Miss Dixie High is a feature screenplay currently in development based on the completed short proof of concept film Miss Dixie High. This page is home for information and updates on both films. 

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Social Issue(s): Beauty pageant ethics, sexual abuse, domestic violence, racism, female empowerment, religion. 

 

Filmmakers' diversity demographic(s): Female writer/director. Black co-writer. 

 

Target Audience(s): Young adult, thriller audiences, women, people of color.

 

Additional Projects in development based on this property: Feature film screenplay titled Miss Dixie High by Jenna Cavelle and Xavier Burgin. 

 

Logline/Synopsis: When the local high school beauty pageant offers a college scholarship to the winning contestant, Shelly imagines a future beyond her abusive home life and does whatever it takes to break free. Filmed on location at a junkyard/trailer compound, chain-linked fences frame key story moments to portray characters as trapped, abandoned cars and deteriorating machines symbolize social decay often associated with the southern United States. A coming of age story that digs deep into the complex nature of familial, mother-daughter, and male-female relations, remarking thoughtfully on stereotypes without perpetuating them. Passes Bechdel test and features themes of sexual and emotional abuse, codependency, patriarchy, beauty, stereotypes, entrapment, desperation.

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DIRECTOR & WRITER: Jenna Cavelle

PRODUCER: Derek Sepe

CINEMATOGRAPHY & PRODUCTION DESIGN: 

Johnson Thomasson

EDITING: Derek Sepe

SOUND DESIGN & MIX: Derek Sepe

SCORE: Bryan Curt Kostors

TRT: 6:01 minutes with credits