Once upon a time, there was a woman who became a shell of herself, and a girl who couldn’t look in the mirror.

Written, directed, and co-edited by Shea Formanes in her feature film debut, I Watched Her Grow is an independent sci-fi drama about Ada, a spirited, seventeen-year-old teenager who dreams of becoming a botanist to help out her single mother, Mirren. For the pair, it truly feels like it’s them against the world, especially because Ada’s mother has one, huge secret: she is half-plant and half-human, who has the ability to grow a garden from her skeleton. However, Mirren undergoes daily, debilitating chronic pain that prevents her from leaving the house, which Ada tries her best to help her mother through. One day, Mirren suddenly dies, and Ada’s life becomes completely undone. Now alone, the once bubbly, outgoing teenager slowly grows into a jaded, bitter adult that isolates herself from the world.

Seven years later, while on her way home from work, the now-twenty four year old Ada hears an all-too familiar melody. Following the song to a nearby creek, she finds Wren, a teenage runaway who loves flowers and magical stories, but holds a deep distrust for others due to her enigmatic past. Realizing the young girl doesn’t have a place to stay, Ada offers to take her in, to which Wren reluctantly agrees. Eventually, the two form an unexpected bond, and before they both know it, Wren and Ada embark on a harrowing journey to reckon with their respective pasts, slowly revealing their secrets to each other, and realize that they may not have to face their uncertain futures alone.

A mix of the supernatural coming-of-age horror of CARRIE, the aesthetics and themes of complicated familial relationships in I MAY DESTROY YOU and REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, and the macabre fairytale atmosphere that serves as a larger parable in PAN’S LABYRINTH, I Watched Her Grow is about the complex relationships between four women of color and their stories of grief, loss, and generational trauma through the metaphor of growing plants (with a fantastical twist). At the heart of this film, however, is the journey of our two main characters, one who learns how to open up to others after losing everything she once held dear, and another who musters the courage to embrace who she is, finally able to let herself grow.

Please help I Watched Her Grow as we enter post-production, so we can not only continue paying our wonderful cast and crew, but also cover distribution and film festival costs!