D.E.B.S. | |
---|---|
Directed by | Angela Robinson |
Written by | Angela Robinson |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Narrated by | Phil Terrence |
Cinematography | Kristian Bernier |
Edited by | Angela Robinson |
Music by | Steven M. Stern |
Production company | |
Distributed by | POWER UP |
Release date |
|
Running time | 11 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20,000 |
D.E.B.S. is a 2003 American action comedy short film written and directed by Angela Robinson. D.E.B.S. made the film festival circuit including the Sundance Film Festival, L.A. Outfest and New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, receiving a total of seven film festival awards.
D.E.B.S. is both a parody and an emulation of the Charlie's Angels (2000) format. It features a lesbian love story between one of the heroes and the villain. "Debs" is also short for debutantes.
A narrator explains that there is a test hidden in the SATs which measures an applicant's ability to fight, cheat, lie and kill. Female students who score well on this hidden test are selected to become members of the secret paramilitary group D.E.B.S. which stands for Discipline, Energy, Beauty and Strength.
Focusing on one squad of D.E.B.S. composed of the team captain Amy, the tough Max, French exchange student Dominique, and the prissy and insecure Janet, all of whom face off against a ruthless villain named Lucinda Reynolds, also known as Lucy in the Sky.
Spoofing television prime time shows, a recap shows the team's boss Mr. Tibbs explaining that Lucy in the Sky was spotted entering the United States again. Max is frustrated knowing that for some reason Lucy keeps capturing Amy and the team has to rescue her. Amy is captured, leading to Max to take over the team to lead them to Lucy's hideout in a dockside warehouse. Max, Janet, and the chain-smoking Dominique make entry into Lucy's hideout and soon are facing off in a gun battle with Lucy's henchmen, led by her right-hand man Billy Skids.
Meanwhile, unknown to either Lucy's henchmen or the D.E.B.S., Lucy and Amy are lovers and Lucy keeps capturing Amy so that the two of them can have sex, with Amy timing them to know when her colleagues will appear to "rescue" her. This time Lucy becomes frustrated over the same routine they have to go through over their secret romance each time. Amy then tells Lucy that she really loves her, and Lucy is happy.
Elsewhere, Max, Janet, and Dominique defeat Lucy's henchmen (with Dominique never dropping the cigarette she's smoking, and Max having an all-too-brief meeting of minds with Skids during their fistfight, while Janet is just determined not to get her favorite sweater ruined). The three D.E.B.S. arrive at a locked door to Lucy's quarters where they hear Amy screaming out, leading them to try to break down the door. But Amy is not screaming in pain, but in passion as she climaxes from the sex. Lucy and Amy quickly dress where Amy tells Lucy that she can capture her again next week during the D.E.B.S. mission to Uganda. On cue from Amy, Lucy punches her out and makes her escape as Max, Janet, and Dominique arrive, none of them aware to Amy's secret tryst with the enemy. Amy thanks them for rescuing her—again. The four D.E.B.S. walk out of the warehouse and into the sunset as Janet asks Amy if that is her sweater that she's wearing and if she got blood or any dirt on it.
The move from a short film to a feature-length film for this lesbian-themed film is significant not only because of the theme but because several of the persons involved in this short are lesbians (director Angela Robinson, Tammy Lynn Michaels) and the short was sponsored by a grant from POWER UP, which promotes gay women in entertainment. [1]
When moving from the short to the feature film version, Robinson told AfterEllen.com that "The relationship between Amy and Lucy is still the heart of the movie... Screen Gems has been outrageously supportive. I was not pressured to tone down the relationship — if anything, we worked together... to make the relationship more complex and intimate". [2] Robinson's interview allayed concerns that the lesbian relationship would be written out or downplayed on the Hollywood big screen as it has in other story-based movies such as Fried Green Tomatoes .
Year | Festival | Award | Category/Recipient(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Bearfest - Big Bear Lake International Film Festival | Jury Award | Best Short Film Angela Robinson |
Cleveland International Film Festival | Honorable Mention | Best Women's Short Film Angela Robinson | |
Dublin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival | Audience Award | Best Short Film Angela Robinson | |
L.A. Outfest | Audience Award | Outstanding Narrative Short Film Angela Robinson | |
New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival | Best Short | Angela Robinson | |
Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival | Jury Prize | Best Short Film - Lesbian Angela Robinson | |
PlanetOut Short Movie Awards | Grand Prize | Angela Robinson | |
Weird Science is a 1985 American teen science fantasy comedy film written and directed by John Hughes and starring Anthony Michael Hall, Ilan Mitchell-Smith, and Kelly LeBrock. It is based on the 1951 pre-Comics Code comic "Made of the Future" by Al Feldstein, which appeared in the magazine of the same name. The title song was written and performed by American new wave band Oingo Boingo.
Tammy Lynn Michaels, also known by the surname Etheridge from her relationship with Melissa Etheridge, is an American actress.
High Art is a 1998 independent romantic drama written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, and starring Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell. It premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and saw a limited release in the United States on June 12, 1998.
D.E.B.S. is a 2004 American action comedy film written, edited and directed by Angela Robinson, a feature-length adaptation of her 2003 short film of the same name. D.E.B.S. follows the relationship between spy-in-training Amy Bradshaw and supervillain Lucy Diamond.
Tammy Rae Carland, is a photographer, video artist, zine editor, current provost at California College of the Arts (CCA), and former co-owner of the independent lesbian music label Mr. Lady Records and Videos. Her work has been published, screened, and exhibited around the world in galleries and museums in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin, and Sydney.
All Over Me is a 1997 American teen drama film directed by Alex Sichel and written by her sister, Sylvia Sichel. Alex Sichel received a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation to make a film about the riot grrrl music scene and then asked her sister to collaborate with her.
Angela Robinson is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival awarded Robinson with the Fusion Achievement Award in 2013 for her contribution to LGBTQ+ media visibility.
POWER UP is an American non-profit organization and film production company with the stated mission "to promote the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment, the arts, and all forms of media". It was founded in 2000 by K. Pearson Brown, Stacy Codikow and Amy Shomer. Its members include women and men, gay and straight.
Kong: The Animated Series is an animated television series that follows King Kong, the title character based on the 1933 film of the same name. The series was a co-production between BKN International, Ellipsanime and M6, and premiered in France on the latter network on May 2, 2001.
Jeopardy is a children's science fiction drama programme that ran for three series, from 26 April 2002 to 11 May 2004, on BBC One. It was created by Tim O'Mara, directed by Paul Wroblewski and produced by Andy Rowley, with executive production by Richard Langridge for Wark Clements and Claire Mundell for CBBC Scotland. The series was produced for CBBC Scotland and was filmed on location in both Scotland and Busselton, Australia. It also aired on ABC in Australia. In 2002, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awarded the first series Best Children's Drama.
QFest, formerly known as the Houston Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (HGLFF), is a nonprofit organization based in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting the media arts as a tool for communication and cooperation among diverse communities by presenting films, videos, and programs by, about, or of interest to the LGBTQ community.
Go Fish is a 1994 American comedy drama film written by Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche and directed by Rose Troche. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994, and was the first film to be sold to a distributor, Samuel Goldwyn, during that event for $450,000. The film was released during Pride Month in June 1994 and eventually grossed $2.5 million. The film was seen as groundbreaking for celebrating lesbian culture on all levels, and it launched the career of director Troche and Turner. Go Fish is said to have proved the marketability of lesbian issues for the film industry.
The Branning family, together with the Jackson family are a fictional extended family in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Introduced in 1993 were the Jackson family, consisting of Carol Jackson, her partner and later husband Alan Jackson, and Carol's four children, Bianca Jackson, Sonia Jackson, Robbie Jackson, and Billie Jackson ; he is the only child fathered by Alan. The family becomes a more dominating presence in 1999, when Carol's father Jim Branning moves to Walford following the death of his wife Reenie due to cancer. Since then, all six of Jim's children have appeared, many of them with their own families.
Peccadillo Pictures is a UK-based film producer and distributor of art house, gay and lesbian, independent and world cinema. They have provided distribution for many films such as Weekend, Tomboy, XXY, Eyes Wide Open, Four Minutes, The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, Transylvania, Cockles and Muscles, Summer Storm, The Guest House and Chemsex.
Hisss is a 2010 adventure-horror film, directed by Jennifer Lynch. Indian film actress Mallika Sherawat plays the lead role.
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls is a 1994 book written by Mary Pipher. This book examines the effects of societal pressures on American adolescent girls, and utilizes many case studies from the author's experience as a therapist. The book has been described as a "call to arms" and highlights the increased levels of sexism and violence that affect young females. Pipher asserts that whilst the feminist movement has aided adult women to become empowered, teenagers have been neglected and require intensive support due to their undeveloped maturity.
Tilly Evans is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Lucy Dixon. The actress announced her casting on 30 May 2011. Tilly was introduced to the show, along with two other characters, during a special storyline shot and set in Abersoch, North Wales. She made her first screen appearance on 21 June 2011. Dixon announced her departure in December 2013 and Tilly made her last appearance on 3 January 2014.
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is a 2017 American biographical drama film about American psychologist William Moulton Marston, who created the fictional character Wonder Woman. The film, directed and written by Angela Robinson, stars Luke Evans as Marston; Rebecca Hall as his legal wife Elizabeth; and Bella Heathcote as the Marstons' polyamorous life partner, Olive Byrne. JJ Feild, Oliver Platt, and Connie Britton also feature.
Angela's Christmas is a 2017 Irish-Canadian animation film directed by Damien O'Connor, written by Will Collins and Damien O'Connor and starring the Oscar nominees Ruth Negga in the role of Angela’s mother, and Lucy O'Connell as Angela. The plot is based on the children's story from Pulitzer Prize winning Irish author Frank McCourt, and is set in Limerick, Ireland in the 1910s. The story revolves around Angela's desire to make sure everyone is having a great Christmas. The film's cast and production team received three nominations at the 46th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards and three at the 2018 Emile Awards.
Moxie, stylized as MOXiE! is a 2021 American comedy-drama film directed by Amy Poehler. Tamara Chestna and Dylan Meyer adapted the screenplay from the 2017 novel of the same name by Jennifer Mathieu. It stars Hadley Robinson, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Lauren Tsai, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Nico Hiraga, and Poehler. The film focuses on 16-year-old Vivian, who starts a feminist zine to empower the young women in her high school, as they contend with bullying, sexual harassment, and rape. The film was released on March 3, 2021, by Netflix and received mixed reviews from critics.