Lauren + Keisha’s friendship is an “us against the world” type friendship.

They’re 17 and live on Chicago’s largely Black south side. Their friendship is tested when Lauren reveals a tightly-held secret to Keisha, and the two friends must take matters into their own hands in a landscape where the only thing they can truly count on is each other.

Filmed over two days on the south side of Chicago, A Real One is a stand-alone short film, written and directed by McKenzie Chinn, also serving as the proof-of-concept for the feature film of the same name, currently in late development and supported by the Sundance Institute. The short film is supported by a filmmaker grant from NBCUniversal.