A Beacon of Hope
Wilmington, North Carolina | Film Short
Drama
You should support this project because it delves into difficult issues, such as depression, abuse, self harm and mental illness. It's important to jumpstart conversations on mental health and for people who have gone through similar things to be represented on screen.
Green Light
This campaign raised $3,340 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
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Enter the amount you would like to pledge
You should support this project because it delves into difficult issues, such as depression, abuse, self harm and mental illness. It's important to jumpstart conversations on mental health and for people who have gone through similar things to be represented on screen.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
The film is inspired the director's experiences in Wilderness Therapy. The film is about a young woman named Jen who has a traumatic past and learns to let go of her inner demons when she seeks help in a wilderness therapy program. Jen feels broken inside and has a hard time letting others in. She struggles to accept that she needs help and to go along with the protocols that are important to uphold at Building Bridges Therapy. We see this when Jen throws a fit when the clinicians check her bags and take away her tools of defense and we see this again when Jen doesn’t want to take her meds so she throws them at the clinician’s face.
Jen hides how she is truly feeling to the young participants of Building Bridges and seeks to escape by going back to her painful habits of self harming. Jen was able to hide one of her razors away from the clinicians so she takes it to self harm. We then see a flashback of Jen hurting herself in the bathtub. The film cuts back to Ana taking the razor away when she hears Jen crying. Ana and Jen then have a productive conversation where Ana gives tips on how to self soothe while in pain.
Finally we have the sequence I’m most excited to shoot where Jen is forced to climb the trail in Hanging Rock State Park with a heavy rock. We go back and forth between the past and the present where Jen tries to make peace with her traumatic past of verbal and physical abuse. At the end, she pushes the rock down the hill, symbolizing that she is able to let go of those painful memories.
The film relies on flashbacks to tell the harrowing backstory of the main character. The scenes of self harm and abuse will be taken with care and we’ll make sure that everyone is in the right headspace to shoot these scenes. We will cheat those scenes. We’ll focus on human interaction with nature to drive the message home that nature is healing and also the interaction of Jen with the clinicians to show the importance of therapy and working through your inner turmoil with others.
We will use the funds raised to feed the cast and crew, to pay for a van to travel to Hanging Rock State park for the climatic scene of the film when Jen lets go of the heavy rock, for props (specifically to create the heavy rock) for sound design and color grading work and for film festival submissions. This money is critical for making the film come to life and reaching folks who have struggles with mental health and toxic relationships.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Food
Costs $1,000
I need this item to feed my cast and crew during the hard work of filming.
Props
Costs $300
I will need this money to buy props for my film, including money to build the heavy rock, which will be important for the climactic scene.
Transportation
Costs $50
I need this item to pay for gas when we travel to Hanging Rock State Park by van.
Sound Design
Costs $400
I will need this item to pay for sound design work in post production.
Film Festivals
Costs $300
I will need this item to pay submission fees for film festivals.
Crafty
Costs $250
I will need this item to give cast and crew snacks, water and other beverages to sustain themselves during the shoot.
Color Grading
Costs $250
I will need this item to pay my colorist.
Van
Costs $700
I will need this item to transport the whole cast and crew to Hanging Rock State Park where we will shoot the climatic scene of the film.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
I have a wonderful and dedicated team of cast and crew members that will help turn my vision into life! Most crew members are students from the MFA and undergrad program at University of North Carolina at Wilmington and most cast members are based in Wilmington, NC with one cast member coming all the way from South Carolina.
Crew
Director - Janneke Wade-de Jong
Producer - KJ Roberts
Assistant Director - Jessica Vitkin
Director of Photography - Kathryn Fulp
1st AC - Mark Briede
Gaffer - Alexey Shmalts
Grip - Ashna Patil
Grip/Colorist - Pragati Gupta
Production Assistant - Colin Ragan
Makeup Artist - Rae Goergen
Boom Operator - Justin Szygali
Sound Mixer - Jack Beshilas
Cast
Jen - Hemani Kumar
Winchell - Jon Rob Young
Ana - Kristen Smith
Carter - Gabe Campbell
Jason - Carlos Batz
Bella - Alisha Zupparado
Abby - Adelaide Smith
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
The film is inspired the director's experiences in Wilderness Therapy. The film is about a young woman named Jen who has a traumatic past and learns to let go of her inner demons when she seeks help in a wilderness therapy program. Jen feels broken inside and has a hard time letting others in. She struggles to accept that she needs help and to go along with the protocols that are important to uphold at Building Bridges Therapy. We see this when Jen throws a fit when the clinicians check her bags and take away her tools of defense and we see this again when Jen doesn’t want to take her meds so she throws them at the clinician’s face.
Jen hides how she is truly feeling to the young participants of Building Bridges and seeks to escape by going back to her painful habits of self harming. Jen was able to hide one of her razors away from the clinicians so she takes it to self harm. We then see a flashback of Jen hurting herself in the bathtub. The film cuts back to Ana taking the razor away when she hears Jen crying. Ana and Jen then have a productive conversation where Ana gives tips on how to self soothe while in pain.
Finally we have the sequence I’m most excited to shoot where Jen is forced to climb the trail in Hanging Rock State Park with a heavy rock. We go back and forth between the past and the present where Jen tries to make peace with her traumatic past of verbal and physical abuse. At the end, she pushes the rock down the hill, symbolizing that she is able to let go of those painful memories.
The film relies on flashbacks to tell the harrowing backstory of the main character. The scenes of self harm and abuse will be taken with care and we’ll make sure that everyone is in the right headspace to shoot these scenes. We will cheat those scenes. We’ll focus on human interaction with nature to drive the message home that nature is healing and also the interaction of Jen with the clinicians to show the importance of therapy and working through your inner turmoil with others.
We will use the funds raised to feed the cast and crew, to pay for a van to travel to Hanging Rock State park for the climatic scene of the film when Jen lets go of the heavy rock, for props (specifically to create the heavy rock) for sound design and color grading work and for film festival submissions. This money is critical for making the film come to life and reaching folks who have struggles with mental health and toxic relationships.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Food
Costs $1,000
I need this item to feed my cast and crew during the hard work of filming.
Props
Costs $300
I will need this money to buy props for my film, including money to build the heavy rock, which will be important for the climactic scene.
Transportation
Costs $50
I need this item to pay for gas when we travel to Hanging Rock State Park by van.
Sound Design
Costs $400
I will need this item to pay for sound design work in post production.
Film Festivals
Costs $300
I will need this item to pay submission fees for film festivals.
Crafty
Costs $250
I will need this item to give cast and crew snacks, water and other beverages to sustain themselves during the shoot.
Color Grading
Costs $250
I will need this item to pay my colorist.
Van
Costs $700
I will need this item to transport the whole cast and crew to Hanging Rock State Park where we will shoot the climatic scene of the film.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
I have a wonderful and dedicated team of cast and crew members that will help turn my vision into life! Most crew members are students from the MFA and undergrad program at University of North Carolina at Wilmington and most cast members are based in Wilmington, NC with one cast member coming all the way from South Carolina.
Crew
Director - Janneke Wade-de Jong
Producer - KJ Roberts
Assistant Director - Jessica Vitkin
Director of Photography - Kathryn Fulp
1st AC - Mark Briede
Gaffer - Alexey Shmalts
Grip - Ashna Patil
Grip/Colorist - Pragati Gupta
Production Assistant - Colin Ragan
Makeup Artist - Rae Goergen
Boom Operator - Justin Szygali
Sound Mixer - Jack Beshilas
Cast
Jen - Hemani Kumar
Winchell - Jon Rob Young
Ana - Kristen Smith
Carter - Gabe Campbell
Jason - Carlos Batz
Bella - Alisha Zupparado
Abby - Adelaide Smith