Synopsis

15-year-old best friends Katie and Maura dream of attending mermaid camp at Florida’s Weeki Wachee Spring.  Defying their Evangelical parents, they pursue their dream and are guided in their quest by a former mermaid.  But everything goes awry when Katie sees Maura kissing another girl.  Maura will be sent away to be “cured” unless Katie can undo the damage.

Inspiration

In 2006, the film short Weeki Wachee Girls was screened at the International Jackson Heights Food and Film Festival to enthusiastic audience acclaim. After the screening, a group of teenagers from Generation Q, a safe haven for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens in Queens, NY, told Cummings that they had come to the festival just to see Weeki Wachee Girls and that they had loved it. They shared with her heart-breaking stories of straight friends who had rejected them; they quoted statistics from various sources that show how 97% of students in public high schools report regularly hearing homophobic remarks from peers, 53% report hearing such comments made by school staff, and 41.7% of LGBT youth do not feel safe in their schools because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Surprised to learn that most teens still face rampant homophobia in their schools and in their lives, Cummings knew she needed to make a feature.