PINK NOISE
Short Film
Project Type: Short Film
Project Status: Pre-Production
Writer/Director/Producer: Asher Jelinsky
Producer: Ilayda Cetinkaya
LOGLINE
At their childhood best friend’s bachelorette weekend, a nonbinary bridesmaid wrestles with long-buried feelings for the bride-to-be as the party’s performative rituals turn suffocating.
SYNOPSIS
At their childhood best friend Marina’s bachelorette party, nonbinary Crys tries to keep pace with the social rituals while feeling increasingly misread. As the party grows more uninhibited and old intimacy resurfaces between Crys and Marina, Marina begins testing the boundaries of their friendship and reveals that her fiancé is fine with her being casually involved with women. The admission forces Crys to confront how differently Marina understands both their gender and the significance of what they once shared.
MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT
PINK NOISE began with a question I’ve found myself asking at more than one bachelorette party: how did we decide this is how to mark the beginning of partnership? Matching outfits, inflatable props, penis cakes, and photo-ready moments. It’s fun and absurd, but also oddly choreographed. There’s an expectation that everyone will participate and perform joy convincingly and on cue.
As a nonbinary person, I’ve moved through these spaces as both participant and observer. I can play along; I’ll wear the sash and pose for the photo, but I also notice how individuality gets softened to maintain group harmony. That tension between belonging and self-erasure is at the heart of the film.
PINK NOISE centers a nonbinary protagonist without treating their identity as a lesson or coming-out story. Although Crys is invited into the celebration, they experience the quieter pain of being welcomed while still being misread. Rather than telling a simple narrative of acceptance or rejection, I want to tell a more intimate and contradictory story: one in which love and misunderstanding can coexist, and recognizing the limits of belonging can become an act of self-definition.
Formally, I want the film’s visual language to mirror that tension. The weekend begins in symmetrical, coordinated compositions, then gradually fractures as Crys feels increasingly out of step with the group. Through blocking, framing, production design, and sound, the film moves from social performance toward a quieter, more subjective point of view.
VISUAL STYLES
Meet The Filmmakers
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![Asher Jelinsky]()
Asher Jelinsky
Writer/Director/Producer
Asher Jelinsky is a Los Angeles-based writer/director originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. They tell character-driven stories that question gender norms and explore the search for connection amid personal and societal pressures.
Asher’s short film ‘Miller & Son’ was shortlisted for the Academy Awards-Oscars® and won the gold medal Student Academy Award, the BAFTA Student Film Award, and the gold Cannes Lions Young Director Award. Overall, Asher’s short films have garnered awards and nominations at over 70 film festivals around the world, including Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London, Ashland, and Seattle.
Currently, they are developing multiple feature films, including ‘Julian’, with support from the SFFILM Rainin Screenwriting Grant, the Cine Qua Non Script Revision Lab, and the California Arts Council Fellowship.
Asher earned an MFA in Directing from the AFI Conservatory and won the Franklin J. Schaffner Fellow Award for Directing, presented by AFI Fest. Along with their professional practice, Asher teaches filmmaking at Sundance Collab and Temple University and is an active BAFTA member.
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![Ilayda Cetinkaya]()
Ilayda Cetinkaya
Producer
Ilayda Cetinkaya is a Turkish producer, writer, and festival programmer based in Los Angeles. Her 35mm short film SKIN won the Gold Medal at the 2023 Student Academy Awards and screened at more than 60 festivals worldwide. Her short RE-ENTRY received the Alfred P. Sloan Production Grant and won the Amazon MGM Audience Award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
Her producing credits also include CORPSE FISHING, backed by Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival; THE DAY BEFORE, a sci-fi short starring Matthew Law and Jamie Clayton with Lilly Wachowski as executive producer; and the pilot ONE FOR THE TEAM, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Rain Valdez.
Ilayda is currently packaging several independent features, including OMA, selected for the SEEFest Accelerator, and WHEN JUPITER RETURNS, directed by Rain Valdez with Lilly Wachowski attached as executive producer. She also serves as Director of Programming at SEEFest and as a programmer and jury member for the Asian World Film Festival.
She holds a BFA in Film Production from Chapman University and an MFA from the AFI Conservatory Producing Program.
Your Help
PINK NOISE is a fiscally sponsored project of Cinematography for Actors, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation will be tax-deductible!