Rhode Island School of Design students Beth David and Esteban Bravo raised a lot of excitement through their Kickstarter promising a short film about two kids experiencing their first big crush. NBC News reports that both their campaign and the teaser trailer attracted an enormous amount of attention. Part of the draw was that both David and Bravo were trying to tell a love story from their own experience of being gay kids and feeling like they needed to hide their interest in other people their age.
“The original pitch was a story between a boy and a girl,” David told NBC News. “But it wasn’t until we made it about a same-gender crush that the idea really started to take form and resonate with Esteban and I. We realized that we had something that could potentially be really special to us.”
In A Heartbeat is out, and it’s as amazing as everyone hope. Grab a tissue before you hit play:
The heart betrays us, but it also tells us what we really want!!
Everyone is obviously going nuts over this adorable love story:
in a heartbeat was so pure pic.twitter.com/astVYi7yLa
— emo boyfriend (@maleksolh) August 1, 2017
everyone should watch this short movie called “In a Heartbeat”, it explains so many emotions we (i) can relate to https://t.co/7k3LO4G44v pic.twitter.com/jVBqcvLFeb
— Simon Spier (@DailySpier) August 1, 2017
Friend: Are you… are you still thinkin bout–
Me: It’s just “In a Heartbeat” encapsulated a complex struggle I’ve had in such a short ti— Thomas Sanders (@ThomasSanders) July 31, 2017
everything about “In a Heartbeat” is amazing and super cute please go watch pic.twitter.com/46N6hgKDOJ
— nataleigh (@natisnotlame) August 1, 2017
I know every gay & their str8 roommate has shared this- but damn it, I cried. Soft representation is so important ?https://t.co/WlqM8r1lLw
— BENNY ? (@BenJPierce) July 31, 2017
The animators told NBC News that though they’ve received some negativity for featuring young LGBTQ characters, most of the response has been incredibly beautiful and positive.
“With [“In a Heartbeat”], we wanted to challenge the preconceived notion that LGBTQ content is not appropriate or suitable for younger audiences,” Bravo said. “It’s an innocent and lighthearted story about a boy and his crush that we hope will resonate with younger people regardless of their background.”
Though there are a few Easter eggs for the Oscar Wilde fans out there:
I JUST REALIZED HIS BOOK SAYS GAY ON IT pic.twitter.com/CRP7tarxsQ
— laurie 18 (@smileybatch) July 31, 2017