Elle

Elle, a Filipino-American actress, has a hard time navigating whitewashed Hollywood with its lack of authentic representation on screen. When Elle learns that the huge role her cousin, Steph, just booked is supposed to be about an Indigenous person, she confronts him. This leads to a heated conversation about POC (People of Color) actors and how Hollywood pressures them to play multiple ethnicities, since opportunities are far and few between. Once Elle gets an audition for a Latinx role, she must decide whether or not to stand by her beliefs or play the game with the cards she’s dealt.

Jenn Santos is a filmmaker and actor based in Los Angeles. She studied Fiction Filmmaking in both San Francisco and Paris and has produced, written, directed, and acted in multiple shorts and film projects. Elle, her most recent short, a French New Wave-esque piece about a Filipinx-American actress who’s frustrated with the lack of representation on screen, was screened at The Hollywood First-Time Filmmaker Showcase and the Hollywood Verge Film Awards. Jenn’s passionate about inclusivity, storytelling, and karaoke.

Plays in

Shorts Program I: Connect the Dots

Q&A with the filmmakers after the screening Moderator: Trixi Agiao