Modern women are being inspired to showcase their senses of self-worth by the most surprising influences. Sundance Jury Award-winning filmmaker, Janicza Bravo is proving that even social media can spark innovative, creative ideas in female storytellers with the recent release of her new black comedy, Zola.

The movie is extremely provocative in its plot and storytelling approach, as it follows the title character, a part-time stripper, who’s convinced by her new friend to travel to Tampa in order to earn extra money, only to get in over her head. However, it has quickly proven to be one of this summer’s biggest surprise indie darlings.

Zola was distributed in theaters last Wednesday, June 30, by celebrated indie distributor, A24, to critical acclaim. The official release comes after the feature had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, which enthusiastically welcomed Bravo back after she won the Short Film Jury Award in the US Fiction category for her short comedy-drama, Gregory Go Boom, in 2014.

Zola, which marks Bravo’s second feature after she wrote, directed and produced the 2017 comedy-drama, Lemon, shows a completely different side of the multi-facted filmmaker. In addition to critics, audiences have also seemed to embraced the change in themes explored on screen by Bravo, who has also helmed episodes of such celebrated television series as Atlanta and Dear White People.

The director’s new thriller garnered $2 million over its opening five-day holiday weekend, and finished ninth at the box office. While that number is relatively small when compared to bigger studio fare, such as the highly popular superhero entries in the MCU, it’s still worth celebrating, considering its indie budget of $5 million, lack of household name A-list stars and provocative subject matter.

The seductive script for Zola, which was co-written by Bravo and celebrated playwright, Jeremy O. Harris, is based on a thread of over 140 tweets by Detroit waitress and exotic dancer, A’Ziah King. During the thread, she shared details of a road trip she took to Florida with a stripper, which turned into into a nightmare.

The tweets, which detailed prostitution, murder and an attempted suicide, became a viral sensation in fall 2015. They later inspired an article in Rolling Stone, for which writer David Kushner interviewed people who were involved in the story.

Zola follows the title character, Aziah “Zola” King (Taylour Paige), a self-assured waitress and part-time stripper in Detroit, as she meets Stefani (Golden Globe-nominated Riley Keough, the movie’s most recognizable star), an outgoing and crass fellow stripper, while serving her at work. Stefani invites Zola to dance with her at a club that night, and the two quickly become friends.

Stefani also proposes to Zola that she join her on a road trip to Tampa, where she promises they can make significant money at a strip club. Zola agrees, and joins Stefani, her mysterious roommate, X (Colman Domingo), and boyfriend, Derrek (Nicholas Braun), on the trip, which soon begins to spiral out of control.

Zola has proven to be a success in part because Bravo cast actors who she felt could flesh out how the story would look and feel. During an interview with Backstage, the helmer noted that “many of the performers are being cast because of something they already have.”

From a directorial standpoint, Bravo always intends to showcase the talents the actors she cast already have, rather than pushing them towards a particular style that she prefers, on her projects.”Every actor is different. That is to say, some actors want a good deal of talking and some actors want to be here in the room and the space,” she added. “I don’t direct a lot of performance, a lot of it is going to be on the page…

I adjust to what the performer wants.”

Keough, who’s known for being an indie darling, after appearing in another A24 epic road trip comedy, 2016’s American Honey, is one such actress who Bravo allowed to infuse her character with her own personal style. The performer’s talent shines in even her darker, more disturbing characters, including Stefani, who’s loud, manipulative and crude.

During an interview with Elle, Keough referred to her character in Zola as a “demon,” but also admitted she wasn’t nervous about settling into Stefani’s mindset. The fearless actress added that she likes to take risks with her roles, and also noted that she “was just so excited (that) Janicza…trusted that I could play Stefani.”

Keough also said that “I often have played more serious, subtle, understated characters. (So) it was really fun for me to be able to play something bigger, to be theatrical—which I love, but don’t often get asked to do. Janicza said to go for it.”

The performer’s portrayal of Stefani is also relatably emotional and memorable because, as she also noted during the interview, “I cannot play anything without finding empathy, or else it’s not embodied and it’s not authentic. So that’s the wonderful thing about film: you’re seeing all of the nuances and the humanity in the villains.”

With Zola also focusing so much on the physical connection between the characters, particularly through its sex scenes, Keough also delved into the different emotions she infused into her character of Stefani during the filming of those shots. “I’ve had a lot of experience with sex scenes in the work I’ve done…When I’m playing a character, I’m in that head space where I’m not Riley, and if I am, something’s wrong. I’m embodying this person who isn’t affected by these things in the same way I am,” she shared.

The actress also added, “I’m kind of a bold person. I’m a little bit fearless when it comes to those kinds of things.

“With that said, I’ve never had an experience working in sex scenes with men that made me feel uncomfortable. If I did, I would absolutely have a hard time. I’ve been lucky in that the men I’ve worked with in intimate scenes have been very respectful,” Keough added. Her ability to find a comfort in her portrayal of intimate scenes with her co-stars, especially in the drastic and over-the-top circumstances that are shown throughout the black comedy, help make the feature the perfect embodiment of female empowerment.

Brave’s courageous decision to allow the actors who appear in Zola to approach its tantalizing subject matter in the way that they felt most comfortable turned the story into a bold statement on self-respect and recognizing one’s own worth, as Variety pointed out in its review of the feature. The movie, which is grounded in the present moment of female-forward narrative, is also a stunning showcase for Paige and Keough; the duo play their characters with healthy dose of sex-positive vibes in the cautionary tale about the perils of fast friendship and premature trust.