A Very Gen Z Road Trip in Egghead & Twinkie

Ah, youth: Many call it the best years of our lives, but the real heads know that being young is hard as hell. That’s why coming-of-age films resonate across generations, and why it’s so important for each generation to have their version of this much-loved genre.

Egghead & Twinkie, the first feature film for 26-year-old writer/director Sarah Kambe Holland and her crew of fellow twentysomethings, aims to be the queer coming-of-age film for Gen Z.

Though Holland's feature has its Texas premiere at Austin Film Festival this Thursday, Oct. 26, the story first appeared in a short film made by a then-19-year-old Holland. Much changed when the film grew from 8 minutes to around 90, and Holland said she used the extra space to feel out the relationship between the titular characters. Egghead (Louis Tomeo), a straight white boy, and Twinkie (Sabrina Jie-A-Fa), a mixed-race Asian girl, are long-time friends, having met as two Naruto-obsessed fourth graders. Yet the movie begins with them more emotionally distanced than ever before: Egghead because Twinkie romantically rejected him, and Twinkie due to Egghead’s confusion over her gay sexuality.

“In friendships, you can grow apart,” Holland said, “You can find that you guys are more different than you were when you first became friends. … Over the course of the movie, [Egghead and Twinkie] have to find common ground and support each other.”

Both Egghead and Twinkie gain a great deal of character thanks in part to thoughtful, specific set decoration. Holland cites the Diablo Cody-penned Juno as a major reference point for Twinkie’s décor and admits to pulling film stills of the titular teen’s room to study. Her aim was for maximalism and texture, but a small budget meant the film crew literally had to put their own lives into Twinkie's and Egghead’s. “We actually had this massive inventory,” Holland recalled, “where we would take photos of our own clothes and stuff in our own houses and say, ‘Oh, yeah, you can use this today.’”

Notable details include Egghead’s desk-shelf full of Gundam models and Transformers, which belonged to production designer Luke Sanders, and the car the two friends use for their Florida-to-Texas road trip, originally owned by Holland’s grandparents. “I inherited their car when they passed,” she said. “I feel like it's me honoring them in a way to have the car as such a central part of the film, because they were always so supportive of me and my creative endeavors growing up.”

Holland described scrappy moves like adding their own belongings to set decoration as characterizing the Gen Z film approach. With most of the crew between the ages of 18 and 25 and having little feature-film experience, Egghead & Twinkie crackles with do-it-yourself charm. Beyond behind-the-scenes elements, Holland integrated her generation’s internet-age experience into the film’s story. In particular, she pointed to Twinkie’s online flirtation with the older and mysterious Instagram influencer B.D., whose invitation to Twinkie to meet IRL for Dallas Pride proves to be the main motivator for a road trip. “Such a central part of growing up now for queer teens is that they can go online and they can find people like them, even meet them in real life,” Holland explained. Putting social media on screen was a must, but Holland said they strove to add texting/apps “in a way that wasn't distracting or gimmicky.”

“I've seen a lot of [films] where people allude or talk about social media and meme culture, and it just seems a little out of touch, outdated,” she said. “So that was something that we were really aware of, trying to tell a story that features those things but in a way that could also be timeless, because it has timeless themes.”

One of those themes, and another change from short to feature length, was life as a young queer, mixed Asian American. Both Holland and Jie-A-Fa are mixed race and Asian American, and their discussions about that shared experience impacted the character’s evolution. “When I wrote the short, I wrote Twinkie to be an Asian American character and Asian American adoptee,” Holland said. “It was through those conversations [with Sabrina] that I was like, ‘Oh, you know, it would be really cool if Twinkie was also mixed.’” Conversations between Twinkie and Jess, a fellow queer Asian played by Asahi Hirano, center around her complicated feelings as someone both adopted and mixed race – a compelling character beat that heightens the overall film.

Another trait Holland shares with her main character is a Southern home state: Twinkie from Florida and Holland a native Austinite. While other queer coming-of-age films (Holland name-checked straight-friendly young adult flick Love, Simon) placed their action in nondescript everytowns or liberal hubs like L.A., she emphasized the film’s Southern setting. “It gives proper context for Twinkie,” Holland said. “At the beginning of the film, she feels very alone. and she really launches on this road trip in the hopes of finding community.”

Not just with her online beau, Holland clarified, but within actual openly queer spaces – a relatable desire for any young LGBTQ+ person. As to why that community is in Dallas rather than her hometown, Holland’s excuse is budget and location logistics. Egghead & Twinkie was filmed in Florida, where recreating the Austin vibe would have proved a challenge. “Austin looks so distinct,” she said. “Whereas I think when most people picture Dallas, they don't know what to picture.”

Though Twinkie carries a few artifacts of her creator, Holland said she and her character remain pretty different, especially in personality. “Sometimes she does things,” Holland said, “and I'm like ‘Twinkie, why are you doing that?!?’” The fact remains that Twinkie ultimately exists for a younger version of Holland: a version who wanted a coming-of-age movie of her own. “I made this, first and foremost, for young queer people,” she said. “I do think it's a story that a lot more people can relate to … but for me, it was so important that it was made for the people needing that type of representation the most.”

Egghead & Twinkie

Texas Premiere
Thu., Oct. 26, 9:45pm, Galaxy Highland
Wed., Nov. 1, 7pm, Rollins Theatre

Austin Film Festival runs Oct. 26-Nov. 3. Badges available now at austinfilmfestival.com.
Find more news, reviews, and interviews at Austinchronicle.com/AFF.