Factory 25 presents All This Panic, directed by Jenny Gage with cinematography by Tom Betterton. All This Panic opens in New York City on March 31st, Los Angeles on April 14th, and nationwide soon after.
All This Panic takes an intimate look at the interior lives of a group of teenage girls as they come of age in Brooklyn. A potent mix of vivid portraiture and vérité, we follow the girls as they navigate the ephemeral and fleeting transition between childhood and adulthood. Shot over a three-year period in a lush and cinematic style, the film is a meditation on the mysterious, often painful, yet ultimately exhilarating period of a teen’s life. In a world where, as one teen remarks ‘they want to see us, but they don’t want to hear us’ this film is comprised entirely of young women speaking to their own experiences.
And now Factory 25 and director Jenny Gage want you to meet the girls of All This Panic:
LENA
Lena is an awkward, bright, and charming girl straddled with a family that is deteriorating both mentally and financially. The emotional center of the film, Lena struggles to have a normal teenage life and is determined to go to college and make something of herself. Despite her ambitions, the downward spiral of her family threatens to derail her plans.
GINGER
Lena’s best friend Ginger looks like the trendy, wannabe actress who takes it all in stride, but just below the surface lies a very insecure girl who desperately wants the approval of everyone around her, especially her tough-as-nails father. She chooses not to go to college to pursue acting, but doesn’t anticipate how hard it will be to start her life and career while watching her friends move away and drift apart from her.
SAGE
Sage is socially conscious and politically active. Rocked by the sudden death of her father, she is now being raised by her strict, but loving mother. An excellent student, she is one of the only African-American scholarship students at her prestigious Manhattan private school. Never one to back away from confrontation, Sage starts to rebel as her mother struggles to keep her in line and on track for a prestigious scholarship to Howard University.
OLIVIA
Olivia is a surfer, an introspective thinker, and a serious student with strict parents. When we meet her she’s just beginning to question her sexuality. Near the end of high school she begins to come to terms with her sexual identity and in college embarks on her first romantic relationship with a girl.
IVY
Ivy is the ultimate NYC cool girl – a charismatic, street- smart force-of-nature who reconnects with Ginger after high school. Ivy has always been mature for her age and is used to playing the system to get what she wants. With an unstable single mother and no financial support to speak of she’s set her sights on two short-term goals: make money and move in with her older boyfriend Gabe.
DUSTY & DELIA
Dusty is the fearless younger sister of Ginger. She and her best friend Delia appear together throughout the film in the form of a chorus. As the younger generation of girls observing what’s to come, they are often more insightful and mature than their predecessors.
*****
Jenny Gage (director) and her husband Tom Betterton (director of photography) are long time collaborators on fine art, photography and film projects. Their fine art work has appeared in gallery and museum shows thought the world and their commissioned work and portraits have been featured in publications including W, Vanity Fair, and Italian Vogue. Jenny received her MFA in photography from Yale University. All This Panic is her directorial debut and the latest project in a celebrated career that has centered on the images and inner lives of young women across several mediums and genres.
