Escaping Ohio (2023)

It's the summer between high school graduation and the rest of their lives in a small town in Akron, Ohio, where best friends, Sam and JJ, were born and raised. While JJ is excited to start the life he has planned, Sam is excited to have the world at her fingertips, which starts by getting the hell out of Ohio. Sam has been offered a full ride scholarship to a local college, which everyone reminds her is a great opportunity, but she's afraid that if she doesn't escape now, she never will. Her heart has called her to apply to a writing internship in California, which she soon lands. But when JJ finds out his best friend is thinking of leaving, he dares her that he can prove why Ohio is worth sticking around for. Taken aback by Ohio's charm- and JJ's, Sam begins to realize there is beauty in the subtleties and ordinariness when it's spent with someone special. Torn between a life of love with her best friend and pursuing her desire to live an adventurous life and realize her full potential, Sam struggles to make a decision as she tries to resist society's notion that we must have it all figured out.