Making her directorial debut, Elmhurst University alumna Alyssa De Jesus ’22 recently was among the winners of a nationwide contest for independent filmmakers, with her heartwarming comedy 40 Before 40.
The prize? Her film got a financial boost from the crowdfunder Kickstarter, and was selected for exclusive release on the Tubi streaming service, where it can be viewed for free throughout the holiday season.
The film celebrates De Jesus’ family—especially her mother, who wrote the screenplay based loosely on her own life—as well as De Jesus’ alma mater, where a number of scenes were filmed, and where several alumni and current students played roles in front of and behind the camera.
40 Before 40 is the first feature-length film for De Jesus and her Chicago-based film company, Dream Team Productions, which she runs with her mother, Vilma Llaguno.
The film follows the journey of 39-year-old Veronica, a woman trying to cope with her father’s unexpected death by creating a list of 40 things she wants to do before her 40th birthday.
“It’s a family comedy that shows us the importance of family, healing, self-discovery, growth and living your dreams,” says De Jesus, a first-generation college graduate who majored in strategic communications at Elmhurst.
De Jesus not only directed the film but also co-starred in it. So did a number of campus locations, including Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel, Cureton Hall and the Office of Admission, as well as Elmhurst alumni Genoveva Bustamante ’02 and Patrick Brambert ’13. Other students and alumni worked as production assistants and background actors.
The movie was filmed in 2024 and was in post-production when, on a whim, De Jesus and Dream Team Productions entered it in a contest launched this past summer by Kickstarter and Tubi. The winning films would become part of the FilmStream Collective, an initiative to support indie film projects with financial backing and guaranteed distribution.
Dream Team Productions went into the competition with high hopes and gratitude for the opportunity, but because it was their first feature film, they never imagined that 40 Before 40 would be among the 21 winners. But De Jesus is confident in its appeal to a wide audience.
“The story itself is very relatable,” she says. “We show the journey of a woman who’s focused so much on being a mom and a wife and the perfect family person, employee and friend, but she kind of loses herself in the journey.
“I think of this as a coming-of-age film, but about someone who is in their late 30s and finding themselves again,” she says. “I think many people, especially women, can relate to that.”
The film went live last month on Tubi, and currently is streaming there exclusively.
“We love that Tubi’s a free platform, so anyone can access it,” De Jesus says, “and we love that it’s out during the holiday season because it’s about families coming together, and it’s a great time of year to watch movies with your family.”
Looking ahead, Dream Team Productions is setting its sights on new projects while also working on a sequel to 40 Before 40.
“We definitely just want to keep creating,” De Jesus says.