Director Bio: Elina Street (UNDRESSED)

ELINA STREET (she/her) is a French-American Commercial & Film, writer and director based in New York City. Her storytelling focuses on the world of childhood with an emphasis on female and non-binary gender expression. She began her career in the U.K, and her documentary debut film A Journey to the Circus was screened at the prestigious British Film Institute (B.F.I) and the BAFTA qualifying London Short Film Festival. She then went on to direct fiction and her film Alice and Lewis was screened at over 20 festivals worldwide. Her latest commercial for Bissell won first place at the Zooppa advertising competition in Spring of 2020. Her most recent co-directed branded documentary campaign, The Lesbian Bar Project, stars and is executive produced by Lea DeLaria, and has received over 90 articles this year alone, with1 billion impressions, and coverage from the New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, The Cut, The Smithsonian Mag, the Today Show, among other publications. Elina will be highlighted in ELLE’s, Top 5 Women In Hollywood in November 2021.

http://www.elinastreet.com
http://www.vimeo.com/elinastreet

Director Statement

I grew up in France, and moved to the U.S to begin my career in film, where I came out as a Lesbian. Even though France has a connotation for being open and fluid sexually, I never felt safe enough to come out and be my authentic self there. My earlier films dealt with realism and fantasy, merging the world of adulthood and childhood until I finally came to terms with my sexuality and felt the need to express it. Undressed is the first illustration of this. It was written and shot in Paris. At the time I was still questioning my sexuality, and how far I could come to terms with my identity while feeling stuck as an artist. Cleo, the lead character, illustrates this as she is trapped in her career, unable to get cast and work as an actress. She also feels castrated in her relationship with her girlfriend, Alex. The latter represents the nuances of the mind, and is in denial of Cleo’s discomfort; Cleo lies to Alex because she is not fully accepting of herself.