Reel Talk
Mariana Fabian ’23 focuses on identity, sexuality and mental health in her first feature film.
Five years ago, if you’d told Mariana Fabian ’23 that in 2025 she would be promoting her first feature film, she wouldn’t have believed you. Then, Fabian was a first-year student studying psychology at NC State. She hadn’t yet changed her major to film studies, and she hadn’t met Catherine Argyrople, the film’s co-writer.
But when COVID hit in the spring of 2020, Fabian relieved the boredom of social distancing by writing opinion pieces for the Technician. Argyrople, then a Northeastern University student researching female-centered stories and female-led screenwriting, found an op-ed Fabian wrote on those topics and emailed, suggesting they chat. That interaction led to friendship and collaboration.
The result of their work is Growing Pains, a full-length film that explores adolescent identity, mental health and sexuality. It’s loosely based on Argyrople’s struggle with body dysmorphia as a childhood cancer survivor and Fabian’s experiences growing up gay in a Hispanic household. Though Fabian says she now feels acceptance from most of her family, she was hesitant at first to tell them that she’s a lesbian: “For a long time, I was very fearful to even talk about it and who I was.”
It’s OK to talk about these things. Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it.
Growing Pains premiered locally at the Rialto in May, and many of Fabian’s friends and former co-workers attended. It was also the first time Fabian’s partner saw the film. “Watching her reaction to it was really beautiful,” Fabian says. “It was nice to see this community rally around something that I was able to be a part of.” Fabian is setting up additional screenings in the Triangle and throughout the country, and the film is available for home streaming.
It’s been validating to see herself represented on the screen, says Fabian, who also just obtained a master’s degree in library science. And she hopes the movie inspires other young, queer filmmakers to get behind the camera and share their experiences. “It’s OK to talk about these things,” she says. “Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it.”
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