Between Prayers
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama, LGBTQ
Between Prayers tells a story rarely seen, one of faith, identity, and love lived between worlds. Your support helps bring this story to life with honesty and care, so those who’ve felt unseen can finally recognize themselves on screen.
9 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$775
Goal: $14,000 for production
Between Prayers tells a story rarely seen, one of faith, identity, and love lived between worlds. Your support helps bring this story to life with honesty and care, so those who’ve felt unseen can finally recognize themselves on screen.
Participating In
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Why This Film
Some stories choose you before you choose them.
Between Prayers is a 12-minute film set in Brooklyn. It follows a young Black queer woman navigating faith, family, and love between two spiritual worlds. It is a story about what happens when the religion you were raised in cannot hold all of who you are. About the courage it takes to expand rather than abandon. About learning that prayer sounds different in every language, and is holy in all of them.
This film was not written from research. It was written from memory.
Why Me
I have been a Lukumí priest for 22 years.
I know what it feels like to stand at an altar and feel completely seen. I also know what it feels like to sit at a family dinner table and feel completely alone. I know the cost of loving your family while disappointing them. I know what it means to hold two spiritual truths in one body and refuse to let go of either one.
The Lukumí tradition has been misrepresented on screen for as long as film has existed, sensationalized, exoticized, and reduced to something unrecognizable. Between Prayers is my response to that.
Every detail in this film, the altar, the dialogue, the ceremony, the prayers, reflects the tradition as it is truly lived. Because it deserves to be seen with care, accuracy, and dignity.
image from film: Mother of George 2013
Why Now
We are living in a moment where authenticity matters more than ever. Audiences are asking for stories that treat marginalized communities with depth and complexity. And yet, Black queer women navigating multiple spiritual identities remain largely invisible on screen. African spiritual traditions remain widely misunderstood.
Between Prayers lives at the intersection of these gaps.
But beyond cultural relevance, this film exists for something more immediate: There are people right now sitting at dinner tables, feeling alone in their own families. Standing between two worlds, wondering if there is space for all of who they are.
This film is for them.
image from film: Rafiki 2018
We have secured fiscal sponsorship through CCCADI and are now moving into pre-production.
Your support will directly fund:
- A cinema-quality shoot using professional camera and lighting equipment
- A small, experienced cast and crew
- Post-production, including editing, color, and sound
Our goal is to complete filming shortly after the campaign and deliver a finished film for festival submission and community screenings.
TIMELINE
- Spring 2026 — Fundraising + pre-production
- Summer 2026 — Production (filming in Brooklyn)
- Fall 2026 — Post-production
- Late 2026 / Early 2027 — Festival run + community screenings
How You’ll See the Film
Supporters will be the first to experience Between Prayers.
- Early access to the finished film
- Updates throughout the process, from production through festival run
Our goal is not just to premiere at festivals, but to bring the film back to the communities it represents.
Stretch Goals
If we go beyond our goal, we will expand the film’s reach:
- Additional festival submissions and travel
- Community screenings in Brooklyn and beyond
- If we hit our stretch goal of $25,000 we will be able to bring in a recognizable talent that will make the film more attractive to film festivals and potential viewers.
YOUR ROLE
Your support does not just fund a short film.
It helps bring an honest, culturally grounded story to life. It allows this story to be told with care, accuracy, and intention. It tells people living between worlds that their story matters.
If this resonates with you:
- Contribute if you can (it's tax-deductible)
- Follow the project
- Share it with your community
I have been waiting my whole life to make this film.
I am ready.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Video and lighting equipment rental
Costs $5,200
ARRI Alexa 35 body rental (2 days) → $4,300 Lens package (Cooke or Zeiss cinema lenses) → $900
Cast and Crew
Costs $4,200
Lead actor (Aisha) → $1,000 Supporting actor(s) → $600 Crew: DP $900 Sound mixer $600 Gaffer $400 PA $400 Hair/Makeup $400 Producer $500
Post production
Costs $3,400
Editor → $1,900 Color correction → $1000 Sound mix / design → $500
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Carlos Mena — Writer & Director
Carlos Mena is a Brooklyn storyteller, Lukumí priest of over 22 years, and one of the most distinctive voices at the intersection of music and spiritual tradition in the world.
Known globally as Casamena, Carlos has spent over four decades as a DJ and music producer whose work defies easy categorization. Mixmag has called him a "rhythmic powerhouse".
His solo debut Hip-Hop Meditations fuses traditional African bata drums used in Lukumí ceremony with hip-hop, and spoken word poetry, a groundbreaking work that earned him an artistic fellowship grant from the City of Oakland and a place on URB Magazine's Next 100 list. He has produced music for Grammy award-winning and platinum-selling artists, including Arrested Development, and collaborated with artists spanning hip-hop, jazz, house, and Afro-Cuban traditions.
But beneath all of it, the thread that connects everything is the tradition. Carlos has been a Lukumí priest for over 22 years. His music has always been in conversation with the Orishas. Between Prayers is the next chapter of that conversation, this time on screen.
This is the story he was always meant to tell.
Tom Concordia — Director of Photography
Tom Concordia is one of the most accomplished visual artists working today. A fashion photographer with over 30 years of experience, Tom's lens has graced the pages of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, W, and InStyle, and he has covered Fashion Week for every major house. His film credits include Analyze That, Power, City Island, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
But what makes Tom irreplaceable on this project goes beyond his extraordinary visual resume. Tom has been a priest of Oshun in the Lukumí tradition for over 24 years and is a member of the same Ilé as Carlos. He does not just understand the world of this film. He lives it.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Why This Film
Some stories choose you before you choose them.
Between Prayers is a 12-minute film set in Brooklyn. It follows a young Black queer woman navigating faith, family, and love between two spiritual worlds. It is a story about what happens when the religion you were raised in cannot hold all of who you are. About the courage it takes to expand rather than abandon. About learning that prayer sounds different in every language, and is holy in all of them.
This film was not written from research. It was written from memory.
Why Me
I have been a Lukumí priest for 22 years.
I know what it feels like to stand at an altar and feel completely seen. I also know what it feels like to sit at a family dinner table and feel completely alone. I know the cost of loving your family while disappointing them. I know what it means to hold two spiritual truths in one body and refuse to let go of either one.
The Lukumí tradition has been misrepresented on screen for as long as film has existed, sensationalized, exoticized, and reduced to something unrecognizable. Between Prayers is my response to that.
Every detail in this film, the altar, the dialogue, the ceremony, the prayers, reflects the tradition as it is truly lived. Because it deserves to be seen with care, accuracy, and dignity.
image from film: Mother of George 2013
Why Now
We are living in a moment where authenticity matters more than ever. Audiences are asking for stories that treat marginalized communities with depth and complexity. And yet, Black queer women navigating multiple spiritual identities remain largely invisible on screen. African spiritual traditions remain widely misunderstood.
Between Prayers lives at the intersection of these gaps.
But beyond cultural relevance, this film exists for something more immediate: There are people right now sitting at dinner tables, feeling alone in their own families. Standing between two worlds, wondering if there is space for all of who they are.
This film is for them.
image from film: Rafiki 2018
We have secured fiscal sponsorship through CCCADI and are now moving into pre-production.
Your support will directly fund:
- A cinema-quality shoot using professional camera and lighting equipment
- A small, experienced cast and crew
- Post-production, including editing, color, and sound
Our goal is to complete filming shortly after the campaign and deliver a finished film for festival submission and community screenings.
TIMELINE
- Spring 2026 — Fundraising + pre-production
- Summer 2026 — Production (filming in Brooklyn)
- Fall 2026 — Post-production
- Late 2026 / Early 2027 — Festival run + community screenings
How You’ll See the Film
Supporters will be the first to experience Between Prayers.
- Early access to the finished film
- Updates throughout the process, from production through festival run
Our goal is not just to premiere at festivals, but to bring the film back to the communities it represents.
Stretch Goals
If we go beyond our goal, we will expand the film’s reach:
- Additional festival submissions and travel
- Community screenings in Brooklyn and beyond
- If we hit our stretch goal of $25,000 we will be able to bring in a recognizable talent that will make the film more attractive to film festivals and potential viewers.
YOUR ROLE
Your support does not just fund a short film.
It helps bring an honest, culturally grounded story to life. It allows this story to be told with care, accuracy, and intention. It tells people living between worlds that their story matters.
If this resonates with you:
- Contribute if you can (it's tax-deductible)
- Follow the project
- Share it with your community
I have been waiting my whole life to make this film.
I am ready.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Video and lighting equipment rental
Costs $5,200
ARRI Alexa 35 body rental (2 days) → $4,300 Lens package (Cooke or Zeiss cinema lenses) → $900
Cast and Crew
Costs $4,200
Lead actor (Aisha) → $1,000 Supporting actor(s) → $600 Crew: DP $900 Sound mixer $600 Gaffer $400 PA $400 Hair/Makeup $400 Producer $500
Post production
Costs $3,400
Editor → $1,900 Color correction → $1000 Sound mix / design → $500
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Carlos Mena — Writer & Director
Carlos Mena is a Brooklyn storyteller, Lukumí priest of over 22 years, and one of the most distinctive voices at the intersection of music and spiritual tradition in the world.
Known globally as Casamena, Carlos has spent over four decades as a DJ and music producer whose work defies easy categorization. Mixmag has called him a "rhythmic powerhouse".
His solo debut Hip-Hop Meditations fuses traditional African bata drums used in Lukumí ceremony with hip-hop, and spoken word poetry, a groundbreaking work that earned him an artistic fellowship grant from the City of Oakland and a place on URB Magazine's Next 100 list. He has produced music for Grammy award-winning and platinum-selling artists, including Arrested Development, and collaborated with artists spanning hip-hop, jazz, house, and Afro-Cuban traditions.
But beneath all of it, the thread that connects everything is the tradition. Carlos has been a Lukumí priest for over 22 years. His music has always been in conversation with the Orishas. Between Prayers is the next chapter of that conversation, this time on screen.
This is the story he was always meant to tell.
Tom Concordia — Director of Photography
Tom Concordia is one of the most accomplished visual artists working today. A fashion photographer with over 30 years of experience, Tom's lens has graced the pages of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, W, and InStyle, and he has covered Fashion Week for every major house. His film credits include Analyze That, Power, City Island, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.
But what makes Tom irreplaceable on this project goes beyond his extraordinary visual resume. Tom has been a priest of Oshun in the Lukumí tradition for over 24 years and is a member of the same Ilé as Carlos. He does not just understand the world of this film. He lives it.