Premiering in April at the University of Miami’s Canes Film Festival, student-director Shianne Salazar’s coming-of-age film, “Jaded,” explores themes of love, loss, grief, acceptance, and new beginnings.  

Struggling to come to terms with a tragedy involving her boyfriend, the lead character, Zanna Hart, played by professional actress Kemi Oyeneye, seemingly has everything going for her: “the looks, the brain, and the drive,” said Salazar. “But something tragic happens to her a few months prior to her 22nd birthday that has her rethinking the aim of her future and what her actual aspirations are.”  

With the help of her mother, performed by local actress Kalina Karadavis, Zanna attempts to sort through her confusion.  

“A lot of the elements in the film are things that are real and close to me,” said Salazar. “It’s about a Caribbean-American girl, [like me,] and it’s about trying to find your way in the world. I just graduated college, so I’m just trying to figure out where I fit into everything.”  

However, the primary force driving this intense change in the main character’s life, said Salazar, is the thrilling and tragic romance between Zanna and 23-year-old Jade, portrayed by reoccurring actor Tyrese Saint Cyr.  

“I was just kind of going through some things last year and basically fed off those emotions that I was experiencing and worked that into a one hundred percent fictional script,” said Salazar of the storyline. “None of this is based on my life at all, [but] it’s an exploration of the emotions that I was feeling at the time.

“My intention for the film was to analyze these really universal feelings of hopelessness, but also hopefulness, and how they can juxtapose against each other. I just feel like that’s something that’s really relatable to a lot of people no matter what specifically you’re going through. I just chose to use the framework of someone on their birthday trying to figure their life out in order to examine these emotions.” 

Because the film uses elements from Salazar’s life, the ever-evolving music journalist and director knew from the start that the cast would be all-Black.  

“I’m glad that we have such a diverse cast,” said Salazar. “With Kemi being Nigerian and Haitian, and Tyrese being half-Haitian and half-Puerto Rican, it was really exactly what I envisioned when I first wrote the script– having an Afro-Latino in the male role and a darker-skinned Black woman in the lead. It just worked out perfectly, all while adhering to really good chemistry and rapport overall.” 

Although Salazar was enthused over how the two main characters worked amazingly together on set, she said finding them in the first place had its own set of challenges.  

“The casting experience was really a nightmare,” laughed Salazar. “It took a while. We had the call up for two and a half months and didn’t make our final selections until just about a month before production. It took a lot of screen tests and chemistry testing [between the actors].  

“Every time we thought we had someone, they ended up not mixing well with the other potential options so then we’d have to scrap the whole thing because it is a romance at its core, and I needed that to really come through. So, when we finally decided on Kemi and Tyrese, it was just kind of perfect because they’re both Sagittarius’s and they got along really well. It definitely was a long journey to get there, but clearly, it was for the best, so I wouldn’t change a thing.” 

The film, which took only three days to shoot, was funded mainly through crowdfunding on GoFundMe.com. With a $2,000 goal, Salazar nearly reached her goal at $1,700. 

“It was really amazing that so many people were willing to donate money for me to be able to express myself creatively while in school,” said Salazar. “Even if the donors only gave $5, I genuinely feel as though they’re an integral part of the film and that we made this thing together just by those contributions. 

“I’m super grateful to anybody who even just shared the GoFundMe page on their story. All the support we got was incredible and it definitely gave me the momentum I needed to make this film happen. I felt like I had a responsibility right at that point when people were giving me their hard-earned money to make this [film.] It had to be the best it could be. I think we accomplished that.” 

Making the film at the best quality possible meant Salazar needed the assistance of an equally talented production crew, and she knew just where to find one. With the help of one of her connected childhood friends, Salazar enlisted support from students attending the New York Film Academy in South Beach to work with her on the creation of the film.  

“This was our first time working together and it was actually so crazy how well we all meshed together even though we all have completely different backgrounds,” Salazar fanned. “I was really grateful for that crew because student films usually run into a lot of issues of so many different calibers.  

“[The crew] troubleshot things before it would happen to make sure everything was in order. And whatever we said we were going to do on each day, we ended up doing. That was new for me because as a student filmmaker, it doesn’t usually ever go like that for me. I’m very grateful I have such a good friend who is well-connected with the student-film scene in Miami… which is really thriving by the way.” 

The film only required two sets: Zanna’s house and the doting couple’s apartment. Created by production designer, Zoë Bell, whom Salazar enthused “instantly saw her vision” for the set design, the crew was able to transform Salazar’s late grandmother’s retirement home into two young adult’s apartment, and her kind neighbor’s house into Zanna’s cozy family home.  

“I was really, really lucky that I didn’t have to shell out any of the budget on locations. My neighbor offered up his house here in Hollywood (Fla.) and I didn’t even ask. It was so nice of him. The apartment scenes shot in my late grandmother’s retirement home were a little bit tricky because it is a retirement community and so it was kind of strange that there was a bunch of POC young adults just infiltrating their space. But they ended up being pretty cool about it. [Zoë and I] just totally got each other. She’s half-Trinidadian, I’m Trinidadian and so she immediately knew what set design I was going for. I’m really happy we ended up getting her to design the sets.” 

Salazar held the visuals of the film to a very high standard. But to completely display the story to its fullest extent, the student director knew the music incorporated and accompanying the film had an equal, if not higher, degree of importance. 

“The reason why I even got into film in the first place was because I was obsessed with soundtracks from movies,” said Salazar. “I just loved finding new songs from shows so I always knew that even if I wouldn’t get the licensing for a lot of songs that I liked, the musical vibes that were in my head would be incorporated in the film.” 

A former radio show host for WVUM at the University of Miami, Salazar had a knack for creating playlists and knew from the start she’d make playlists for the two leads, Zanna and Jade, and for their perceived journeys outside of the timeline of the film. 

Posted onto the official update page for the film, Salazar explained the “playlist for Zanna chronicles her feelings of hopefulness to hopelessness and coming full circle all again to realizing that everything will be okay in the end if you keep pushing forward. Jade’s playlist is very much based on his personality— He’s an artistic, free spirit, so his playlist is my personal favorite. It’s very indie, R&B, alternative, and really cool.” 

The playlists, which serve as an extension of the story and the characters, reach beyond the limitations of a short film. The joint playlist posted to Spotify and the official Instagram page tracks the young couple’s love story that Salazar said the viewers don’t actually get to see that much of in the film.  

“We get moments of it,” said Salazar, “but the playlist is kind of like an expanded version of that. We start with very timid love songs and then very passionate love songs all the way to damn-near break-up songs, then back to forgiveness and everything in between. I really like this playlist, as well.” 

Hoping the film is edited in time, Salazar’s plan is to debut the film at Canes Film Festival in April, if not sooner. The budding director said she aspires for viewers to truly appreciate the art that is being presented to them. 

“This is a very Black production using local Black talent to make for an all-Black cast, as well as the majority of our crew,” said Salazar. “I’m really proud we were able to exemplify that. I hope people expect to see Black excellence on screen. But I also hope to accurately portray the main message which is: perseverance can yield good results and things can get better if you put the work in … and the work doesn’t have to be this whole methodical, pragmatic, stressful thing.  

“The work just means accepting yourself and what you can and cannot do in order to move on with your life and make something of yourself in the way you see fit for yourself. There is no right path. Only the one that feels right to you. I hope that resonates with people because that’s what I went into the writing process thinking.” 

For updates on the film’s progress and to listen to the character’s playlists, visit the official “Jaded” Instagram page.