GLENA began in 2010 as a short film intended to require one month of filming and two months of editing. Eventually it became a feature film that required nearly four years of production.
Director Allan Luebke filmed the entire movie himself with used equipment purchased from Craigslist. He edited on a 6-year-old laptop at his kitchen table.
Just hours before he learned that GLENA was accepted to the Slamdance Film Festival, director Allan Luebke informed his mother over breakfast that the movie was unlikely to ever be seen and that he was considering getting "a regular job because I'm not going to be able to be a filmmaker."