically and mentally. Although they come from different worlds, they seek similar things, which is what draws in the queer undertones. Although the film does not touch on sexuality, it is implied that the women are somewhere on the queer spectrum. I like to focus on normalization in my projects, and it is important to normalize queerness as a part of the human experience. This film is in no way implying that all relationships look this way. Rather, it is highlighting that they exist. Lastly, I would like to add that this film has already won numerous awards domestically and internationally, most of which were from lgbt film festivals. And was recently featured on PBS as a part of their lgbt block.
@@myasjourney Thanks for that detailed answer, I apreciate it very much. I can imagine a whole lot more than you would believe, because I'm a science guy, downright anti religious and the science about sexual orientation is absolutely clear.
Roughly 1/3 of anybodys orientation is genetically inherited from the parents, meaning mostly hetero.
The other 2/3 are pretty much plain random, meaning they build a spectrum that iffffffff one could draw a borderline between homo and hetero it would indicate roughly 33% of the worlds population being homosexual.
Of course the correct numbers can never be precise, but as a wild guess one can estimate somewhere around 50% of all humans being queer to some degree.
Alone the fact that even in the developped western world only 7-10% of the population identify as queer tells us how much work the queer community still has to do, because from the scientific facts we know so far, 4/5 of all queer people are closeted and most of them don't even know it themselves.
Still what I said above remains valid, even though there are toxic relationships, the vast majority of relationships isn't toxic, meaning if you really want to represent the situation of queer people in the real world nowadays, you shouldn't focus on the exceptions where a toxic relationship makes the move out of it relatively easy.
Have a look at movies like "An Unexpected Love", or the real world stories of people here on YT, like Kate Austin.
If you ask me, if you want to make short films where something toxic has an easy solution, what you should focus on is the destructive influence of religion on todays society.
Point out in your films how liberating it is for queer people to abandon religion.
About the award winning part, have a look at websites that review movies like rotten tomatoes, compare the reviews of so called experts to the opinions of private users and you'll find out, in many cases "award winning" is a good reason NOT to watch a movie because the opinions of private viewers are fairly often the polar opposite of what expert reviews say.
One of the best examples for a movie that normalizes queer relationships, got pretty much no attention at all in the media and some really harsh critics from the experts, but is by private users opinions one of the best films they have seen on this topic is the Japanese/German production from 2006 "Love My Life".
@@thomasg627
Sounds like you want her to make your perfect movie 😉 .
Maybe you can make it yourself.
And then you might enjoy others' movies more 🙂 .
It would be boring if everyone made movies stereotyping a genre ... and redundant.
But more than this, you simply have a preference for a style.
This doesn't mean you are the fashion meister ... c'mon 😉 you know better than this.
But let's see your movie here on youtube, I'll look for your name 👍 .
@@irenebaldwin8933 Let me guess ...... you never write anything critical, you just sweet talk cheerful comments, leaving producers totally in the dark as to why their project has only some 400 subscribers in almost a year?
Believe it or not, every single constructive critics helps producers more on improving their projects than 1000s of sweet talking comments.
Hard to hear what looks to be a good short movie.
Thats a frienship
Happy pride month
thank you!
ждем продолжения🥰
Subtitled Google plis
Nice truck!
Thank you, its my grandfather's
I thought so too.
Can someone tell me what the hell was LGBT about this film ????
I just uploaded an interview video where I'm talking about the project and why it is considered lgbt.
😂😂😂
It was at the end when they were saying goodbye... You didn't see it?
lol
🏳️🌈🌈🤘🏻👍🏻
☺️ *promo sm*
WOW
thank you!