Growing Pains North Carolina Premiere

Thank you for celebrating Growing Pains with us in North Carolina! If you’d like to support Growing Pains with a tax-deductible contribution to our crowdfunding campaign, our team will be able to bring the movie to a screen near you! We are aiming for a international distribution deal to bring this powerful grassroots indie film to audiences worldwide, and need to raise 5-figures of marketing & distribution costs to support our small film.

Our team is grateful to be in partnership with The Rialto Theatre, Hope For Teens, The LGBT Center of Raleigh, Wake Forest Pride, and Edgeview Creative for our North Carolina premiere.

The film was co-written, directed, and produced by Catherine Argyrople and co-written and associate produced by Mariana Fabian, a Raleigh local. The film is semi-autobiographical, inspired by Catherine’s experiences as a childhood cancer survivor and Mari’s experience as a lesbian in a Hispanic household. The story is about growing into yourself, amidst a society that ignores the serious hardships that teen girls face. Addressing disability, queer representation, and mental health, Growing Pains is a love letter for young women who have struggled to see their stories depicted on screen.

Growing Pains world premiered at The Boston International Film Festival in April 2024, selected from almost 6,000 submissions for a handful of feature film slots. Growing Pains premiered at the Mastercard-sponsored Chelsea Film Festival in October 2024 and online with The Santa Monica Film Festival in March 2025.

Press

Growing Pains was featured by Nielsen, Studio System Solutions, and RespectAbility for the Diversity Spotlight at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film is listed amongst talented filmmakers like Ava DuVernay and Denis Villeneuve. Read the press release on Nielsen’s site.

Growing Pains was awarded The ReFrame Stamp by The Sundance Institute and Women In Film. The stamp is given to films that have demonstrated gender-balanced hiring, with women and underrepresented gender identities in at least four of the eight key roles– including writer, director, producer, lead, co-leads, and department heads.

The film was spotlighted by Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Make A Wish, Northeastern University, WickedLocal, 47 Magazine, and more! Funded by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and a successful crowdfunding campaign, Growing Pains is a grassroots film that uplifts women and independent artists.

Growing Pains received an Honorable Mention from the North Carolina Film Festival. Growing Pains made it to the Second Round Quarterfinalists of the Spring 2023 ScreenCraft Film Fund, supported by the Duplass Brothers. Growing Pains was selected from 1,100 submissions.

From the Heart Productions awarded Growing Pains as one of their “Hot Films in the Making!”