At Least You're Alive
Atlanta, Georgia | Film Short
Drama, Biography
Inspired by true events, At Least You're Alive follows a new mother whose traumatic birth leaves her battling invisible postpartum PTSD and postpartum Panic Disorder. Through one woman's story, the film gives voice to a reality too often dismissed, misunderstood, and endured in silence.
At Least You're Alive
Atlanta, Georgia | Film Short
Drama, Biography
19 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$3,485
Goal: $5,000 for pre-production
Inspired by true events, At Least You're Alive follows a new mother whose traumatic birth leaves her battling invisible postpartum PTSD and postpartum Panic Disorder. Through one woman's story, the film gives voice to a reality too often dismissed, misunderstood, and endured in silence.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
At Least You're Alive is a narrative short film about Beth, a new mother struggling with postpartum PTSD, panic and anxiety after a traumatic emergency C-section, while the people around her can’t understand why she isn’t simply grateful to be alive.
Year
s ago, after my own traumatic emergency C-section, my baby survived and I survived. From the outside, that was supposed to be the happy ending. But for me, it wasn’t. I came home with postpartum PTSD and panic disorder. I experienced debilitating anxiety, panic attacks and fear I didn’t understand. But the people around me saw something very different: A healthy baby. A mother who survived. I was told: “At least you’re alive.” Those words stayed with me. Years later, they became the title of this film.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ME ISN'T RARE. Perinatal mental health disorders affect 1 in 5 mothers and can include depression, anxiety, panic disorder, OCD, postpartum PTSD, bipolar disorders and perinatal psychosis. Pregnancy and delivery complications and a lack of support can also increase a mother's risk. Birth traumas can leave injuries no one can see.
Beth isn't a statistic or a diagnosis. Her story puts us inside the experience.
What does it feel like to be terrified when everyone expects you to be happy?
What happens when the people who love you don't recognize that you need help?
And what happens when “You're alive” becomes the reason no one asks whether you're okay?
I began thinking about my own experience, and the women still carrying pain no one can see. I wrote this film and received the Trilith Institute Creative Excellence Grant before the current highly publicized postpartum case became a national headline. I didn’t write this story because of that case. But it has made the need for this conversation more urgent than ever.
When tragedy happens, we ask: How could this happen? At Least You're Alive asks us to look earlier. Before the headline. Into the home. The marriage. The panic attack. The isolation. The moments when a woman is struggling and no one understands what they’re seeing.
Sometimes, being seen is where healing begins.
At Least You're Alive was awarded a $5,000 Creative Excellence Grant from Trilith Institute.
But, it's a matching grant. We have to raise $5,000 before Trilith Institute releases their $5,000.
WE RAISE $5,000
↓
TRILITH RELEASES $5,000
↓
WE HAVE $10,000
That gets us started, but $10,000 isn’t enough to make the film, finish it, and get it seen.
OUR STRETCH (FULL FUNDING) GOAL: $16,000
Reaching $16,000 gives us the breathing room to cover cast and crew, locations, equipment, insurance, post-production, sound and color and submit the finished film to festivals. $5,000 unlocks the grant. $10,000 gives us a foundation. $16,000 helps us make it, finish it, and get it seen in festivals across the country. Because making the film is only the beginning. We want this story to reach the people who need to see it.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or are worried that you may hurt yourself, immediate help is available in the United States through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call 988, text 988, or 988 Lifeline chat.
HELP US TELL THE PART THAT COMES AFTER SURVIVAL.
If this story speaks to you,
PLEDGE. FOLLOW. SHARE
Help us bring Beth's story to the screen.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Hospital Where Beth's Story Begins.
Costs $2,450
Help secure our amazing hospital location to authentically recreate Beth’s emergency C-section.The traumatic event that changes everything.
Put Beth's Story On Screen.
Costs $1,250
Help cover part of the camera package capturing Beth’s journey, from the chaos of the operating room to the quiet isolation that follows.
Feed The People Telling Her Story
Costs $650
Help provide meals, snacks and drinks for our cast and crew during the two-day shoot as they work together to bring Beth’s story to life.
Bring The Operating Room To Life
Costs $650
Help create an authentic operating room with pregnancy prosthetics, scrubs, surgical wardrobe, makeup and essential set details that matter.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
APRIL CYR
Writer / Director
April Cyr is a filmmaker, writer, and director drawn to stories that ask audiences to have the conversations we too often avoid.
April's path into filmmaking began behind the camera with Kai's EPIC Curious Eats, a web series she created with her son. What started as a family project became the beginning of something much bigger: a return to a lifelong love of filmmaking and the realization that this was where she wanted to be. She went on to formally study screenwriting, narrative directing, and independent film production through Trilith Institute.
Her newest short film, At Least You're Alive, is also her most personal. Inspired by her own experience with a traumatic emergency C-section and the postpartum PTSD and panic disorder that followed, April wrote the film to portray a part of motherhood that is still too often minimized, misunderstood, or left unspoken.
April believes hard conversations are necessary and stories can create change by helping us have them. That belief is at the heart of the films she wants to make.
At Least You're Alive was selected as a recipient of the 2026 Trilith Institute Creative Excellence Grant and is currently in pre-production.
THE TEAM
We are currently assembling the cast and production team for At Least You’re Alive, with experienced industry professionals already in conversation and additional announcements coming as agreements are finalized.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
At Least You're Alive is a narrative short film about Beth, a new mother struggling with postpartum PTSD, panic and anxiety after a traumatic emergency C-section, while the people around her can’t understand why she isn’t simply grateful to be alive.
Years ago, after my own traumatic emergency C-section, my baby survived and I survived. From the outside, that was supposed to be the happy ending. But for me, it wasn’t. I came home with postpartum PTSD and panic disorder. I experienced debilitating anxiety, panic attacks and fear I didn’t understand. But the people around me saw something very different: A healthy baby. A mother who survived. I was told: “At least you’re alive.” Those words stayed with me. Years later, they became the title of this film.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ME ISN'T RARE. Perinatal mental health disorders affect 1 in 5 mothers and can include depression, anxiety, panic disorder, OCD, postpartum PTSD, bipolar disorders and perinatal psychosis. Pregnancy and delivery complications and a lack of support can also increase a mother's risk. Birth traumas can leave injuries no one can see.
Beth isn't a statistic or a diagnosis. Her story puts us inside the experience.
What does it feel like to be terrified when everyone expects you to be happy?
What happens when the people who love you don't recognize that you need help?
And what happens when “You're alive” becomes the reason no one asks whether you're okay?
I began thinking about my own experience, and the women still carrying pain no one can see. I wrote this film and received the Trilith Institute Creative Excellence Grant before the current highly publicized postpartum case became a national headline. I didn’t write this story because of that case. But it has made the need for this conversation more urgent than ever.
When tragedy happens, we ask: How could this happen? At Least You're Alive asks us to look earlier. Before the headline. Into the home. The marriage. The panic attack. The isolation. The moments when a woman is struggling and no one understands what they’re seeing.
Sometimes, being seen is where healing begins.
At Least You're Alive was awarded a $5,000 Creative Excellence Grant from Trilith Institute.
But, it's a matching grant. We have to raise $5,000 before Trilith Institute releases their $5,000.
WE RAISE $5,000
↓
TRILITH RELEASES $5,000
↓
WE HAVE $10,000
That gets us started, but $10,000 isn’t enough to make the film, finish it, and get it seen.
OUR STRETCH (FULL FUNDING) GOAL: $16,000
Reaching $16,000 gives us the breathing room to cover cast and crew, locations, equipment, insurance, post-production, sound and color and submit the finished film to festivals. $5,000 unlocks the grant. $10,000 gives us a foundation. $16,000 helps us make it, finish it, and get it seen in festivals across the country. Because making the film is only the beginning. We want this story to reach the people who need to see it.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or are worried that you may hurt yourself, immediate help is available in the United States through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call 988, text 988, or 988 Lifeline chat.
HELP US TELL THE PART THAT COMES AFTER SURVIVAL.
If this story speaks to you,
PLEDGE. FOLLOW. SHARE
Help us bring Beth's story to the screen.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Hospital Where Beth's Story Begins.
Costs $2,450
Help secure our amazing hospital location to authentically recreate Beth’s emergency C-section.The traumatic event that changes everything.
Put Beth's Story On Screen.
Costs $1,250
Help cover part of the camera package capturing Beth’s journey, from the chaos of the operating room to the quiet isolation that follows.
Feed The People Telling Her Story
Costs $650
Help provide meals, snacks and drinks for our cast and crew during the two-day shoot as they work together to bring Beth’s story to life.
Bring The Operating Room To Life
Costs $650
Help create an authentic operating room with pregnancy prosthetics, scrubs, surgical wardrobe, makeup and essential set details that matter.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
APRIL CYR
Writer / Director
April Cyr is a filmmaker, writer, and director drawn to stories that ask audiences to have the conversations we too often avoid.
April's path into filmmaking began behind the camera with Kai's EPIC Curious Eats, a web series she created with her son. What started as a family project became the beginning of something much bigger: a return to a lifelong love of filmmaking and the realization that this was where she wanted to be. She went on to formally study screenwriting, narrative directing, and independent film production through Trilith Institute.
Her newest short film, At Least You're Alive, is also her most personal. Inspired by her own experience with a traumatic emergency C-section and the postpartum PTSD and panic disorder that followed, April wrote the film to portray a part of motherhood that is still too often minimized, misunderstood, or left unspoken.
April believes hard conversations are necessary and stories can create change by helping us have them. That belief is at the heart of the films she wants to make.
At Least You're Alive was selected as a recipient of the 2026 Trilith Institute Creative Excellence Grant and is currently in pre-production.
THE TEAM
We are currently assembling the cast and production team for At Least You’re Alive, with experienced industry professionals already in conversation and additional announcements coming as agreements are finalized.