Passing

“We’re just floating pieces of stars. That’s all. Just stardust.”

When Mama passes away, she has one request; to spread her ashes in the Grand Canyon. Her family crams into an old Bronco and embark on a unexpectedly transformational journey. Unbeknownst to them, Mama has planned a unique stop for each member of the family. In their travels they come across quirky townspeople, neverending canyons, and even a Nude Maids truck. They grow individually and as a family, processing their loss with Mama in other dimensions, little by little becoming whole again.

“We leave God’s belly to land in the cradle called World, filled with milk we fall asleep, wake up forgetting who we are, where we came from, how we got to this dozy earth bed. We don’t even remember we can fly up above every cloud, galaxy and more. “

Passing is told in the style of Magical Realism. Throughout the script, each character fades from our current reality into another. These realities are not a dream or a vision, they are just as real as this moment you and I are in right now.

In these moments, they speak with Mama about love and loss and every emotion they are feeling. The transitions to these moments are seamless. Each character visits places that are significant to them. These scenes of magical realism articulate the pain and grief that each character is going through.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m floating in and out of existence. I’m here and than I’m not. I feel quite disconnected from whatever this reality is, so I go somewhere else, because feeling can be too much.”

To be seen is a beautiful thing.

Passing speaks honestly about loss. It doesn’t sugar coat how truly awful it is. I remember being so angry after my mom died, because people expected so many things from me, and all I wanted was time. Time to feel this hurt and loss. Time to figure out who I was without her. People telling me that it would get better made it all worse. I knew that it would, even if it didn't feel that way. But when I talked to the people I loved, we were real and honest with each other about how much it hurt. How broken we felt. How difficult getting out of bed and making coffee was.

Passing has this honesty because for me, there is no other way to talk about grief.

“We all want to be seen, plucked from the branch, ripe and beheld.” -Gina Rose Powell

Passing has two LGBTQ+ leading roles. Aidan, who identifies as queer, and Alex who identifies as non-binary. Representation is very important to me. I want LGBTQ+ people to feel like we are seen on screen. I want this film available especially to the LGBTQ+ community because it proves that we can lead films without the main plot being about queer trauma, that we can be accepted and loved without question. The family in Passing is also multi-racial, and Aidan and Alex are both adopted. Being seen on screen to me also includes diversity. The importance of seeing someone on screen who looks like you is just as important as seeing situations on screen that are similar to what you have been through. Passing is a step forward into change.

Meet Our Team

  • Writer, Director, and Founder of Midair Productions

    Ella Rose is a writer, directer, actress, filmmaker, and editor. She founded her production company Midair Productions in 2021. She is the writer of the script Passing and will go on to direct, produce, and edit it.

    Ella is the co-founder of Citizen Change Theatre. She co-wrote two plays with them, Language of the Heart and What the Frack Happened. Both of these plays were in the style of Commedia Dell’arte, and in the genre of political theatre.

    She has also written, directed, shot, and edited her two short films entitled “Mama” and “When the Heart Hurts.”

  • Director of Photography

    Dennis is a Brooklyn based cinematographer specializing in scripted narrative work. He has over 12 years of experience in film production on features, short films, music videos, and commercials for brands such as Google, Nike, Adidas, NFL, Hyundai, Disney, Leica, Monte Blanc, Nanette Lepore, Converse, GQ and more.

    Dennis’ expansive narrative work continues to grow in breadth of style and genre. More recent projects include the Indian-American Netflix drama series “Americanization”, cerebral feature thriller “Skin Of The Teeth”, horror short “Figment”, dark comedy short “Misprint”, and coming of age feature “Turbo Cola” (Awarded Best Cinematography at Dallas Independant Film Festival).

    In addition to cinematography, Dennis is a writer and director having recently completed his short film “Invasion”, a dark comedy starring Elliot Frances Flynn.

    In addition to “Passing”, future projects include a comedy series for Peacock, and and Indian crime thriller series for Netflix.

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