Futurestate kicks off Season 3 with the new short film Advantageous by director Jennifer Phang. Here’s more about the short:

Gwen is the spokesperson for a radical technology allowing people to overcome their natural disadvantages and begin life anew. But when her job and family are in crisis, will she undergo the procedure herself?

Director Jennifer Phang also share some insights about the short:

To what extremes would a parent go to secure their child’s future? In considering the purpose of this series, I felt it was the right time for me to take a hard look at issues surrounding the future of women. I started envisioning the tale of a talented mother going to extremes to preserve her own viability in the job market in order to protect the prospects of her gifted daughter.

The stories of mothers sacrificing and suffering for their children proliferate across generations and cultures. I began looking for a multifaceted approach in exploring this theme. I didn’t want to tell a story about a guileless, idealized mother whose sole need in life is to raise a child. Rather, I wanted to create a mother who was a savvy, accomplished figure – a woman certain of herself, even prideful – a woman aware of her station and the tenuous nature of her position in a hostile, fast-paced world. This mother had to be fiercely determined to make good on her commitment to her daughter and to make up for past mistakes at any cost.

Around the time I began developing the script, I also began to notice an evolution in America’s collective consciousness: while in the past women were stigmatized if they had any plastic surgery done at all, they were now being judged on whether or not their elective surgeries were well-executed. Through the media, through our personal and professional circles, we are encouraged more and more to accept this kind of “self-improvement” as a compromised empowerment, or at least a practicality.

With this in mind, I wanted to look at the decisions of a cosmopolitan single woman at a time when competition for employment and education has reached a crisis point. This tale is ultimately a reaction to the myriad ways we try to self-improve in order to attain stability and success.

ee previous Futurestates shorts: Silver Sling by Tze Chun, Mister Green by Greg Pak, PIA by Tanuj Chopra, Beholder by Nisha Ganatra, Exposure with Leonardo Nam, Remigration with Rick Yune, That Which Once Was directed by Kimi Takesue, and Digital Antiquities by J.P. Chan.

Advantageous by Jennifer Phang

Behind the scenes of Advantageous by Jennifer Phang