Janet -a film by Emily Dayton Evans

In this short psychological thriller Ashley, a dowdy corporate cog, harbors an unhealthy obsession with her work supervisor Janet. When Janet attends the office happy hour Ashley’s obsession intensifies. She spends the evening watching Janet’s every move, and when she spots Janet on the subway afterward, decides to follow her home. Outside Janet’s house Ashley is overcome with desire, but what it leads her to is a harrowing reveal.

Key Creatives

This film was made by queer women & nonbinary talents, plus a couple gay guys.

Emily Dayton Evans is a queer multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. Named Content Creator to Watch by New York Comedy Festival; Emily’s work centers feminism, queerness, and mental health awareness. The all-LGBTQ+ sketch comedy series ONE MILLION GIRLS that she wrote, produced, and starred in was named BEST OF at SeriesFest 2023. Her directorial debut, psycho-thriller short Green Juice, was nominated BEST OF at the Toronto Female Eye Film Festival, LA Short Film Festival, and The Big Apple Film Festival. Her work has been featured by HBO Women in Comedy Festival, New York Comedy Festival, Ars Nova Theatre, Upright Citizens Brigade, and many more. Emily believes that comedy and horror are two sides of the same coin, and she equally enjoys making her audiences laugh, and scream.

Emily Dayton Evans; Writer/Director

Emily Kordovich is a director of photography based in Brooklyn, NY that focuses on telling immigrant stories, women’s stories, and queer stories; always with the goal of aiding the story and making people feel something with their visuals.

Emily was accepted into the ASC Vision Mentorship Program in 2023, and was awarded the 2024 Fresh Perspectives in Cinematography Grant presented by AbelCine, Arri, and The ASC for the award winning narrative short film, Remnants Of Nova.

Films Emily has shot have been included in festivals such as SeriesFest, AGBO's Italian Filmmaker's Forum, Cannes Indie Shorts Festival, Proof Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, West Chester Film Festival, Chelsea Film Festival, and more.

Emily Kordovich; Director of Photography

Spencer Clark; Choreographer

Codi Lee Fant is a multidisciplinary artist and animator based in Brooklyn, NY.

Currently working at SNL; Fant’s work blurs the boundaries between traditional techniques, classical motifs, subversive symbolism, and digital processes. Her surrealist compositions invoke ethereality, femininity, and a sense of dreaminess. Working at a crossroads between traditional graphite rendering and digital media, Fant is interested in knitting together techniques from various sources to create her own visual language.

Codi Fant; VFX

  • Key Grip and Gaffer

    Key Grip & Gaffer

    Rylie Field & Maggie Brill

  • Actor / Exec Producer

    Sloan Brettholtz

  • Assistant Camera

    Sarah Alexander

  • Sound

    Julie Martin

  • HMU & SFX

    Gabriella Piazzo

  • Assistant Director

    Gunsel Pehlivan

  • Production Design & Set Dresser

    Aspen Nelson & Davi Sapirogheiler

  • Costume Designer

    Syd Scott

creator’s statement

I wrote this piece first as a short story in 2018, a time when I was deeply jealous. The story of Janet was my way of exploring my own envy, desires, and of course, my obsessions. Then I found a crew of queer women and nonbinary folks who were into the story… and years later we turned it into a film.

Our short film follows protagonist Ashley who is obsessed with her work supervisor, Janet. To her, Janet is everything. Throughout the film Ashley’s obsession grows to the point of self abandon; and it’s in her desire for Janet she distracts herself from the parts of herself she would rather not look at.

In the final moments of the film Janet pulls back her own face, revealing her true self. This moment confronts Ashley and the audience with the question: was this woman even real? Or was she just the illusion of an obsession? All that she leaves are the spiders; the parts of ourselves that feel too scary to face. I see Ashley’s exploration of Janet to be the vehicle that lets her examine the dark facets of her own personality that she has left unexplored.

I am so proud of the talent we had on this project. Our crew and post teams were entirely made up of LGBTQ+ folks; and women outnumbered men on set. We all took a risk to make this project happen, and what resulted is evocative and beautiful. As for me, I hope that playing Janet helps me to never feel jealous again.

xoxo,
Emily