Black Cake
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama, Family
Black Cake follows an Indo-Caribbean woman in Queens who’s stuck in a routined life after the death of her mother. She’s presented with an opportunity that could change her life, but it requires her stepping away from her comfort zone and selling her mother’s home.
Black Cake
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama, Family
3 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $12,586 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
58 supporters | followers
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Black Cake follows an Indo-Caribbean woman in Queens who’s stuck in a routined life after the death of her mother. She’s presented with an opportunity that could change her life, but it requires her stepping away from her comfort zone and selling her mother’s home.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
We made our goal! Appreciate you all for your love and support!
As an Indo-Caribbean writer, specifically a Trinidadian-American writer, I want to call Indo-Caribbean women to the front on film. I don’t see stories about West Indian families in film and television. I don’t see women like myself on-screen.
I wanted to make a short film that highlights the struggles of Indo-Caribbean families - the need to continue cultural traditions in the US, the loss of cultural identity, how grief can break a family apart - while also highlighting the beauty of it all - how change can bring people together while preserving customs that are near and dear to their hearts.
Our creative vision for Black Cake follows an isolated woman, Sherry Sankar, unsure of how to survive without her mother. Moving forward would mean for her to recreate a new identity in an unknown future.
The loss of her mother catapults Sherry to realize that she has lost her connection to the long line of women who have silently passed down customs. Sherry now feels the pressure to step into the shoes of carrying on her culture and persevere- for both herself and her little sister, Meena. But can she do that and live her own life?
Growing up in a Trinidadian household in New York taught me several things: that family unity is the only priority in life. However, my family fell apart due to many circumstances rooted in hopelessness. It's difficult to envision a positive future for West Indian families when there aren't many examples to look forward to compared to other successful cultures. The lack of possibilities to build for our future leads to the breaking of bonds between families.
With Black Cake we explore how grief can force us out of codependency and into our own life,
keeping our fingertips in our heritage while remaining courageous in creating the life YOU want.
The Sankar Family - Asha, Sherry, and Meena - are inspired by many women in my life. I've witnessed many women trapped in silence as they carried traditions on their backs to keep the culture alive. I wanted to honor these women who don't have visibility in the artistic space.
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Asha, single mother to Sherry and Meena, lived a life of extreme frugality to make sure her girls had a better life than she did. Her purpose in life kept her in survival mode; working many hours in the day, shopping in the sale sections only at department stores, and cooking homemade meals with the occasional take-out of McDonald's and doubles from the roti shop.
.jpg)
Sherry followed in her mother's footsteps with co-dependency keeping her more old-fashioned than her mother intended. She's presented with a choice: to continue living in the repetition of generational trauma with no hope or to figure out who Sherry Sankar truly is.
.jpg)
Meena, on the other hand, has the vibrancy of her mother while embracing American culture. You can catch Meena karoake-ing to "Shake it Off" on the way to the Curry Duck Competition. Even though Meena has had more self-growth than Sherry, she still relies on her sister for guidance in life.
Black Cake Inspiration:
- Keisha's real-life sisters
- Sandstorm film by Seemab Gul
- Doubles with Slight Pepper film by Ian Harnarine
- Polite Society by Nida Manzoor
- Simple comme Sylvain film by Monia Chokri
My mother's black cake is the star of the show every Christmas. It's the kind of "you either love it or hate it" type of cake. There are people in my family who refuse to touch it and then there are those who specifically request an entire cake from my mother because they can't get enough of it.
Black cake is simply a fruit cake doused with rum and cherry wine. I never truly learned how to make black cake. Assisting my mother in the kitchen just meant "get the rum" and "clean the dishes" more so than learning how to bake the cake from scratch.
I chose to write this story about black cake because it really is a special experience each Christmas. As a matter of fact, it's a special experience all year round. Each Christmas, my mother takes up to a week to prep and bake the cake, and she soaks the fruits for the following year's cake.
Food is a big part of any culture; connecting people throughout generations. I never knew the history of black cake, but what I do know is that there tends to be a Caribbean spirit when this cake is made. When I thought of writing about the fictional Sankar family all I could think about was the spirit of West Indian women and black cake being the center of their little family.
Living in the Caribbean with Indian ancestry, the visibility of Indo-Caribbeans in the South Asian space and Caribbean space is non-existent. There is a rise of Trinidadian and Guyanese artists showcasing stories that have only been told between relatives. I believe it's time for our community to push against the instilled fear of success and to finally be heard and to be seen. For too long we've been hiding in the shadows, proud of our culture but accepting our fate of living small.
If you ever felt your voice was meant to be small, your face was meant to hide, and your power meant to be diminished, this film is for you. Because it's time to reimagine your future.
Support our Black Cake project as we take the film to festivals nationwide and worldwide. The goal is to build a community of Caribbean women and all women who crave the experience of community identity and sisterhood. With your pledge, you support making this film a reality. Together we can share Black Cake with the world.
Please like & follow this page, share this project with your circle, and support a wonderful group of filmmakers dedicated to Black Cake.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Authentic Parang Music
Costs $2,250
It isn't Christmas in the Sankar home without Parang music!
Editing
Costs $3,000
The magic is all in the edit!
Color Correction
Costs $2,250
Bring the Sankar home to life with rich and vibrant colors of the holiday season.
Film Festivals
Costs $2,500
Join our journey nationwide and around the globe!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Get to know the faces of the "Black Cake" project! We've assembled a devoted and passionate team; each member bringing their own unique skill set to the production.
Keisha Bissram is a Trinidadian-American writer and actress from Staten Island, NY. After graduating with a business degree, a promise to her traditional family, she immediately studied acting at the Barrow Group Theatre and William Esper Studio. After recognizing the absence of Indian-Caribbean artists in the industry she started to write and produce her own stories such as Conversations in Apartment 3A, Simple Life with Tammy, and Bancroft & Singh. Her goal is to shed more light on Indian-Caribbean stories on film. While developing her work, she performed in several commercials, theater, and short films, one notably known as The Woman in the Movie.
-2.jpg)
Megan is an American actor, writer, and director. She produced Con Dios, acquired by Sony Television. She produced and directed the web series Conversations in Apartment 3A, and directed shorts Muse and Bancroft & Singh. Her latest short Eulogy premiered at the Catalina Film Festival.
As an actor, she recurs in Jordan Peele’s Amazon series Hunters and CBS’s Bull. Other credits include Mr. Robot, The Loudest Voice, Power, All My Children, NBC pilots Getaway and Songbyrd, and indie hits Lingua Franca, and Ask for Jane.
.jpg)
Isabella Jane Schiller (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker, actor, and theater artist. She is specifically interested in work that addresses the evolution of gender, the transformative power of grief, and disability. Most recently, she produced the award-winning shorts The Rushing of the Sea by Molly Karna (4 awards, 16 nominations), Delete by Julianne Cross (Best RomCom Austin Revolution FF), and Crimson Wave by Monica Arsenault (Official Selection Cinequest Film & VR Festival). She has just completed post-production on her writer/directorial debut short Bastard, entering the festival circuit in late 2024. A born, bred, and based New Yorker she was overjoyed to be brought on to this impactful and quintessentially New York story.
Renee Nabinger, Director of Photography
Renee Nabinger is a narrative, music video, and commercial cinematographer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her artistic journey began with studying oil painting during her formative time at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she developed a keen eye for composition and storytelling. She transitioned her passion for fine arts into the realm of cinematography, graduating with a degree in Film from Boston University. This fusion of artistic disciplines informs her cinematic approach, characterized by a deep appreciation for depth, texture, lighting, and a distinctive narrative sensibility.
T.S. Evering, Production Designer
T.S. Evering is a New York based Jamaican-American writer, director, and production designer whose work focuses on the yearnings of women and dives fearlessly into melodrama. She thinks deeply about the visual understanding of a project and loves having a character step into a space where they’re not usually welcomed.
Brenna Power, Editor
Brenna Power is a Seattle based, Brooklyn born actor and filmmaker. She has done video editing for the last five years with projects premiering at Slamdance Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, Montclair Film Festival and more. In her free time she acts, writes and directs as well. Her debut short, COLD & SARA had it’s World Premiere at Slamdance Film Festival in 2023.
Zack Watson, Assistant Director
When Zack isn't stressing our director on time, he's hard at work on one of his various projects. Zack Watson is a professional actor and creative from Kennesaw, Georgia, who has worked professionally in film production for the past 8 years in New York. He has created a monthly comedy variety show called @Channelz_tv, co-created a weekly game show called @Straightshootershow, and continuously hops on other creatives' projects in an Assistant Director or production aid capacity. He loves working with fellow filmmakers and comedians to create passion projects that people put their blood, sweat and tears into. This stuff ain't easy to do!
Isabel Pask, Script Supervisor
Isabel Pask is a Brooklyn-based, Texas-born filmmaker with Puerto Rican roots. She is a founding member of Quail House Pictures, and contributing artist for the femme-millennial production company CNT Productions, for which she wrote and starred in the viral, award-winning short This is Not a Love Letter. Most recently, she directed and co-wrote the short Goodnight, starring Dagmara Domincyzk (Succession, The Lost Daughter), now in post-production.
Drishty Empire, Hair & Makeup Artist
Ronnie Gilmore, First Assistant Camera
Christopher Burke, Gaffer
Gleydi Santana, Key Grip
Jana Landon, Production Assistant
HanJie Chow, BTS Photographer
CAST
Asha Devi (MEENA)
Asha Devi is a West-Indian and American actress, and writer represented by Ken Park Management. She is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch, where she earned a BFA in Drama, and has also trained at NYFA, The Terry Knickerbocker Studio, and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. As an artist, she is committed to telling stories that inspire purpose over ego, self-awareness over self-consciousness, and revolution over resignation. She has been seen most recently in the award-winning films Rising Lotus and Purpose, and on stage in The Leading Lady Club at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival and New York Fringe. In addition to starring in several films and many plays, Asha teaches devised theatre to NYC students through her work with the Peoples’ Theatre Project.
Radhika Olarte (ASHA)
Radhika Olarte is an acclaimed actress who specializes in bringing life and emotion to her characters. Add comedian and emcee to her title and she's the definition of an all-around entertainer. Radhika's ability to light up the stage is a talent she takes full advantage of . . . after all, inflicting laughter and bringing joy to her fans is what she's all about. Film credits include Brown Sugar Too Bitter for Me, Karma - A Love Story, Awakening, Jumbee, The Quack Doctor by the Roti Shop.
Jordan P. Schroeder (ANTHONY)
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
We made our goal! Appreciate you all for your love and support!
As an Indo-Caribbean writer, specifically a Trinidadian-American writer, I want to call Indo-Caribbean women to the front on film. I don’t see stories about West Indian families in film and television. I don’t see women like myself on-screen.
I wanted to make a short film that highlights the struggles of Indo-Caribbean families - the need to continue cultural traditions in the US, the loss of cultural identity, how grief can break a family apart - while also highlighting the beauty of it all - how change can bring people together while preserving customs that are near and dear to their hearts.
Our creative vision for Black Cake follows an isolated woman, Sherry Sankar, unsure of how to survive without her mother. Moving forward would mean for her to recreate a new identity in an unknown future.
The loss of her mother catapults Sherry to realize that she has lost her connection to the long line of women who have silently passed down customs. Sherry now feels the pressure to step into the shoes of carrying on her culture and persevere- for both herself and her little sister, Meena. But can she do that and live her own life?
Growing up in a Trinidadian household in New York taught me several things: that family unity is the only priority in life. However, my family fell apart due to many circumstances rooted in hopelessness. It's difficult to envision a positive future for West Indian families when there aren't many examples to look forward to compared to other successful cultures. The lack of possibilities to build for our future leads to the breaking of bonds between families.
With Black Cake we explore how grief can force us out of codependency and into our own life,
keeping our fingertips in our heritage while remaining courageous in creating the life YOU want.
The Sankar Family - Asha, Sherry, and Meena - are inspired by many women in my life. I've witnessed many women trapped in silence as they carried traditions on their backs to keep the culture alive. I wanted to honor these women who don't have visibility in the artistic space.
Asha, single mother to Sherry and Meena, lived a life of extreme frugality to make sure her girls had a better life than she did. Her purpose in life kept her in survival mode; working many hours in the day, shopping in the sale sections only at department stores, and cooking homemade meals with the occasional take-out of McDonald's and doubles from the roti shop.
Sherry followed in her mother's footsteps with co-dependency keeping her more old-fashioned than her mother intended. She's presented with a choice: to continue living in the repetition of generational trauma with no hope or to figure out who Sherry Sankar truly is.
Meena, on the other hand, has the vibrancy of her mother while embracing American culture. You can catch Meena karoake-ing to "Shake it Off" on the way to the Curry Duck Competition. Even though Meena has had more self-growth than Sherry, she still relies on her sister for guidance in life.
Black Cake Inspiration:
- Keisha's real-life sisters
- Sandstorm film by Seemab Gul
- Doubles with Slight Pepper film by Ian Harnarine
- Polite Society by Nida Manzoor
- Simple comme Sylvain film by Monia Chokri
My mother's black cake is the star of the show every Christmas. It's the kind of "you either love it or hate it" type of cake. There are people in my family who refuse to touch it and then there are those who specifically request an entire cake from my mother because they can't get enough of it.
Black cake is simply a fruit cake doused with rum and cherry wine. I never truly learned how to make black cake. Assisting my mother in the kitchen just meant "get the rum" and "clean the dishes" more so than learning how to bake the cake from scratch.
I chose to write this story about black cake because it really is a special experience each Christmas. As a matter of fact, it's a special experience all year round. Each Christmas, my mother takes up to a week to prep and bake the cake, and she soaks the fruits for the following year's cake.
Food is a big part of any culture; connecting people throughout generations. I never knew the history of black cake, but what I do know is that there tends to be a Caribbean spirit when this cake is made. When I thought of writing about the fictional Sankar family all I could think about was the spirit of West Indian women and black cake being the center of their little family.
Living in the Caribbean with Indian ancestry, the visibility of Indo-Caribbeans in the South Asian space and Caribbean space is non-existent. There is a rise of Trinidadian and Guyanese artists showcasing stories that have only been told between relatives. I believe it's time for our community to push against the instilled fear of success and to finally be heard and to be seen. For too long we've been hiding in the shadows, proud of our culture but accepting our fate of living small.
If you ever felt your voice was meant to be small, your face was meant to hide, and your power meant to be diminished, this film is for you. Because it's time to reimagine your future.
Support our Black Cake project as we take the film to festivals nationwide and worldwide. The goal is to build a community of Caribbean women and all women who crave the experience of community identity and sisterhood. With your pledge, you support making this film a reality. Together we can share Black Cake with the world.
Please like & follow this page, share this project with your circle, and support a wonderful group of filmmakers dedicated to Black Cake.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Authentic Parang Music
Costs $2,250
It isn't Christmas in the Sankar home without Parang music!
Editing
Costs $3,000
The magic is all in the edit!
Color Correction
Costs $2,250
Bring the Sankar home to life with rich and vibrant colors of the holiday season.
Film Festivals
Costs $2,500
Join our journey nationwide and around the globe!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Get to know the faces of the "Black Cake" project! We've assembled a devoted and passionate team; each member bringing their own unique skill set to the production.
Keisha Bissram is a Trinidadian-American writer and actress from Staten Island, NY. After graduating with a business degree, a promise to her traditional family, she immediately studied acting at the Barrow Group Theatre and William Esper Studio. After recognizing the absence of Indian-Caribbean artists in the industry she started to write and produce her own stories such as Conversations in Apartment 3A, Simple Life with Tammy, and Bancroft & Singh. Her goal is to shed more light on Indian-Caribbean stories on film. While developing her work, she performed in several commercials, theater, and short films, one notably known as The Woman in the Movie.
Megan is an American actor, writer, and director. She produced Con Dios, acquired by Sony Television. She produced and directed the web series Conversations in Apartment 3A, and directed shorts Muse and Bancroft & Singh. Her latest short Eulogy premiered at the Catalina Film Festival.
As an actor, she recurs in Jordan Peele’s Amazon series Hunters and CBS’s Bull. Other credits include Mr. Robot, The Loudest Voice, Power, All My Children, NBC pilots Getaway and Songbyrd, and indie hits Lingua Franca, and Ask for Jane.
Isabella Jane Schiller (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker, actor, and theater artist. She is specifically interested in work that addresses the evolution of gender, the transformative power of grief, and disability. Most recently, she produced the award-winning shorts The Rushing of the Sea by Molly Karna (4 awards, 16 nominations), Delete by Julianne Cross (Best RomCom Austin Revolution FF), and Crimson Wave by Monica Arsenault (Official Selection Cinequest Film & VR Festival). She has just completed post-production on her writer/directorial debut short Bastard, entering the festival circuit in late 2024. A born, bred, and based New Yorker she was overjoyed to be brought on to this impactful and quintessentially New York story.
Renee Nabinger, Director of Photography
Renee Nabinger is a narrative, music video, and commercial cinematographer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her artistic journey began with studying oil painting during her formative time at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she developed a keen eye for composition and storytelling. She transitioned her passion for fine arts into the realm of cinematography, graduating with a degree in Film from Boston University. This fusion of artistic disciplines informs her cinematic approach, characterized by a deep appreciation for depth, texture, lighting, and a distinctive narrative sensibility.
T.S. Evering, Production Designer
T.S. Evering is a New York based Jamaican-American writer, director, and production designer whose work focuses on the yearnings of women and dives fearlessly into melodrama. She thinks deeply about the visual understanding of a project and loves having a character step into a space where they’re not usually welcomed.
Brenna Power, Editor
Brenna Power is a Seattle based, Brooklyn born actor and filmmaker. She has done video editing for the last five years with projects premiering at Slamdance Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, Montclair Film Festival and more. In her free time she acts, writes and directs as well. Her debut short, COLD & SARA had it’s World Premiere at Slamdance Film Festival in 2023.
Zack Watson, Assistant Director
When Zack isn't stressing our director on time, he's hard at work on one of his various projects. Zack Watson is a professional actor and creative from Kennesaw, Georgia, who has worked professionally in film production for the past 8 years in New York. He has created a monthly comedy variety show called @Channelz_tv, co-created a weekly game show called @Straightshootershow, and continuously hops on other creatives' projects in an Assistant Director or production aid capacity. He loves working with fellow filmmakers and comedians to create passion projects that people put their blood, sweat and tears into. This stuff ain't easy to do!
Isabel Pask, Script Supervisor
Isabel Pask is a Brooklyn-based, Texas-born filmmaker with Puerto Rican roots. She is a founding member of Quail House Pictures, and contributing artist for the femme-millennial production company CNT Productions, for which she wrote and starred in the viral, award-winning short This is Not a Love Letter. Most recently, she directed and co-wrote the short Goodnight, starring Dagmara Domincyzk (Succession, The Lost Daughter), now in post-production.
Drishty Empire, Hair & Makeup Artist
Ronnie Gilmore, First Assistant Camera
Christopher Burke, Gaffer
Gleydi Santana, Key Grip
Jana Landon, Production Assistant
HanJie Chow, BTS Photographer
CAST
Asha Devi (MEENA)
Asha Devi is a West-Indian and American actress, and writer represented by Ken Park Management. She is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch, where she earned a BFA in Drama, and has also trained at NYFA, The Terry Knickerbocker Studio, and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. As an artist, she is committed to telling stories that inspire purpose over ego, self-awareness over self-consciousness, and revolution over resignation. She has been seen most recently in the award-winning films Rising Lotus and Purpose, and on stage in The Leading Lady Club at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival and New York Fringe. In addition to starring in several films and many plays, Asha teaches devised theatre to NYC students through her work with the Peoples’ Theatre Project.
Radhika Olarte (ASHA)
Radhika Olarte is an acclaimed actress who specializes in bringing life and emotion to her characters. Add comedian and emcee to her title and she's the definition of an all-around entertainer. Radhika's ability to light up the stage is a talent she takes full advantage of . . . after all, inflicting laughter and bringing joy to her fans is what she's all about. Film credits include Brown Sugar Too Bitter for Me, Karma - A Love Story, Awakening, Jumbee, The Quack Doctor by the Roti Shop.