the story

tender is a simple story, close to my heart. tender is about Black women loving ourselves and each other fully - our scars, joy, queerness, desire, and vulnerability. I’m fascinated and fortified by the bonds I share with Black women and I wanted to try to capture that power. I also wanted to explore emotional intimacy, sexuality, and loss, from a Black woman lens, which we don’t see nearly enough. 

I also like playing with age and class and am compelled to write Gen X female characters (like me and my friends) who are actively reflecting on their life. And in this film’s case, a reflection through the eyes of your seemingly younger self.

Lastly, because I’m a champion of joy and because Black joy is resistance, this is also a film about joy and how we can find both joy and connection in unlikely places when we feel safe and allow ourselves to.

— Felicia Pride

the filmmakers

FELICIA PRIDE — WRITER/DIRECTOR

Baltimore native Felicia Pride is a Film / TV writer and an emerging director. She has been a writer for two seasons on Ava DuVernay’s QUEEN SUGAR and currently writes on GREY’S ANATOMY. She sold a drama pilot, a book adaptation, to NBC’s Universal Cable Productions. She also sold the feature DEEPER, an erotic romance, to Universal Pictures with Will Packer Productions producing. She is the co-writer and executive producer of the film REALLY LOVE, produced by MACRO, which won a Special Grand Jury Prize at SXSW. She recently made her directorial debut with tender, a short film she also wrote, which premiered at Outfest Fusion. Felicia is a Film Independent Screenwriting Lab Fellow and a graduate of NBC’s Writers on the Verge program as a comedy writer. Prior to, she worked as a film distribution executive and an impact producer, and is the author of six books. Felicia holds an M.A. in writing from Emerson College and runs The Create Daily, a resource for underrepresented storytellers that she founded in 2012.

REGINA HOYLES — PRODUCER

Born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago, IL, Regina Hoyles is a multi-hyphenate artist who got her start in the entertainment industry as early as nine years old. She is a recent graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts where she majored in drama and minored in the business of entertainment.

Known to work behind the scenes and in front of the camera, Regina is committed to wearing several hats in the development and production process. Naps, a web series she created that has been featured in publications such as Shadow and Act and screened at several festivals across the U.S., was recently handpicked to stream on iONE Digital’s aspaceforcreators.com. As an actor, Regina can most recently be seen on Season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime. As a filmmaker, Regina is currently attached as a producer to several projects, many of which contain storylines that focus on some aspect of the Black woman experience.

She most recently wrapped on her latest work, Adullam, a sci-fi short film which she wrote, directed, and starred in.

LUDOVICA ISIDORI — CINEMATOGRAPHER

A vibrant, Italian, cinematographer, Ludovica Isidori holds an MA in Cinema and Television studies from IULM, Milano and a MFA in Cinematography from AFI, Los Angeles; there she received the Olivadotti Scholarship for craftsmanship excellence.

While studying, she filmed a documentary on autism, Meraviglia, that screened at several Italian Film Festivals. Since then, her path has been validated by a combination of artistic experiences, improving her technical skills and training her photographic sight. While living in Milan, she worked for the esteemed fashion photographer, Gianguido Rossi and she assisted Francesco Zanot, a highly valued photography curator. Their collaboration expanded Ludovica’s knowledge of Art History and Photography, as well as her understanding of the aesthetic rules and social relevance of visual art.

In 2013, Ludovica’s graduated from the American Film Institute with a thesis shot on 35mm, Bamidbar. The short won the Best Short at the LAJFF and screened at numerous film festivals (Shanghai International Film Festival, Hof International Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and the Champs-Elysees Film Festival.)

In 2015, Ludovica was selected as a Cinematography Fellow for Project Involve, the diversity program of Film independent. Since then, her projects have premiered at SXSW, Slamdance, HBO, Outfest, Diversity in Cannes and many other.

In 2017, Ludovica shot her first feature, The Blackout, for the Argentinian director Daniela De Carlo. In October 2017, Ludovica Won Best Cinematography at the Gary International Black Film Festival for her short, Intercept, directed by Jackie Stone. The year 2018 started with another prize for cinematography, il Premio Daniele Cipri per la fotografia at the Movie Valley Film Festival, in Italy, for Ludovica’s work on the short movie Peggie.

In 2018 she shot her third feature, Test Pattern, for director Shatara Michelle Ford;  the piece, an independent piece about love and consent, has now started its festival run.

full credits

written & directed by felicia pride
produced by regina hoyles
executive producer felicia pride

starring farelle walker
trishauna clarke

cinematographer ludovica isidori

editor tess karmann

costume designer ciara whaley
production designer dahli coles

music by asha santee

associate producer...ivy grant
first assistant director…paige blankenship
1st assistant camera…nobuyoshi sakurai
2nd assistant camera…ali arminio
set still photographer...avery archie
location sound mixer…darren augustus
gaffer…guy pooles
key grip…nick deruve
swing...trey betts
script supervisor...emily blake

hair and makeup…galaxy san juan
costumer….chanti walker

colorist...ryan harding

post-production services provided by ko creative
sound editor…mike lee
sound editor…declan mcinerney

casting associate...amber brown
additional casting services provided by breakdown services

music supervisor….jennifer smith