Note from the Director/Writer

Every queer woman I know can point to a female friendship from their youth that felt particularly intense. If you’ve been there, you know the one. It happened quickly. You met and before you knew it, you were best friends. You did everything together. It felt like a soulmate connection. Maybe you’d talk about how if one of you was a boy, you’d probably get married. Maybe when she got a boyfriend, you felt more jealousy than you’d have liked to admit. It ended in a dramatic blowout fight that hurt more than any breakup you’d ever experienced. Maybe you knew in the moment that it was deeper than a friendship. Maybe you wouldn’t realize until years down the line. I never saw it for what it was until I was grown up, looking back at my life from the perspective of my newly discovered sexuality.
I wrote Swimming Naked based on my own experiences as a queer teenager, who could never feel for boys anything as strong as she could for her girlfriends. Swimming Naked is a look back on my days as a confused teenage girl, told through the (mostly) fictional story of Meg and Scarlett. Just like the lines between romance and friendship in a queer female friendship, the lines between fact and fiction in this film are blurred. One of those dear friends from high school, Amanda took on the role of Meg as well as executive producer of the film. We filmed in Marion, MA, the same beach town we used to visit together in high school. However, the elements of the story are made up, twisted around, and shaped into something new. Creating this film was an act of love. Not only for each other and our younger selves, but for female friendship, queerness, and everything that comes along with it. It is both the best and most terrifying thing I’ve ever down. So come on in, the water’s fine. Let’s go swimming!