Local Girl
Written & Directed by Carly Hopkins
A teenage girl’s dream of moving to New York and becoming a professional ballet dancer
is derailed when she falls into a passionate romance with an older man who might not
have her best interest at heart.
Local Girl is based on my personal experience in an
age gap relationship when I was in high school. I
am now older than he was when I met him and have
spent many years trying to reconcile what happened
between us as well as other people’s opinion of the
relationship. How do I identify myself in the context
of what has transpired? How could that evolve and
what does it mean, if anything at all? What is the
difference between what feels true and what is true?
I’m not sure if Jade or I would ever be able to tell you
for sure.
​
Jade, like many other women who have this
experience, will spend the rest of her life trying to
untangle the knot of dichotomies that characterize
adolescence and make young women vulnerable to
these kinds of relationships. The most painful of them
all being the universally human experience of desiring
what can destroy you and the struggle to break free
from the conscious and unconscious patterns that
stop us from realizing our potential in the name of
that desire.
A Note from the Director
Carly Hopkins - Producer/Writer/Director
Carly Hopkins is an independent writer/director
based out of Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Pratt Institute with her senior thesis film, On the 99th Night, winning first place at the university’s competitive annual Film Festival.
Her film was showcased at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music. Upon graduating, Hopkins threw herself into the entertainment industry, working in various departments, from wardrobe to production design to production coordinating. Currently, Hopkins is revisiting her hometown in Delray Beach, FL, and focusing on her first feature film, Local Girl.
​
Her ultimate goal is to write and direct films that center
on the female experience and leave an impact on
audiences who crave empowering stories.
Constantina Tzikas - Producer
Constantina is an NYC–based producer specializing in shorts, commercials, and music videos. After graduating from Chapman University’s film school in California, she moved to New York and began collaborating with emerging directors, musicians, and brands to create meaningful projects.
"Love is Unconditional"
Local Girl is fiscally sponsored by the world’s foremost
independent film nonprofit organization, Film Independent.
Any donation made to Local Girl is tax deductible.