We Are Born of 3

We are born of 3'' is a three act animated film exploring  three  generations of the Browne  family. Jade is a thirteen year old African-American girl living in North Philadelphia during the 1980’s transition from gang wars to drug kingpins. A product of a catholic school education and respectability politics for a “good” black girl, she is struggling to maintain her perfectly pressed hair, making sure her knees touch when she sits and speaking softly and only when spoken to.

 

When Jade is asked to help care for her great grandmother this summer, she is excited to spend time with her favorite person on the planet, the only person who “sees” her. Jade has no idea how much this summer will change her.

Her Great Grandmother, Maris, is lost to her due to dementia. While caring for Maris, Jade must pretend to be her daughter’s Lena at age 14 while Lena is at work. This is the only memory that calms her Great Grandmother. It is a heavy task because Jade is changing. She doesn’t know how to shift easily from pretending, an older boy’s interest and her own life. She has an identity crisis when the lines become blurred and she lingers in Lena’s life as a child, wanting to become what her suitor wants and her true self.

 

Liza, Jade’s mother, needs Jade to handle it all until she finds her weeping on the front porch and gives her advice and tools to navigate her life and document her journey. This provides a balance so that Jade can return to herself. She learns that all the women before her have a place in her and she can decide what parts to keep and what parts to let go to create her true self.