Los Angeles Film Festival

A GIRL LIKE GRACE is a story of a 17-year-old female growing up in a small, Southern community where notions of femininity, sexual identity and survival are starkly at odds. Grace (Ryan Destiny), high school senior, is mourning the suicide of her best friend, Andrea (Paige Hurd). Grace’s single mom, Lisa (Garcelle Beauvais), is too preoccupied with her own troubles to be the support her daughter needs. So when the bullies (led by Raven-Symone') make Grace the focus of their attacks, Grace turns to the new girl in town, the sexually savvy Share (Meagan Good). But Share is out of Grace's league, and Grace soon learns hard lessons about the dangers of drugs and promiscuity.

Zeitgeist

English

(2015 , 94 min.)

Directed by: Ty Hodges

Screenwriter: Jacquin DeLeon, Ty Hodges

Producers: Matt Keith, Datari Turner, Ty Hodges, Meagan Good, Carnetta Jones

Cinematographer: Teddy Smith

Editor: Kelly McCoy

Music: Maxwell Sterling

Cast: Meagan Good, Garcelle Beauvais, Raven-Symone, Romeo Miller, Blair Redford, Paige Hurd, Ryan Destiny

Entering her senior year of high school, feeling like an outsider and mourning the suicide of her best friend Andrea, Grace finds comfort when Andrea’s big sister takes her under her wing, but the friendship plunges Grace into a sea of rebellion, bullying and sexual abuse. Faced with life’s cruelty, Grace must find a way to make peace with herself and claim her own beauty in this gritty yet relatable coming-of-age story. 
 
With brave and spirited vision, filmmaker Ty Hodges tackles complicated material with a keen sensitivity to multiple generations of women. A standout cast led by newcomer Ryan Destiny as the titular character, anchors this exploration of loss and trauma through a young girl’s eyes.
-Mark Maynard