Directed by Halia Reingold
Two college freshmen are forced into a bathroom together after being dared to complete 7 minutes in heaven at a party. Both feel pressured to follow through with the dare, because of a secret they both share.

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Director Biography – Halia Reingold

Halia Reingold grew up in Decatur, Georgia and at 18 years old moved to Orange, California to attend Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Halia is now 19 years old and a current rising junior at Chapman. ‘7 Minutes’ was originally created as Halia’s sophomore project for her major in film production. She’s excited to continue her education and direct more short films, and gain more experience as an AD.

Director Statement

I wrote and directed this film, ‘7 Minutes’, based on my personal experiences with coming out as bisexual in my college community. I was lucky to attend a very liberal school (in very liberal California), where most people were very accepting, however, I had many friends who were still fearful to come out, even here. I found myself wondering on several occasions whether or not it was safe for me to tell certain new people I was meeting, and I began to think deeply about how this could’ve been even more frightening for me had I stayed in Georgia to attend college. I’ve heard many negative experiences from my friends and sister who attend college in the south when it came to coming out as LGBTQ+, where especially in settings such as greek life or campus athletics teams, coming out as LGBTQ+ can still result in a lot of hatred. In this film, Myles and Laura attend a large public university in the south. Both are freshman and have found significant popularity in their class, especially Myles, who is on a full-tuition athletic scholarship for football. However this has caused both of them to hide their true selves, that Myles is gay and Laura is lesbian. They both fear the exile they may experience if they were to come out, and the repercussions they could face in their academics and extracurriculars. So, when these two strangers are dared to complete 7 minutes in heaven together, their first instinct is to force themselves through this uncomfortable situation to continue hiding their true identities, in order to stay safe. We found our actors, TJ and Cathy using backstage.com and we couldn’t have found two people better suited for the roles. They were both compassionate and deeply connected to their roles, and entirely respectful of the subject matter throughout the whole process. Creating this film was an incredible experience, and I can’t thank my cast and crew enough for all their hard work.