A Bold New Voice In Independent Film

As a film lover, it doesn’t take long when watching a film to know whether you’re in good hands or not. We recently tuned into “Attached”, a new short film written and directed by Kendra Monet and Demetrius Sadler, and we were reassured from the very first frames that we were in for a treat.

The psychological thriller depicts a struggling actress named Draya whose past continues to haunt her, while her present causes her to reconcile with life-changing decisions that force her to confront her sense of control. What stood out to us, along with the twists and turns of the story itself, was the rich cinematography, production design, and attention to detail. The filmmakers built a world around their words, and for the entire runtime, we were fully immersed.

We caught up with Harlem filmmaker Kendra Monet to talk about her journey, her inspirations, and much more. Check it out below.

1. Let’s start from the beginning. Can you tell us about your creative upbringing in Harlem, and what led you to NYU to pursue film?

In my junior year of high school, I saw a flyer about a six week summer program where students would have the opportunity to make a short documentary film at the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem. I signed up because I didn’t have anything planned that summer and I wanted to try something new. After the application and the interview process, I was selected. In this program, I learned all of the fundamentals of creating a documentary. I had no experience, but I stuck with the process and immersed myself in finding the story. At the end, I made my first documentary about the history of mixtapes and the impact on hip-hop culture. My instructors were impressed by how everything came together. 

I was invited to participate in the year long fellowship where I was able to make another short documentary film during my senior year. I discovered that I was drawn to stories about my community in Harlem, and wanted more people to experience the beauty and undiscovered stories that have yet to be told here. These are the stories that I wanted to see growing up. I wanted to be a part of that change in exploring the nuance and complexities that exist within my community. My second film chronicled three students from my high school and the pressures they faced with the college process and their futures. There was more pressure in making this film because I knew this would be a part of my portfolio to apply to NYU film school and I wanted to make a story that represented me. NYU was always a top school for me, just growing up in NYC. I actually had the chance to visit the film program at NYU and observe a class that was taught by Sam Pollard during my fellowship at Maysles. And years later, Sam Pollard would become my professor and advisor when I attended NYU.

“I discovered that I was drawn to stories about my community in Harlem, and wanted more people to experience the beauty and undiscovered stories that have yet to be told here”

2. It’s always admirable to see an indie filmmaker willing an idea into existence. What went into making the film “Attached”? How did you and Demetrius fund it and bring it all together?

As an indie filmmaker, there were so many elements that went into making “Attached”. Seriously, how long do I have? 

We started this process in late 2023, when Demetrius and I met in a writing accountability group with Black Film Space. A few of us decided to continue writing after that accountability group ended and we decided to write a tv series in this new writing group. We wrote like four episodes of this idea. But eventually members of the group left due to their personal lives and it was just me and Demetrius left. We decided to keep the same characters from the tv pilot idea but we completely changed the story and reformatted everything into a short film. It’s much easier to make a short film than a tv pilot. And when it came to the story, I felt the original idea was lacking boldness and creativity. In revamping the script, adding psychological thriller elements made sense because I am a huge horror fan (since I was a child), especially horror films exploring womanhood and identity. 

“As a filmmaker, you have to always remind yourself of your why in telling your story. And you have to be willing to fight for your film at every turn. Find a solution and keep pushing through with every setback. But your goal has to be to make the film by any means necessary. “

We finished the short film script in late 2024. And decided to make a two minute teaser film, which takes place in the same world as “Attached”, but introduces audiences to our main character Draya in a horrifying way. This teaser would be used in our crowdfunding campaign to help spark interest and support. We had casted to amazing Genyne Deal as “Draya”,  and we assembled a small but mighty crew to accomplish this six hour shoot on a snowy day in Harlem. In March of 2025, we launched our crowdfunding campaign with Black Film Space as the fiscal sponsor on Seed & Spark. Our goal was $30,000 and we raised about half of our goal after all of our marketing efforts and outreach to friends, family and industry professionals. Demetrius and I self-funded the rest of the money to make the film possible. I work a full-time career in publicity outside of filmmaking that helped fund the film. 

Starting in early 2025, we went through the pre-production process. We had a few scary moments leading up to the shoot where our original Production Designers and Sound Mixer also dropped, but everything came together in July 2025 when we shot “Attached” and completed post production in December 2025. We literally had no breaks for two years in this process, and that helps move everything forward when you’re constantly working towards your goal. As a filmmaker, you have to always remind yourself of your why in telling your story. And you have to be willing to fight for your film at every turn. Find a solution and keep pushing through with every setback. But your goal has to be to make the film by any means necessary. 

3. The visual language of this film jumps off the screen from the beginning. What was the thought process in crafting the look of the film?

The visual language of the film was a conversation that started as early as the writing process. There were films that we knew inspired us and specific shots, colors and production design elements that I always thought about. Once we added our Director of Photography David A. Mejia, the intentionality behind the look of the film just expanded because a great cinematographer can expose you to more visual and lighting options. And then our production designer Katrin Gratt had so many ideas and how we could make our plain apartment location become this beautiful space. 

From a production design perspective, I was constantly saving images of what I thought Draya’s apartment should look like. In terms of color and vibes, I was very inspired by “Pariah”, “She’s Gotta Have It” (tv series), “Swarm” and “If Beale Street Could Talk”. Draya is a young woman and an actress that lives alone and loves to collect thrifty items. Sometimes starting new projects before she finishes them. Our production designer helped us build a color palette with bold colors like purple, orange and yellow to represent Draya’s free-spirit and to add this magical feeling that really makes you feel like you have entered another world – her world. And we sourced paintings from local artists, added wallpaper and found items that people had given away from Materials for the Arts.

“Our production designer helped us build a color palette with bold colors like purple, orange and yellow to represent Draya’s free-spirit and to add this magical feeling that really makes you feel like you have entered another world – her world.”

With cinematography, we were able to break down the script with our DP and isolate certain moments in the script. We would match these moments with images and inspirations from other films in terms of angles, lens choices, lighting and framing. This was all informed by the story. In our film, Draya feels like her world is coming apart and experiences moments where she reminisces about her past with her ex-boyfriend. We wanted her world to feel isolated, so we chose tighter lens choices like 40mm and 50mm Cooke lenses to create that feeling. We did a lens test at TCS with our lead actress and this helped narrow down lenses for us. We knew for the moments where Draya is not in reality that a different lens would be needed for that dreamlike and whimsical feeling, so we decided on the Angenieux M1 lenses. We also decided that most of the film would be handheld to create that emotional rush that Draya experiences. Elements of Wong Kar-wai were definitely huge for me, in terms of how his films have that fleeting nature and how striking his visual language always appears.

4. I loved the psychological thriller aspect, and without giving it away, the ending caught me off guard. What was you and Demetrius’ approach to writing this film? How did you share directorial responsibilities?

I appreciate that about the ending! The ending really came together in post-production and many rounds of feedback in crafting the ending to be the big reveal that it is now. When it came to the writing process, Demetrius and I would meet twice a week on zoom for about two or three hours every week. We would come to each zoom session with a scene or a few pages that we wrote for “Attached”. We used the pilot scripts as a foundation with keeping the same characters. And we knew that our intent was to make a film about a young woman in her twenties and the fears and anxieties that she faces, while she navigates her acting career and her past with her ex-boyfriend. Once we agreed on the synopsis and how we wanted to flesh out the character further, we were able to write separately. We would discuss what we liked in each of our pages and what we didn’t necessarily feel like fit in the story. From there, we would copy and paste on a blank draft a scene that worked really well and we would continue to build upon that in these writing sessions. 

I am naturally a more descriptive writer where I use metaphors and heavily describe the environments of the characters. And in all of my works, I focus on building relationships between characters and ideas coming full circle by the end. Those were elements that I made sure were added when we rewrote the script. And I reached out to peers and film professors for feedback which really helped improve the story.

In terms of directing responsibilities, I have directed before and I work in the industry so I immediately knew what we needed to do in order to make this film. I created the list of actionable items that we needed for everything to happen. Since I live in Harlem, I was involved with all of the locations and hiring local crew and making sure everything flowed on the shooting days. On set, we both would give direction to actors if there were any notes and discussed with our cinematographer any decisions. I am a very hands-on director so I had to be a part of every single step. The experience felt like normal directing in certain ways, but then of course you have to now consult with another team member. 

5. What can we expect next from this film, and from you as an artist? Thanks

We released our trailer this year. And we have film festival screenings coming up in Virginia, Maryland, DC and New Jersey. We are waiting to hear back from the majority of film festivals and looking forward to our New York premiere. I have also been completing podcasts and interviews about the film. And as an artist, I am back in the lab with writing other projects. Hopefully more films and opportunities are on the horizon!

Writer/Director/Producer: Kendra Monet and Demetrius Sadler Starring: Genyne Deal, Essence Sommers, Isaiah Joseph, Milani Jade, Jeremis Rodriquez, Mickalia Forrester-Ewen, Kylie Lavrenchik and Sarah Hogewood Director of Photography: David A. Mejia Executive Producers: Kendra Monet, Demetrius Sadler, Felisher Minis and Kishana Davis