Genre
Synopsis
THE CORNER GAS STATION follows a day in the life of gas station owners, Denise and Joel, whose gas station has become the popular spot for divorced parents to meet, catch up, and switch kids for the coming week. Denise and Joel have come to look forward to seeing all these families every week, but they prefer to keep their distance. They help the mother buy last minute ballet tights, give the forgotten teens some hot chocolate, and high five when they overhear that little William got an A+ on his test. Everything goes as scheduled – the families come and go - until we meet Miles, a very chatty 7-year-old, who pulls Denise and Joel into his life. No longer are they just observers. Now, they must get involved!
Through humor and observation, the story explores themes of family, resilience, community, and the unexpected ways people support one another through life’s transitions. While the premise is comedic, the film is rooted in a genuine desire to find empathy and connection in everyday experiences.
Bio
Ashley Maria is an Emmy Nominated director & writer based in Los Angeles, CA. She is best known for her comedy/horror short “Friday Night Fright” which won a Directors Guild of America award and her breakthrough documentary “Pioneers in Skirts,” airing now on PBS, which follows her own journey to find solutions to overcoming systemic bias in our culture. Ashley is also a Blackmagic Collective fellow in their Filmmaker Advancement Initiative and just wrapped production on her next impact film “Super Human Anxiety,” which will launch in May 2024 for Mental Health Awareness Month.
When not on set, Ashley is also a directing instructor at UCLA’s Film School and a sound instructor at the American Film Institute’s Young Women in Film program. An advocate for advancing women’s opportunities on set and off, Ashley takes her commitment to the next level by being a North American delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women – the principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women.
Since finding this passion for advocacy, Ashley now tells her stories through a sharper lens of equality, even creating a female serial killer in her new horror feature currently in development. Ashley has also grown as a leader through this advocacy work, taking note of the dreadful numbers of diverse representation in the film industry both in front of the camera and behind.
