This project came to light due to my own experiences being the sole caregiver for a loved one. The aim of the film is to present an authentic portrayal of caregiving, with a focus on the physical and emotional demands often placed on an individual in this position.

 

When hospitals prohibit visitors during the COVID pandemic, a young woman tries to keep her palliative mother at home, while grappling with her own physical and emotional disintegration. 

 

Website / Instagram

 

 

The story follows a young woman administering palliative care to her mother during the height of the covid pandemic. However, the pandemic is not at the forefront of the story, instead it serves as an important backdrop, cultivating circumstances familiar to many who cared for loved ones last year.

 

Bleak as the Setting Sun explores themes of sacrifice, conflict, and adversity. One of the central themes is isolation, the inability to communicate, the feeling of reaching for someone who is inaccessible, and the deep yearning to be understood and cared for. 

 

 

Due to a ban on hospital visitations, Alette decides to take on the role of caring for her mother, rather than have her be admitted into a palliative unit at a hospital. The story draws parallels between Alette and her mother’s physical and emotional disintegration, as well as delving into the cracks of their relationship amid the heightened circumstances of palliative care. The third and final character is Luna, a home-care nurse who visits the apartment periodically. Luna elegantly walks the line between professional duty and empathy and comfort for Alette. 

 

 

We are currently in the development phase of the film and we are raising funds for the PRODUCTION phase. In order to recieve arts grant funding, we are looking to secure $5,000. That is the aim of this crowdfunding campaign. This is where you come in!

 

Every contribution goes 100% into the making of this film. Any contribution would mean the world to us. If we raise $5000 that would be INCREDIBLE and would show the arts councils that we really do have a lot of support for this film and this story. It will demonstrate that people are interested in this project and want to see it come to life! 

 

Our total production budget is $33,000. Our core expenses are derrived from a desire to pay everyone on the team fairly and equitably. Additional costs include 16mm film, equipment (camera, grip/electric) rental and location rental. 

 

 

This story is both timely and universal. 

 

Although this story isn't centered around the COVID pandemic, it plays a significant role in creating the circumstances of the film. The lack of resources, the inability to be with loved ones in the hospital, the paralyzing fear of contracting the virus, are all experiences caregivers dealt with last year and continue to experience.

 

The Gerontological Society of America found that "challenges of caregiving are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Family caregivers reported increased duties, burdens, and resulting adverse health, psychosocial, and financial outcomes." National Library of Medicine

Link to Study

 

Another study by the healthcare journal BMC Health Services, found that "across indicators of care involvement, 25.5–39.7% [of informal caregivers] reported that the care situation rather or greatly worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for those caring for someone with dementia or those usually relying on professional help." BMC Health Services Research

Link to Study

 

One need only look at the Recommended section under either of these articles to see the findings on caregiver stress during the pandemic were and continue to be consistent. That being said, caregiver stress existed long before the pandemic, and while the film takes place during COVID-19, is is nonetheless a universal story that focuses on the intimate experience of caregiving, a role that is often overlooked and misunderstood. 

 

 

 

 

The film will be shot on 16mm film to parallel the tangible aspects of caregiving with the tactile processes that go into handling film. Additionally, the nostalgic quality of film lends itself to this project where there is a focus on disorientation of time, and subject matter that has a universality regardless of time. 

 

The story takes place in a crowded one bedroom apartment that echoes the feeling of claustrophobia our protagonist experiences throughout the film; the sole setting of an apartment also aims to reinstate the central theme of isolation. 

 

 

 

 

Influences include A Separation (Farhadi) and Amour (Haneke) in the way they authentically portray the reality of caregivers. In particular, their frequent closeups of exasperated faces, and the lingering on caregiving tasks as simple as holding a cloth under running water. Visually, and in their evocation of memory and family, Tarkovsky and Nuri Bilge Ceylan hold major sway, particularly in the way they place bodies in the frame, obscuring faces to focus on the environment, and many times fusing their subjects with their environments. Compositionally, the film will draw on Bergman’s alignment of faces in the frame,  to tell the story visually when no words are being spoken. 

 

 

While prepping for production the script has placed at a number of recognized script competitions. Placements include Second-Rounder at the Austin Film Festival Script Competition, Quarter-Finalist at the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, and an Honourable Mention at the Finish Line Script Competition. 

 

  

 

 

 

Please share our fundraiser on social media! Feel free to use the pre-written note and images below!

 

Someone I know is making a short dramatic film and you can help! The film is an authentic portrayal of what it's like to care for someone ill and the emotional and physical toll caregiving takes on somone. Visit @bleakasthesettingsun and find out how YOU can get involved in making this film come to life.