Cookies & Cream writer-director Arka Gupta with some of the cast: Taryn Field (Jess), Lily Stablein (Rachel), Lydia Smith (Miss Anderson), and Eva Chadwick, who plays the main character Phoebe.
Cookies & Cream writer-director Arka Gupta with some of the cast: Taryn Field (Jess), Lily Stablein (Rachel), Lydia Smith (Miss Anderson), and Eva Chadwick, who plays the main character Phoebe.
As a child, Arka Gupta was struck by the way his friend was excluded.
Why? The boy was deaf.
Gupta, a Palmerston North film maker and scientist, has carried the memory of his friend well into adulthood and across continents.
His latest short film, Cookies & Cream, is his wayof honouring the boy. Gupta was his only friend at primary school.
Cookies & Cream tells the story of hard-of-hearing girl Phoebe. The 5-year-old overcomes adversity and bonds with caring people around her.
The film will be shot in Palmerston North in July. Locations include Whakarongo School and Candy Corner Dairy.
Gupta has been taking sign language classes as he wanted to learn more about the deaf world and portray it as authentically as possible. Being different is not a disability.
Eva Chadwick, who lives in Rotorua, is the star of short film Cookies & Cream.
Lily Stablein plays Phoebe’s mother, Rachel. Stablein has been involved in drama most of her life and met Gupta in 2019 through Massey University Drama Society.
Stablein describes Rachel as a “little stress pop” who is hoping for a new start so Phoebe can have an idyllic childhood.
Rachel’s husband, James, is not the nicest human in the world and Rachel is the sole earner.
Stablein was born in Dunedin, and moved to Palmerston North when she was 10 months old. Last year, she moved to Whangarei to live with her mother and develop the Pānoho whānau whenua, the land her mother was born on.
Cookies & Cream received $4500 from Palmerston North City Council through the Creative Communities Scheme. Gupta describes this as generous funding that will help fund a portion of the film.
“It’s such a privilege to live in a city where the arts really get nurtured.”
Gupta has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for production costs, artists’ koha, food for filming days, and post-production costs including festival delivery. The crowdfunding campaign runs until July 8 and options range from a thanks credit to being an executive producer.
Taryn Field plays ice cream lady Jess, whom Phoebe connects with, and Lydia Smith is Miss Anderson, Phoebe’s teacher.
