Logline:
A guessing game goes wrong when two chaotic lovers buy a lottery ticket on the final day of their vacation romance.
synopsis:
Ila and Veer, two lovers caught in the bliss of a vacation romance, buy a lottery ticket hours before Veer’s flight back to India. Unsettled by his decision to keep the ticket for himself, Ila confronts Veer and begins questioning his intentions. Faced by their first real conflict, the conversation quickly escalates as romantic fantasies are unraveled and the two are forced to reckon with the uncomfortable truths of their fleeting romance.
WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: ALLIE GUERRERO
Prodcuded by: Divya Kiran Chhabra
Starring: diletta guglielmi & niraj arjan
Runtime: 10 min
GENRE: DRAMA/COMEDY
Director’s statement:
I am so proud that our film was recently selected to screen by the Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival in Canada and as “Staff Pick” at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival!
At its heart, Awkward Goodbyes is a crash course in rushed connections and a warning against the inflated optimism and hollow commitments made by lonely people. The idea is rooted in the symptom of hope that I believe exists in the very millennial idea that extraordinary is always possible, that we are beyond the limits of circumstance, and that there is an abundance of options to which we should never settle for “less”. In the seeking of fairy tale endings and valuing big emotions and grand gestures ahead of normal we have inadvertently created a generation of people ill-equipped to find true connection.
In seeking to bring these ideas to life I was incredibly fortunate to have met and worked with Producer, Divya Kiran Chhabra, a practicing psychiatrist who brought a unique edge and understanding of human behavior to the project. Together, Divya and I were dedicated to featuring diverse characters and relationships that existed outside of the status quo, bringing to life a female protagonist who is driven by self-interest, a trait rarely afforded women in film and a Punjabi man whose character is informed, not centered, by his identity.
For the tone of the film, I was drawn to the uneasy space between absurdity and reality, where heightened emotion becomes comedic because it is uncomfortably true.
TEAM BIOS:
ALLIE GUERRERO
After pivoting from a career in tech, Allie moved from Seattle, Washington to New York City in 2019 to pursue her dream to create and share stories.
In 2021 Allie began writing and creating short sketches for youtube and TikTok. her first sketch, ‘Not So Fast’ (2021) earned Allie various comedy and short film festival awards including, Official Selection at MOM Comedy Standup and Film Festival, and Honorable Mention at The London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival.
In 2023 Allie wrote, directed and produced her first short, ‘Samantha’, for the 48 hr film project. the film won a category award in the New York City competition, was a quarter finalist for The Thing In The Basement Horror Fest and earned her the award for the “Best Writer” at Toronto’s Alternative Film Festival in 2024.
A writer, director and producer, Allie’s growing body of work has subtly emerged to regularly feature highly volatile, obsessive characters, driven to extremes. Her stories bend genres and often explore the themes of shame, identity and societal norms.
In 2022 Allie was honored as a recipient of the Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) creative grant for her contributions to the arts and enriching New York's cultural landscape.
DIVYA KIRAN CHHABRA
Divya K. Chhabra is a filmmaker, advisor and writer who brings a sharp, playful, and deeply human lens to every project she touches—on the page and on screen. She has produced and advised across Emmy-nominated shows at Nickelodeon and Apple TV and consulted on live-action video games and indie films (currently The Great Northern starring Megan Suri).
her essays and op-eds have been featured in Teen Vogue, ABC News, The Huffington Post, and she is a former watering hole poetry fellow. As a psychiatrist, therapist, and nonprofit exec in Harlem, her exposure to the raw, unadulterated human condition drives her tell real, bold, and untold stories across diverse mediums.