10 septembre 2026
After its screening at HollyShorts in Hollywood, WAIT, the short film directed and co-written by Paige Morrow Kimball, is continuing its festival journey with a broader ambition: using fiction to open conversations about consent, accountability and healing after sexual assault.
In an interview with Jenna Suru for La Radio du Cinéma, Kimball and lead actress Lexi Simonsen spoke about the origins of the film, the careful preparation behind its most sensitive scenes and their hope that WAIT can live well beyond the festival circuit.
The 15-minute film follows Evie, 23, who agrees to meet Matt, an old friend who sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers. Seven years later, he wants to apologize. Evie, however, has never openly spoken about what happened.
The film gives that silence a physical presence. Alongside adult Evie appears her 16-year-old self, a younger version of the character who voices emotions Evie has struggled to express.
A story Paige Morrow Kimball could not forget
Kimball first encountered an early version of the story years before making the film. Inspired by another person’s real experience, it stayed with her.
At the time, she was raising two teenage daughters, one in college and the other in high school. That personal context changed the way she thought about consent, communication and the culture surrounding young people.
“I just could not stop thinking about it,” she told La Radio du Cinéma.
With co-writer Jade Raybin, Kimball reshaped the story and developed the idea of the younger Evie. For the filmmaker, this second presence represents the part of Evie that remains emotionally connected to what happened seven years earlier.
Kimball was also determined not to reduce Matt, played by Eian O’Brien, to what she describes as a “cardboard villain”. The film does not question the seriousness of his actions, but it does examine guilt, apology, responsibility and the possibility of change.
That distinction is central to Kimball’s approach: the characters may be complex, but consent itself is not ambiguous.
Near the end of the interview, she makes that position explicit: “Wait means no. Just like no means no. Just like ‘I’m not sure’ means no.”
Lexi Simonsen: finding a safe way into Evie
For Lexi Simonsen, playing Evie required particularly careful preparation.
The actress explained that the subject also connected with a personal experience from years earlier. Rather than repeatedly drawing on that trauma, she and Kimball used rehearsals to establish clear emotional boundaries.
The aim was to find what Simonsen could safely explore while still serving the character and the story.
A dancer as well as an actress, Simonsen approached Evie partly through physical work. She considered how trauma could be expressed through the body and how the younger Evie should physically differ from the woman she becomes seven years later.
That preparation was supported by intimacy coordinator Heather Ondersma.
For Kimball, working with an intimacy coordinator became directly connected to the film’s central subject. Every gesture required communication: where an actor could be touched, what had been agreed upon and where the boundaries were.
“Consent is a conversation,” Kimball said, recalling a phrase used by Simonsen.
On a film about consent, the working method itself became part of the meaning.
Reaching audiences beyond survivors
Both Kimball and Simonsen hope the conversation generated by WAIT will reach viewers who may not initially see themselves as connected to its subject, including young men.
Simonsen hopes younger audiences will consider how actions that may seem fleeting, confused or influenced by alcohol can have lasting consequences.
The film also considers the burden carried by Matt without treating his guilt as equivalent to Evie’s experience. For Simonsen, that perspective can encourage viewers to think about the consequences of their decisions before crossing another person’s boundaries.
Kimball similarly describes sexual assault as an issue that cannot be confined to women alone. Although the prominence of the #MeToo movement in the headlines has changed, she believes conversations around consent remain essential.
From HollyShorts to an impact screening tour
WAIT screened at HollyShorts in August 2026 in Hollywood. Kimball remembers a packed screening and an important opportunity to experience the audience’s reaction to the film.
Simonsen was unable to attend that particular screening, but she had previously watched the film with an audience and recalls how strongly certain moments could be felt collectively.
“You can really feel the moments where people kind of catch their breath,” she said.
The film is now moving toward another stage of its life. Kimball and her collaborators are developing an impact screening tour designed for colleges, organizations and conferences, with discussions, panels or educational conversations built around the film.
For Kimball, the fictional format is important. Rather than functioning as a traditional educational film, WAIT presents characters and situations intended to generate discussion.
The goal is not simply to tell viewers what to think, but to give them something meaningful to talk about afterwards.
Following HollyShorts, WAIT continues its U.S. festival and showcase journey in September. A European premiere has not yet been announced, although Kimball told La Radio du Cinéma that she would like to bring the film to Europe.
For now, the ambition behind WAIT can perhaps be contained in its one-word title: stop, communicate and make sure the answer is clear before moving forward.
WAIT : Paige Morrow Kimball et Lexi Simonsen veulent ouvrir le dialogue sur le consentement
Après sa présentation à HollyShorts, WAIT poursuit son parcours aux États-Unis avec une ambition qui dépasse les festivals. Réalisé et coécrit par Paige Morrow Kimball, le court métrage veut devenir un point de départ pour parler de consentement, de responsabilité et de reconstruction après une agression sexuelle.
Dans un entretien accordé à Jenna Suru pour La Radio du Cinéma, la réalisatrice et son interprète principale Lexi Simonsen racontent la fabrication particulièrement attentive du film.
WAIT suit Evie, 23 ans, lorsqu’elle accepte de retrouver Matt, qui l’a agressée lorsqu’ils étaient adolescents. Sept ans plus tard, une seconde Evie apparaît à l’écran : celle qu’elle était à 16 ans, capable de formuler ce que la jeune femme adulte garde encore enfoui.
Le consentement au cœur du récit et du tournage
Pour Paige Morrow Kimball, cette histoire, inspirée de l’expérience réelle d’une autre personne, est restée présente pendant des années. Mère de deux adolescentes lorsqu’elle développait le projet, elle a voulu interroger la manière dont le consentement est compris et discuté.
La réalisatrice souhaitait également ne pas réduire Matt, interprété par Eian O’Brien, à un personnage sans nuance. Le film aborde sa culpabilité et la question des excuses sans relativiser son acte.
Sur un point, Kimball ne laisse aucune ambiguïté : le consentement doit être clair. « Wait means no », rappelle-t-elle pendant l’entretien.
Lexi Simonsen explique pour sa part avoir préparé Evie grâce aux répétitions, au travail corporel et à des limites émotionnelles précisément définies.
La présence de la coordinatrice d’intimité Heather Ondersma a également été essentielle. Pour Kimball, cette méthode de travail prolonge directement le propos du film : chacun doit pouvoir exprimer clairement ce qui est accepté et ce qui ne l’est pas.
« Le consentement est une conversation », résume la cinéaste.
Un film destiné à continuer à vivre après les festivals
L’équipe souhaite désormais proposer WAIT dans des universités, associations et conférences, avec des projections accompagnées de discussions ou de rencontres.
Paige Morrow Kimball aimerait également présenter le court métrage en Europe, même si aucune première européenne n’est encore annoncée.
Derrière son titre, WAIT défend ainsi une idée simple : savoir attendre, demander et écouter une réponse claire peut empêcher qu’une limite soit franchie.
