Nothing to Hide

Nothing to Hide is a 90-minute dark comedy about going home, coming out, and sisterhood. Our project is in late-stage development with an award-winning script, filming in Minnesota Summer of 2027.

SYNOPSIS

“Nothing to Hide” is a psychological dark comedy set over a single summer night on a boat in the suburban Midwest. Alana returns to her home-state of Minnesota for her sister Sophie’s wedding. When a rowdy bachelorette party spirals out of control, buried family tensions surface. The sisters must confront the emotional costs of love, shame, and the pressure to belong in a family that doesn’t fully see them. With its undercurrent of absurd mythological humor, the film dances between cringe comedy and aching vulnerability in a pressure-cooker setting.

SOCIAL IMPACT

Gender Parity
The 2025 Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reported only 9 of 100 top-grossing films last year were directed by women. On screen, audiences were nearly twice as likely to see male characters than female ones — only a third of speaking parts were female. Our project is written and helmed by non-binary femme and women creators and producers, and the film stars a dynamic ensemble of authentic and complex women.

 

LGBTQIA+ Representation
In 2023, GLAAD reported only 28% of films from major studios featured an LGBTQIA+ character, and more than half of those characters had less than five minutes on screen. Few features are set in Minnesota, and even fewer champion a LGBTQIA+ protagonist. Helmed by queer creatives and producers, “Nothing to Hide” centers queer folks in production, cast, and representation.

 

Minnesota’s Economy
The production of “Nothing to Hide” will bring $750K to Minnesota, whose arts communities and economy are recovering from the 2026 ICE surge. Eldest Daughter is committed to recruiting LGBTQIA+ crew, local non-profit Quorum will help identify queer businesses (e.g. craft services), and OutFront MN and PFund are project allies.

 

Youth Fellowship
In partnership with Queerspace, FilmNorth, and the MN Women’s Foundation, we’re excited to offer Minnesota-based LGBTQ+, girls/women, and nonbinary creatives aged 16-24 the opportunity to gain film industry experience on the upcoming production of Minnesota-based feature film Nothing To Hide. This funded opportunity will give emerging filmmakers hands-on learning in production and post-production, allowing participants to develop new skills, and contribute meaningfully on a feature film set.

 

DIRECTOR’S INTENTION

A few years ago, I went back to my home-state of Minnesota for a bachelorette party. It was a “going home” experience emblematic for so many of us — code-switching and determining what’s safe to discuss, and where to hold boundaries in a group with diverse political and cultural viewpoints. The dynamics were funny, chaotic, and heartbreaking, and NOTHING TO HIDE emerged from that day. 

“Code Switching” is topical, funny, and a realistic strategy for many of us. In the early Trump years, many of us embraced cutting off homophobic family. But the culture has shifted. We’re in a growth-oriented “we can do hard things” era, regulating our nervous systems, and increasing capacity for nuance. Many of us want to keep those relationships in our lives, even when messy or complicated.

I surround myself with chosen family, and enjoy my progressive bubble, but it’s not the whole picture of my life. I love films that reflect my own tangled experience of family. Films like SENTIMENTAL VALUE and A REAL PAIN explore people in complex relationships, muddling through ambiguity. 

Inspired by films like BANSHEES OF INISHERIN and ANOTHER ROUND, NOTHING TO HIDE immerses us in the idiosyncrasies of a specific place. At the same time, “going home” stories are universal, and evergreen. Dozens of people from around the world have seen themselves in this script, and shared with me their own experiences of code-switching, belonging, and estrangement. 

NOTHING TO HIDE sends a hopeful message: peace comes from self-acceptance, not external acceptance. It’s extremely reflective of this cultural moment, and a queer message of self-love needed right now.

 

WHAT WE’RE SEEKING

We’ve secured $130,000 in production funds, and are seeking an additional $606K via tax-deductible donations and private investment to support the production.

 

DEVELOPMENT RAISE

To support development, we’ve received $40,000 in tax-deductible donations.

Legal
A feature film is a massive undertaking, and to create a solid foundation on which we’ll build our business and onboard investors. Legal funds have helped us establish entities, navigate contracts, and secure agreements.

Pre-Production
We’ve allocated Pre-Production funds for location scouting, table reads, rehearsals, and other opportunities for our team to experience the story out loud and on-location ahead of the shoot.

Financial Development
Financial Development funds supported fundraising and equity-raise engagements, and our Financing Producer, who helped secure leads with donors and investors.

Creative Research & Development
As we continue to develop our award-winning script, we’re also defining the look, sound, and feel of Nothing to Hide. Creative R&D funds has helped us to attach musical talent, create a storyboard and shots list, and much more.

Marketing & Admin
These funds have enabled our team to connect with the right partners from development through distribution, widening our reach and maximizing our audience impact.

Casting
Casting funds allowed us to hire Aaron Schoonover, our Casting Director, and attach our lead actor, Dylan Gelula. Dylan’s attachment demonstrates to our equity investors project viability, creative vision, and market potential.

 

TEAM

Al Karr – Writer, Director, Editor
Al is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Their 2018 docu-fiction short, “Distance,” was praised by NoBudge.com for its “intoxicating ability to capture private conversations with dead-on accuracy,” and by a Short of the Week programmer for “Amazing performances and direction.” Al’s recent film works have screened at Academy Award-qualifying festivals and museums worldwide, including Rhode Island International Film Festival, LA Shorts International, Brooklyn Film Festival, and Paris Film Week. Al’s consumerist satire, “I Already Went,” premiered in May 2024 at Vienna Shorts International, and their psychological comedy in development, “Muses masculines,” is a 2025 NYSCA awardee, WeScreenplay’s Shorts Semi-Finalist, and ScreenCraft Film Fund Quarter Finalist. Their newest psychological comedy short, “Welcome to Paris,” premiered in June 2026 at Brooklyn Film Festival, and will screen in competition at Oscar-qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival in July. Al’s debut original feature screenplay “Nothing to Hide” won the International Screenwriters’ Association’s Table Read My Screenplay Grand Prize and received a table read at Cannes Marché du Film in 2025, where Al also pitched the feature as part of the Linz International Talent Academy cohort. A queer dark comedy set at a bachelorette party in the suburban Midwest, “Nothing to Hide” is slated for production in June 2027.

 

Kate Golding – Producer
Kate Golding is a creative executive at Topic Studios. Previously, she worked in Media Rights at Anonymous Content and as a Production Assistant on Mindy Kaling’s The Sex Lives of College Girls. Her credits include Jordan Firstman’s directorial debut, Club Kid (A24), Splitsville (NEON) directed by Michael Covino and starring Dakota Johnson and Theater Camp (Searchlight) directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman and starring Molly and Ben Platt.

 

Co-Producer – Pan Up: Hannah Alline, Robert Ravenscroft
Pan Up’s narrative works have screened at top-tier festivals worldwide including SXSW, TIFF, and Fantasia. From the Pan Up team, Robert Ravenscroft and Hannah Alline will helm our on-the-ground production, and run production services.

 

 

Brennan Vance – Director of Photography
Brennan Vance is a filmmaker born and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His Emmy-winning cinematography has been featured on HBO, Netflix, PBS, NBC, and Starz and at such film festivals as Tribeca, SXSW, Slamdance, and Full Frame. He wrote and directed the fiction feature The Missing Sun, which took part in the IFP Narrative Labs, received the Special Jury Prize at the Ashland Film Festival, and earned a McKnight Media Arts Fellowship. Vance also produces, directs, and DP’s commercial projects. He has worked with a wide range of institutions and brands including the American Museum of Natural History, the Walker Art Center, Best Buy and Target.

 

Nathan Punwar – Consulting Editor
Nathan Punwar is a film editor whose recent credits include 2024 Oscar-nominee “Sugarcane,” 2025 Sundance premiere “Folktales,” and Netflix’s 2021 Emmy and Grammy Award nominated Michelle Obama documentary, “Becoming.”

 

Aaron Schoonover – Casting Director
Aaron’s recent credits include “Severance” (Apple TV), “WTF Is My Password” (dir. Steve Pink), “Flyover” (dir. Jackie! Zhou), “City on Fire” (Apple TV), “The Unheard” (Shudder), and “The Seeding” (Tribeca ’23).

 

 

 

Ari J. Lisner – Associate Producer
Ari is a producer, writer, and consumer researcher in New York City. In 2025, he received the Simbelle Productions Career Advancement Grant, through which we worked with Sundance alum J. Casey Modderno on her forthcoming debut feature Here For The Weekend. His writing has appeared in GQ, Bright Wall/Dark Room, The Brooklyn Rail, and two published chapbooks.

 

filmscience – Advisors
Filmscience is an Emmy Award winning production company that has produced over 20 features since its inception in 2005.

These films include Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Showing Up and Wendy and Lucy, Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge, Green Room and Blue Ruin, Macon Blair’s I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Joe Swanberg’s Hannah Takes the Stairs and Ritesh Batra’s Photograph. They’ve screened at festivals around the world–including Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Telluride–and have been nominated for numerous Independent Spirit Awards.

A number of other projects by emerging and established independent filmmakers are currently in development and production.