Kryptic Films to screen six episodes of un-historical Victorian romance ‘Dearest Eva’

Portland, OR – The long-awaited premiere of the first Victorian family drama to center Black characters and Black love is scheduled to descend with perfect poise upon the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry on Thursday, August 18th. Dearest Eva is a six-episode miniseries filmed in Portland and the surrounding areas in 2021.

After a letter from her childhood crush arrives, a young Black woman struggles to balance love and happiness with her responsibilities as matriarch of her chaotic and dysfunctional 19th century family. Our heroine, Eva Williams, assumes the burden of supporting her younger sister Mary, brother Sam, and her father. While Eva entertains the idea of kindling a relationship with George, Mary plans a wild house party, undermining Eva’s authority and getting in touch with the town’s social scene. The aftermath triggers a series of consequences that will test the strength of Eva’s family bonds and challenge her notions of love in all its forms.

“The objective of Dearest Eva is to create a timeline in an alternate world without slavery, gender oppression and land theft so that we can see how Black and brown folks would have lived in this Victorian aesthetic and what that looks like,” says creator and Kryptic Films founder Kamryn Fall. “OMSI makes sense as a host for the premiere,” adds the event’s coordinator J. C. “Jace” Meyer-Crosby, “because dreaming up worlds unaffected by colonization and white supremacy has always been science fiction. What guests are going to see up on that screen is a reimagining of the past that shapes possibilities for the future.”

After stepping out onto the red carpet for celebratory photo ops, premiere attendees will enter the Empirical Theater to watch the groundbreaking series on the museum's massive projection screen ahead of its mainstream release online. The run time is approximately two hours.

A VIP reception (ticketed event) following the screening will include hors d'oeuvres, beverages, cast meet & mingle, and live music, featuring a performance of original song from the show “My Dearest,” written by award-winning local indie artist Kingsley.

6:00pm Event start
6:30pm Showtime (screening begins)
8:30pm VIP reception for eligible ticket holders

Event is masked, and proof of vaccination or negative test within 24 hours will be required. Friends and family of the Dearest Eva project thank you for helping keep our community safe.

Kryptic Films is a collective of BIPOC artists working to tell their own stories and help other disenfranchised folks tell theirs. They are focused on bringing the most affordable high-quality video services to often under-represented community members that deserve only the best