Eden on Wheels

I. CHARACTER BASICS.

FULL NAME: Eden Noelle James.

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis Female & She/Her.

DATE OF BIRTH & AGE: March 3rd, 1989 (31).

ZODIAC SIGN: Pisces.

HOMETOWN: Columbus, Ohio.

CURRENT LOCATION: Amory Village.

OCCUPATION: Filmmaker / Editor / Writer.

HOW LONG THEY HAVE BEEN IN AMORY? Newcomer — 7 months.

FACECLAIM: Nathalie Emmanuel.

II. BIOGRAPHY.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Accident, paralysis and depression.

Eden Noelle James was something of a quiet child, since birth. Even as a baby she hardly ever cried. Though she was very happy, the continuous smiles and giggles didn’t stop the worry her parents held. She seemed content to play alone, but both her mother and father hoped she’d grow out of that. Their miracle baby was destined to be their only baby, so they tried to walk that fine line of protective versus overbearing. One day the small family of three were sitting in front of the television when a commercial came on with dancers and some form of pop-hip hop song. A teeny three year old Eden jumped from her seated position on the floor and began to dance along. She laughed and moved to the music, and even as the commercial faded into the program they’d been watching, the little girl kept moving. ‘Dance it is’, her mother thought.

Ballet was the first choice that came to Evelyn James’ mind, but she quickly learned that tights and tutus were not Eden’s idea of fun. On a long walk through the dance studio, it was her daughter who informed her of just what type of dance she wanted to do. Eden was stopped in her tracks by the sound of the heavy base and rhythm. The little girl squealed in excitement before taking it upon herself to run into the class that she was definitely not signed up for.  Eden began taking hip hop dance lessons the next afternoon, suddenly the once seemingly shy girl became filled with light. Her awkward yet goofy personality began to shine through. It warmed her mother’s heart honestly, even if she wasn’t going to get to live her black ballerina dreams vicariously ’.

Eden always held her own in a diverse sea of dancers, and she was respected for her skills, which meant the world to her. She was honestly very talented, and she worked her little butt off. Her instructors began to notice and suggested competitions for the young girl to enter whenever one they knew Eden would be interested in came up. She was a regular face on the Ohio competition trail, and even if she didn’t always win, she always stood out and had a blast. Three days after her tenth birthday, with her third place trophy in hand, Eden sat in the back seat of her mother’s car singing along to Destiny’s Child’s ‘Say My Name’. That’s the last thing she remembered before waking up in the hospital, unable to move her legs.

Not only did Eden have to begin to learn to maneuver through life without the full use of her legs, but she also had to deal with her family being uprooted. Turned out her father’s insurance didn’t cover as much as they would have hoped, and the medical bills started to pile up. Noah James made the decision to move his family to NYC for a better job opportunity. It was more than most kids could handle all at once, and at first Eden didn’t handle it well at all. She fell back into her silence, losing the voice that dance helped her find. She sat in that chair unmoving, staring at the television, most days, until her mother’d had enough. Evelyn took her little girl on a stroll, they talked and they cried and they watched the sunset together. Eden only wished she’d had a camera to capture the yellow and orange waves.

Things slowly but surely began to get better for Eden. She still loved dance and music, and she and her mom came up with ways to continue to be involved in that world. She found her dad’s old video camera and started a little business, recording dancer’s audition videos. It was bitter sweet, but the sweet always won out. Once Eden got a little older and was able to get around the city in her wheelchair better, her business grew. She was recording all the special moments in the lives of people who couldn’t afford a professional camera crew. It was one of her few friends who suggested finding a way to put her own written work on camera. And Eden, of course, thought that was a grand idea.

Comics sort of saved Eden when she was feeling her worst. Getting lost in worlds where people could go from ordinary to extraordinary with a simple spider bite. She imagined herself, the hero, flying through the sky saving the damsel in distress. It wasn’t long before imagining became full-on written works. Her first original film, The Adventures of Calico, had her putting a cape on her family cat, and filming her fending off GI Joe in Barbie’s honor. A regular masterpiece!

Eden wrote and filmed her way right through high school, where she collected a couple of like minded outcast friends along the way. And that hard work and creative exploration got her an acceptance letter from Columbia University’s Film School. She was able to make art in the city she loved most in the world (not that she’d been to many other places, but still) and study under some of the most well respected in the film world. It was all just a load of fun.

Eden received her MFA in film, along with a butt load of student loans to pay back. At the start things were rough. She was a black queer women in a wheel chair, getting her stories told was a hard fought fight, and convincing people that she was capable of telling them, that much more difficult. Eden decided not to give up.

After a few years of small projects here and there, a couple of opportunities to direct episodes of television, and write and produce a couple of shorts, Eden and her producer friend created a film production collective dedicated to getting stories of the marginalized told. They’d had some success, received accolades, and now the focus was on getting the work of other young filmmakers out for everyone to see. They decided setting up their production office outside the city was the best option since it was over saturated,but they wanted to be close enough to still make use of NYC’s resources. Eden found the town of Amory and fell in love with it. It’s been 7 months and the production offices of E and J Film Collective are pretty much up and running. The American dream. Calico 2 to hit theaters in 2035.

III. PERSONALITY TRAITS.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Creative, Compassionate, Quirky.