711: Consensual Healing with Shantell Yasmine Abeydeera and Emily Goss

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Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that wants to hypnotize you via app.

This week Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with Shantell Yasmine Abeydeera (@shantell_yasmine_abeydeera), writer/actor/producer/director and founder of Thornbyrd Films, a queer-female led production company, and triple threat (actor/writer/producer) Emily Goss (@emilygoss650) to talk about Thornbyrd’s 2023 psychological thriller Healed. If you haven’t had a chance to watch the film yet, you can rent it now on Amazon Prime.

We highly recommend taking the time to watch it before listening, as this episode is very spoiler heavy.

We talked with Emily and Shantell Yasmine (Yaz) about the creation of Thornbyrd Films, the utilization of genre films like Healed as catalysts for important conversations that can inspire social change within a broader audience, and why it is so refreshing to not have to watch yet another coming out story. We love how Healed kicks off without explaining to the audience how we got to this point. It introduces the main characters as an already established married couple, making no attempts to explain Olivia’s pregnancy or how the characters got together. 

Healed follows the story of celebrity couple Olivia, played by Emily Goss, and Jazz, played by Yaz, as they attend an intimate meditation retreat at the invitation of renowned mindfulness expert Georgia. Although the retreat at first feels like a nice getaway, particularly for the heavily pregnant and overwhelmed Olivia, it quickly becomes clear that all is not as it seems. When Georgia’s unorthodox therapy sessions evoke troubling memories for Jazz, she becomes skeptical of Georgia’s methods. As she digs deeper, Jazz uncovers a sinister plot that puts her and Olivia at the center of a research experiment that neither of them would have ever consented to. 

This film feels like Get Out and The Miseducation of Cameron Post had a lovechild. Although the storyline heavily deals with the traumas of conversion therapy and internalized biphobia, we feel that it works really well as a thriller. It can be hard as queer people to watch movies like Cameron Post, because the traumas hit a little too close to home. However, when conversion therapy is approached as the basis for a thriller, it takes on a whole different feeling, with the mystery serving as a sort of barrier between the viewer and the would-be trauma of it all. If you are a fan of suspenseful thrillers with wild twists and turns, you will love Healed. 

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Follow us on Twitter: Lez Hang Out (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and follow on Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). 

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