Director and writer Montana Mann explores agency in a subtle but terrifying way in her short film AZI. Starring Dior Goodjohn as Azi and Breeda Wool as Elizabeth, it tells the story of a dangerous game played during a weekend vacation. Azi is a seventeen-year-old young woman that’s just figuring herself out. And there’s a quiet exhilaration when the partner of her best friend’s dad challenges her and Azi accepts.
Fangirlish spoke with Mann about what inspired this short film, the revolutionary and quiet moments we have as women, and how she’s already on track to make this a feature film. We also unpack the “sexy” and absolutely unsettling tone of this short film while also exploring the importance of women-centric stories during Women’s History Month.
For Mann, AZI isn’t inspired by a movie or a book. It’s inspired by something that actually happened to her. “The film is inspired by an experience I had on a weekend away with my best friend when I was a senior in high school,” Mann said. And like Azi, she’s still trying to understand it. “The events of that weekend are something I’m still trying to unpack and that’s what making the movie was about – peeling back all the layers of subtext.”
Because subtext is at the heart of AZI. When Elizabeth challenges Azi, Azi takes it a step further. She issues a challenge of her own, with her best friend and her best friend’s dad not noticing. And those quiet but dangerous games with so many layers is what Mann is drawn to as a filmmaker. “Most revolutionary moments in my life are the ones no one else was paying attention to. We build so much of ourselves in secret as women – or at least that’s how I felt in the circumstances in which I grew up. Especially when it comes to desire and power.”
Mann pushed her characters in AZI. She made Azi come to this realization that she has agency, power, and wants. And for Elizabeth, she found someone open to pushing back against what she herself wants. They’re a match. Mann explained, “We are never pushed to want those things. And I want to make stories where women and young girls take agency in a way that is both inspiring and terrifying at the same time.”
MORE: Love short films? Check out our interview with Bianca Poletti, the director of the SXSW short film Video Barn.
While watching AZI there was something about the connection between Azi and Elizabeth that went beyond charged. In all honesty, it felt intimate buy unsettling. And that was intentional for Mann. “The connection is charged because there is so much subtext happening underneath the surface in Azi — she’s attracted to this person, but not entirely sure why.” And for Mann, that comes from her own personal experiences as well. She said, “I always joke that my love life feels more like a thriller than anything else. I think that comes from being scared of my own sexuality and my own power.”
This being Women’s History Month, we also wanted to ask Mann about the importance of having women-centric stories in film and tv. And for her, telling stories like AZI is necessary because “it’s important for women to be in control of their own narratives. Now more than ever we need authenticity when telling female stories.” That’s especially true today as the rights that we have as women are under threat all over the world. So we have to tell these stories. “We’ve only been allowed to tell stories for a brief period of time in the scope of history — think about how many creative voices we lost during all that. Authentic representation of women on screen matters for an equitable future.”
And if you’ve watched AZI and loved this layered representation of women, you don’t have to worry that this is the end of Azi and Elizabeth. We’re getting more. “The feature script was selected for Film Independent’s Fast Track program and we are currently raising money to hopefully film soon!” We can’t wait to watch.
AZI was featured at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
