You & Me Makes Three - Positive Representation for LGBTQ Parents
While Queer representation has become a lot more prominent over the years, a topic that still remains underrepresented is Queer joy. More specifically, Queer joy around creating a family.
ENTERTAINMENTREVIEW
Flora Irvine-Hall
7/16/20263 min read
Waller shared her inspiration for the short:
“10 years ago, me and Emma [Emmaline] made our first film and while we were in the festival process of that I just had the random idea about trying to make a film about two women trying to have a baby because I hadn't seen anything like it like in real life or on TV or film etc and felt like it was something that I'd like to see and others would like to see well.”
El Fadli elaborated, clarifying that while some viewers may have already seen media surrounding sapphic relationships, this is not the case for everyone, which is why this short felt so important. When discussing what made them want to make the film, she said:
“I've seen that [sapphic parenthood] on the L word. I've seen Queer as Folk. It's not like we were making this brand-new idea that has never been spoken about. She (Walker) had never seen the L word she didn't know what Queer as Folk was”
The short film, which premiered at the renowned BFI Flare earlier this year, follows Amara [Dani Moseley] and Alanah [Maria Oxley Boardman], a same-sex couple trying to start a family.
That’s where Emmalie El Fadli and Hansof Waller’s You and Me Makes Three comes in.
You and Me Makes Three Trailer [Image: You and Me Makes Three]
The short is excellent and will leave even the most cold-hearted grinning from ear to ear. This is partially due to the fantastic performance from Moseley and Boardman, who feel incredibly authentic in their roles.
The acting in the short is great, but what really helps the story feel grounded, is the writing. El Fadli spoke about how she makes the characters she creates feel real:
“For me, with any story that I write, I just want to make realistic films, and I want people to feel like they could be friends with them, or they could be part of their family or something. I just feel it's really important to make characters feel real and obviously that also comes down to the performances as well. It's really important for me to work with the actors and get them to feel as natural as possible.
"I also feel when writing it's important to remember, especially when I'm directing and writing, that the actors are probably going to change some of the words anyway because I always say to my actors ‘you can say this line how it's written but if it starts to sound unnatural you can just say it how you would say it as long as the message is still there’ and so I did that with my last two films and I feel like that's really helped to make sure that things felt really natural”
Without wanting to go into spoiler territory, there is one scene in particular, featuring Alanah and her friend David (Kevin Ade) that is a real tear-jerker. Boardman and Ade both do an excellent job at pulling at your heart strings while still managing to retain the overall light-hearted feel of the short.
El Fadli stated that this was very deliberate:
“I think that scene really stemmed from me”, she explained. “Even if I'm in a bad way or a bit upset, I still make jokes. We never wanted to make it fully sad or dramatic. I grew up on friends and on shows like that where even though there were sad moments there was always a look, or a line, or a delivery that could take you out of it a bit and make it feel a bit easier.”
You and Me Makes Three Trailer [Image: You and Me Makes Three]
In today’s climate, we are very much in need of happy and positive LGBTQ+ representation. El Fadli and Waller shared what they hoped viewers would get from the short:
“I want them to feel like joyous and happy when they see the film,” said El Fadli. “We want them to feel seen.”
“You can't be what you can't see”, said Waller. “You could be a young person and think you want to have kids one day but you discover that you're queer so you probably think ‘oh no that means I can't have kids’ but no, that's not always the case so when people find films like this, it can actually help people and help them find community.”
El Fadli and Waller are aiming for the short to go on a two-year festival run. But afterwards, they hope to release the short for streaming to reach a wider audience. They also hope to eventually turn the short into a feature film. If you’d like to help fund them for this project, you can follow them on Instagram under the handle youandmemakesthreefilm.
You can also watch their other LGBTQ+ short film, The Date, which is available to watch on YouTube for free.
