Naming and Casting and Thinking and Wondering

This post will essentially be the "who's who" and "what's what" for our opening two minutes.

Character list:
Eleanora Lee is our main character. After the death of Alma, she is determined to change the way not only her school but also her country views LGBT+ people and also to fight against the rampant bullying of these students. Because she is such a leading force in a just cause, we wanted the meaning of her name to reflect that. Her full name is Eleanora, which in Greek means "light" and in Latin means "woman of honor;" however, her close friends and family will call her Nora.

Source: Think Baby Names

Alma Rodriguez is our driving force. She is representative of all the LGBT+ kids and teens who have been driven to killing themselves because they are so horrifically bullied while adults simply stand by. Alma was true to herself and a strong individual, although the audience will not be able to know her well. She is Hispanic because Lisa and I wanted to have solid representation in our film, and with only four characters in our opening (and two of them being sisters), we decided to represent Hispanics. Alma, which is a Hispanic name, means a kind soul or learned, and we felt this fit Alma well.

Source: Think Baby Names

Raina Rodriguez is Alma's older sister by two years. She is a college freshman and was very protective of her sister; she hated that she couldn't be home to protect Alma from her classmates. Thus, we looked for a name that meant "protector" or "guardian" but was also a believable name for her culture, and we came up with Raina.

Source: Think Baby Names

Cast list:

• Eleanora Lee............Elanna Heda
• Alma Rodriguez............Lisa Burgoa
• Raina Rodriguez............Ines Acosta (tentative)
• Reporter............Lisa Rienhardt