The Fifth Child Production

As the sun creeps onto the summer morning sky of Inwood Hill Park, Alejandra Rodriguez, a sixteen-year-old Latina, races into the park in distress. Not a girl, and not yet a woman, Alejandra has a lot weighing on her shoulders. She has to look after her grandmother, Lourdes Sanchez, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This morning, after discovering Lourdes’ empty bed, Alejandra searches block by block and finally finds Lourdes in the park.

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Later that day, Kate Liu, a Chinese woman in her mid-thirties, bumps into a teenage girl and two teenage boys in a remote area of the park. Scaring the boys away, she realizes the teenage girl is Alejandra, one of her students. Kate, dumping her lucrative job as a lawyer in Boston, has moved to New York and become a teacher in a public high school that serves mostly Latino students. Her goal is to stop every teenage Latina that crosses her path from getting pregnant. Seeing Alejandra sparks Kate to recite the statistic on Latinas and teenage pregnancy, but this only prompts Alejandra to leave Kate.

Kate, then, meets up with her friend Chelsea Klein, a Caucasian woman in her late twenties. She reveals to Chelsea that she has just received the news that her father is dead. The lack of emotions surprises Chelsea until Kate talks about how her father was emotionally absent and verbally abusive.

Parting with Kate, Chelsea finds Lourdes on a park bench. Unfortunately, Chelsea has to remind Lourdes that she was once Chelsea’s babysitter. Then, Chelsea reveals to Lourdes what she hasn’t been able to tell Kate: after five-years of a committed relationship, Chelsea is on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend. She finally realizes that their relationship has been slowly disintegrating over the years. Lourdes, comforting the tearful Chelsea, tells her that she has to have the courage to let her boyfriend go.

Chelsea is not the only one that gets enlightened by the wise Lourdes. Kate, after her father’s funeral, meets Lourdes for the very first time. When Lourdes learns of Kate’s relationship with her father, she tells Kate that her father’s problem was that he thought that he was better than everyone else. Taking this to heart, Kate realizes that she has been acting the same way towards Alejandra.

On the day of her birthday, Alejandra says to Lourdes that her birthday wish is for Lourdes not to have Alzheimer’s. Lourdes, seeing the burden in her granddaughter’s eyes, tells Alejandra to stop seeing her as a responsibility and go and have fun tonight. In a pretty dress, free of worries, Alejandra celebrates the night of her birthday with her favorite person and best friend, Lily, who gives her a cupcake with a candle, a birthday song, and a kiss.

Phyllis Yip

Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Editor, & Cinematographer

phyllis@thefifthchild.com

Sophia Tewa

Associate Producer & Cinematographer

Sophia also provided the voice for "Lily."

Josmar Taveras

Cinematographer & Steadicam Operator

Josmar also played "Hot Runner #2."
josmar.taveras@gmail.com

Johanna Martinez

Lead Actor as "Alejandra Rodriguez"

Not a girl, and not yet a woman, Alejandra has a lot weighing on her shoulders. She has to look after her grandmother, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, while her mother works to support the three of them.

Mimian Morales

Lead Actor as "Chelsea Klein"

After five-years of a committed relationship, Chelsea is on the verge of breaking up with her boyfriend. She finally realizes that their relationship has been slowly disintegrating over the years.

Hae Sung Shim

Lead Actor as "Kate Liu"

Dumping her lucrative job as lawyer in Boston, Kate moves to New York and becomes a public school teacher in a high school that serves mostly Latino students. Her goal is to stop every teenage Latina that crosses her path from getting pregnant.

Mayra Fernández

Lead Actor as "Lourdes Sanchez"

Lourdes is Alejandra’s grandmother. She recently has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Although she relies heavily on others to care for her, Lourdes is the wisdom that Alejandra, Chelsea, and Kate desperately need.

Brandon Smalls

Supporting Actor as "Jorge Fuentes"

Jorge is a friend of Alejandra. They have been friends since they were children.

Odethe Bennett

Supporting Actor as "Mimi Johnson"

Mimi has been friends with Kate and Chelsea for about two to three years. She wishes very much to have Chelsea’s “wonderful life” of a rich boyfriend to financially support her.