collective exchange project
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Experimental, Drama
The feature consists of short pieces by eight directors, woven together by a common theme – Illusions, connected by bridges that lead from one story to the next. The stories blur the lines between the real and the imagined in order to explore how our perceptions shape our understanding of the world.
collective exchange project
New York City, New York | Film Feature
Experimental, Drama
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $15,325 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
83 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
The feature consists of short pieces by eight directors, woven together by a common theme – Illusions, connected by bridges that lead from one story to the next. The stories blur the lines between the real and the imagined in order to explore how our perceptions shape our understanding of the world.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
In the bustling streets of New York City, a series of characters’ lives intertwine over the course of one day. As they navigate their overlapping existences, they are drawn into a web of mystical clues, mistaken identities, and profound connections that challenge their perceptions of reality.
Like an “exquisite corpse”, the film is composed of eight different stories by eight different writer/directors — each story beginning where the last ends, and ending where the next begins. United by the theme of ‘ILLUSION”, our film investigates the fantasies and falsehoods our characters create for themselves and others, and the distorted ways in which we comprehend the things around us.
the story:
- After being removed from the scene, a young extra tries to grasp the true meaning of background acting.
- Two women struggle to remember what they looked like before plastic surgery.
- A lost badminton shuttlecock leads a pair of young siblings on a quiet pursuit through their neighborhood in Brooklyn’s Chinatown.
- A Frank Sinatra Impersonator becomes entangled in a series of mysterious clues from a fortune-telling hotline.
- Agnes questions her friend's Ines's libertine life and in doing so, examines her own relationship with desire.
- A man mistakes a stranger for a long lost friend. By the end of the interaction, the stranger is convinced that maybe he is the long lost friend.
- A young woman attempts to record a birthday video to her mother, but her repeated attempts feel fake, insincere. A stranger sitting nearby jumps in...
- When a school girl meets a magician, she questions what is magic and what is real.
The idiosyncratic yet interconnected narrative exactly reflects the “exchange” in which we are engaging as filmmakers — a series of individuals coming together to make a whole. Our aim is to create a support system where we can inspire each other, share ideas, and grow together through community and collaboration.
All of the money raised through this campaign will go directly towards production costs -- food, transportation, equipment rentals, and permits. Your donation will go a long way ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
<3
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
food
Costs $8,000
we must feed the cast and crew!
van
Costs $3,800
we will need to rent a van for the equipment for the duration of the shoot.
gear
Costs $2,200
in addition to the gear we plan to source from friends, there are some extra bits of gear we will need to rent.
filming permits
Costs $1,000
we'll need permits to set stands down on the streets of NY.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
writers / directors:
Cade Featherstone
Cade Featherstone is a British filmmaker, who recently graduated from NYU Tisch with an MFA in Filmmaking. Prior to that, Cade was an award winning designer; having studied at Central Saint Martins. he went on to work as graphic artist for films such as THE FAVOURITE ('18) before deciding he wanted to make the movies himself. He is the recipient of the Black Family Prize for his last short Don't You Dare Film Me Now (’24), which won the Best NextGen Short award at the Nashville Film Festival ’24. He is currently in post-production on his next short ELEPHANTINE, as well as writing his first feature and making A.I. music videos in his spare time.
Ana Perromat
Ana Perromat is a French Basque screenwriter and director. She earned her MFA in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University in New York in 2021, following a background in literary and film studies, including a Master Degree in Film Production from INA-sup in Paris. Before transitioning to filmmaking, she worked in film sales, serving as Head of Sales at Wide and as a Sales Assistant at MK2. Perromat has written and directed several short films, including The Soft Gum Between Their Teeth, Windows and Trains, and A Successful Misunderstanding, which won the Audience Award in a competition organized by ARTE. Her short film J’ai vu l’amour was also selected for the Official Competition at Côté Courts. Alongside her latest project, Bollocks, she is currently developing a documentary feature about Emma Reyes, produced by Les Films d'Ici, a romantic comedy co-written with Asya Segalovich, and A21, a series she is writing with Mathilde Hauducoeur and Tomás Pinzón.
Ethan Mermelstein
Ethan Mermelstein is a writer/director living in Queens, New York. He's obsessed with the minutiae of social interaction, and his grounded, dark comedies explore the discomfort that surfaces when the rules we take for granted are blown apart. As a director, he pushes the boundaries of the narrative and documentary form, often blurring the lines between the two. His shorts have starred Golden Globe nominated actors, as well as his grandmother, his dentist, and a taxi driver he befriended while he was working as a hotel doorman. Ethan was the script coordinator on Girls and Nurse Jackie. His films have screened at Palm Springs ShortFest, New Hampshire Film Festival, NoBudge, Omeleto, Indie Memphis, Seattle International Film Festival, and Mammoth Lakes. His screenwriting has received recognition from the following institutions and fellowships: Panavision New Filmmakers Grant, Sloan Science Foundation, Austin Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, and CineStory. He has an MFA from Columbia University where his screenwriting received the highest distinction in the program.
Sophia Bennett Holmes
Sophia Bennett Holmes is a writer, director and cinematographer from Brooklyn, New York. She studied fine art at Cooper Union and graduated from New York University in 2024 with an MFA in film. She finds inspiration reading online forums where people wonder whether or not they're normal. Her short films have been selected for festivals such as Woodstock Film Festival, Nitehawk Shorts Festival, and the Los Angeles and London Lift Off Film Festivals. Her work has been featured on NoBudge, Pitchfork, Stereogum and more. She won the Nestor Almendros Award for Cinematography for her work on The Dalles, which debuted at Sundance 2023 in the Shorts program.
Dong-Ren Hong
Dong-Ren Hong is a Taiwanese director and editor based in NYC, working across shorts, documentaries, and feature films. His previous short film, Eighth Avenue, was officially selected for the 2024 Taipei Film Festival. As an editor, his credits include the feature Alifu, the Prince/ss, which premiered at the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival and was nominated for the 54th Golden Horse Awards. He holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University and is currently in post-production on his latest short film, Youth Youth, while developing his first documentary feature, The Island's, a three-year exploration of psychedelic research in Taiwan.
Mathilde Hauducoeur
Mathilde Hauducoeur is a writer and director based between Paris and New York. She studied film history at Sarah Lawrence College before earning an MFA in screenwriting and directing from Columbia University. Her work explores the intricacies of female friendship and the complex performances of self that shape our relationships. Her short films Angel Wings and Open Wounds and Pillow Talk have screened internationally, including the Miami Film Festival, New Hampshire Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, NoBudge, Indy Shorts, and Mulhouse Tous Courts, where she won the Grand Jury Prize. She is currently developing her first feature with the support of Cine Qua Non Lab, and her TV project A21 (co-written with Ana Perromat and Tomás Pinzon-Lucena) was selected for the 2024 Torino Film Lab.
Asya Segalovich
Asya Segalovich grew up between Russia and the UK. In her work, she explores themes of identity, loss, and the quest for humanity, finding humor and hope in the face of adversity. She attended Camberwell College of Arts and then Central Film School, London, for her Bachelor of Arts. She continued her education in St. Petersburg attending Alexander Sokurov's workshop, and received her MFA from Columbia University in 2023. Her screenplay Beetle Baby won Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival Screenwriting Discovery Grand Prize and was selected as a semi-finalist in the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition. She was awarded the KOB Mentorship and Development Prize for her short film, Out the Window Through the Wall, which won 2nd prize of La Cinef at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024.
Marina Xarri
Marina is a French Basque filmmaker raised between Bangkok, Seoul, and Hong Kong. She holds an MFA in writing-directing from NYU Tisch, where she was named a finalist for the Wasserman King Award. Her work explores impermanence and intimacy, often through fractured ideas of home. Her films have screened at festivals such as Seoul International Eco Film Festival, New York World Film Festival, Balkan Can Kino, Tokyo Lift-Off, and more. She finds inspiration in surrealism and stories that explore the hidden lives of seemingly ordinary people.
producers:
Marina Xarri & Asya Segalovich, bobadibob films
Silvia Chen, frameless pictures
Silvia Chen is an award-winning film and television producer with over a decade of experience in the industry. She has worked on over 40 TV commercials for major brands such as Audi, Mazda, Sony, and P&G, and won the Best Music Video award at the 2019 Golden Melody Awards for her work on 'Slow / Oriental' by Sunset Rollercoaster. A Columbia University alumna with an MFA in Creative Producing, Chen has produced award-winning short films that have been featured in international festivals such as Cannes Film Festival and SXSW. Raised in Taiwan and fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English, Chen's multicultural perspective has been key to her success in international collaborations. Her latest work focuses on telling the stories of immigrant communities, showcasing her belief in the power of filmmaking to highlight our shared humanity.
Karen Madar, NoMad Productions
Karen Madar is a French filmmaker based in NYC and a dual MBA/MFA graduate from NYU Stern and Tisch School of the Arts. She is the 2024 recipient of the Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) Debra Hill Fellowship and the 2022 recipient of the Robert Oberman/Gregory Pickert Media Services Award for excellence in creative producing. She has produced over a dozen short films, including GRANDMA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVORITES by Chheangkea (2025 Sundance Jury Award for International Fiction, Rotterdam), SKIN CAN BREATHE by Chheangkea (2022 HBO Asian Pacific American Visionaries winner, streaming on Max), WASSUPKAYLEE by Pepi Ginsberg (2025 SXSW, streaming on Arte) and LET by Alyssa Loh (2024 SXSW, streaming on Short of the Week). She is currently developing Chheangkea’s debut feature film, LITTLE PHNOM PENH (Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab, MunichFilmUp, HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab, NYU Purple List).
&
Jack Auen, Audrey Chou, Mahum Jamal
cinematographer:
Safran Lecuivre
Safran Lecuivre is a cinematographer of French Guyanese and Belgian descent. At 18, he worked as a photographer for AFP and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He studied at an American film academy in Cebu, Philippines, and honed his skills in advertising, fiction, and documentaries in Hong Kong. In early 2020, he moved to Paris to explore new opportunities, shooting commercials for clients like Nike, Durex, and Christie’s, as well as working on various creative projects across Europe. His work emphasizes lighting and movement, inspired by his passion for Kungfu and music.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
In the bustling streets of New York City, a series of characters’ lives intertwine over the course of one day. As they navigate their overlapping existences, they are drawn into a web of mystical clues, mistaken identities, and profound connections that challenge their perceptions of reality.
Like an “exquisite corpse”, the film is composed of eight different stories by eight different writer/directors — each story beginning where the last ends, and ending where the next begins. United by the theme of ‘ILLUSION”, our film investigates the fantasies and falsehoods our characters create for themselves and others, and the distorted ways in which we comprehend the things around us.
the story:
- After being removed from the scene, a young extra tries to grasp the true meaning of background acting.
- Two women struggle to remember what they looked like before plastic surgery.
- A lost badminton shuttlecock leads a pair of young siblings on a quiet pursuit through their neighborhood in Brooklyn’s Chinatown.
- A Frank Sinatra Impersonator becomes entangled in a series of mysterious clues from a fortune-telling hotline.
- Agnes questions her friend's Ines's libertine life and in doing so, examines her own relationship with desire.
- A man mistakes a stranger for a long lost friend. By the end of the interaction, the stranger is convinced that maybe he is the long lost friend.
- A young woman attempts to record a birthday video to her mother, but her repeated attempts feel fake, insincere. A stranger sitting nearby jumps in...
- When a school girl meets a magician, she questions what is magic and what is real.
The idiosyncratic yet interconnected narrative exactly reflects the “exchange” in which we are engaging as filmmakers — a series of individuals coming together to make a whole. Our aim is to create a support system where we can inspire each other, share ideas, and grow together through community and collaboration.
All of the money raised through this campaign will go directly towards production costs -- food, transportation, equipment rentals, and permits. Your donation will go a long way ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
<3
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
food
Costs $8,000
we must feed the cast and crew!
van
Costs $3,800
we will need to rent a van for the equipment for the duration of the shoot.
gear
Costs $2,200
in addition to the gear we plan to source from friends, there are some extra bits of gear we will need to rent.
filming permits
Costs $1,000
we'll need permits to set stands down on the streets of NY.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
writers / directors:
Cade Featherstone
Cade Featherstone is a British filmmaker, who recently graduated from NYU Tisch with an MFA in Filmmaking. Prior to that, Cade was an award winning designer; having studied at Central Saint Martins. he went on to work as graphic artist for films such as THE FAVOURITE ('18) before deciding he wanted to make the movies himself. He is the recipient of the Black Family Prize for his last short Don't You Dare Film Me Now (’24), which won the Best NextGen Short award at the Nashville Film Festival ’24. He is currently in post-production on his next short ELEPHANTINE, as well as writing his first feature and making A.I. music videos in his spare time.
Ana Perromat
Ana Perromat is a French Basque screenwriter and director. She earned her MFA in Screenwriting and Directing from Columbia University in New York in 2021, following a background in literary and film studies, including a Master Degree in Film Production from INA-sup in Paris. Before transitioning to filmmaking, she worked in film sales, serving as Head of Sales at Wide and as a Sales Assistant at MK2. Perromat has written and directed several short films, including The Soft Gum Between Their Teeth, Windows and Trains, and A Successful Misunderstanding, which won the Audience Award in a competition organized by ARTE. Her short film J’ai vu l’amour was also selected for the Official Competition at Côté Courts. Alongside her latest project, Bollocks, she is currently developing a documentary feature about Emma Reyes, produced by Les Films d'Ici, a romantic comedy co-written with Asya Segalovich, and A21, a series she is writing with Mathilde Hauducoeur and Tomás Pinzón.
Ethan Mermelstein
Ethan Mermelstein is a writer/director living in Queens, New York. He's obsessed with the minutiae of social interaction, and his grounded, dark comedies explore the discomfort that surfaces when the rules we take for granted are blown apart. As a director, he pushes the boundaries of the narrative and documentary form, often blurring the lines between the two. His shorts have starred Golden Globe nominated actors, as well as his grandmother, his dentist, and a taxi driver he befriended while he was working as a hotel doorman. Ethan was the script coordinator on Girls and Nurse Jackie. His films have screened at Palm Springs ShortFest, New Hampshire Film Festival, NoBudge, Omeleto, Indie Memphis, Seattle International Film Festival, and Mammoth Lakes. His screenwriting has received recognition from the following institutions and fellowships: Panavision New Filmmakers Grant, Sloan Science Foundation, Austin Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, and CineStory. He has an MFA from Columbia University where his screenwriting received the highest distinction in the program.
Sophia Bennett Holmes
Sophia Bennett Holmes is a writer, director and cinematographer from Brooklyn, New York. She studied fine art at Cooper Union and graduated from New York University in 2024 with an MFA in film. She finds inspiration reading online forums where people wonder whether or not they're normal. Her short films have been selected for festivals such as Woodstock Film Festival, Nitehawk Shorts Festival, and the Los Angeles and London Lift Off Film Festivals. Her work has been featured on NoBudge, Pitchfork, Stereogum and more. She won the Nestor Almendros Award for Cinematography for her work on The Dalles, which debuted at Sundance 2023 in the Shorts program.
Dong-Ren Hong
Dong-Ren Hong is a Taiwanese director and editor based in NYC, working across shorts, documentaries, and feature films. His previous short film, Eighth Avenue, was officially selected for the 2024 Taipei Film Festival. As an editor, his credits include the feature Alifu, the Prince/ss, which premiered at the 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival and was nominated for the 54th Golden Horse Awards. He holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University and is currently in post-production on his latest short film, Youth Youth, while developing his first documentary feature, The Island's, a three-year exploration of psychedelic research in Taiwan.
Mathilde Hauducoeur
Mathilde Hauducoeur is a writer and director based between Paris and New York. She studied film history at Sarah Lawrence College before earning an MFA in screenwriting and directing from Columbia University. Her work explores the intricacies of female friendship and the complex performances of self that shape our relationships. Her short films Angel Wings and Open Wounds and Pillow Talk have screened internationally, including the Miami Film Festival, New Hampshire Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, NoBudge, Indy Shorts, and Mulhouse Tous Courts, where she won the Grand Jury Prize. She is currently developing her first feature with the support of Cine Qua Non Lab, and her TV project A21 (co-written with Ana Perromat and Tomás Pinzon-Lucena) was selected for the 2024 Torino Film Lab.
Asya Segalovich
Asya Segalovich grew up between Russia and the UK. In her work, she explores themes of identity, loss, and the quest for humanity, finding humor and hope in the face of adversity. She attended Camberwell College of Arts and then Central Film School, London, for her Bachelor of Arts. She continued her education in St. Petersburg attending Alexander Sokurov's workshop, and received her MFA from Columbia University in 2023. Her screenplay Beetle Baby won Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival Screenwriting Discovery Grand Prize and was selected as a semi-finalist in the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition. She was awarded the KOB Mentorship and Development Prize for her short film, Out the Window Through the Wall, which won 2nd prize of La Cinef at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024.
Marina Xarri
Marina is a French Basque filmmaker raised between Bangkok, Seoul, and Hong Kong. She holds an MFA in writing-directing from NYU Tisch, where she was named a finalist for the Wasserman King Award. Her work explores impermanence and intimacy, often through fractured ideas of home. Her films have screened at festivals such as Seoul International Eco Film Festival, New York World Film Festival, Balkan Can Kino, Tokyo Lift-Off, and more. She finds inspiration in surrealism and stories that explore the hidden lives of seemingly ordinary people.
producers:
Marina Xarri & Asya Segalovich, bobadibob films
Silvia Chen, frameless pictures
Silvia Chen is an award-winning film and television producer with over a decade of experience in the industry. She has worked on over 40 TV commercials for major brands such as Audi, Mazda, Sony, and P&G, and won the Best Music Video award at the 2019 Golden Melody Awards for her work on 'Slow / Oriental' by Sunset Rollercoaster. A Columbia University alumna with an MFA in Creative Producing, Chen has produced award-winning short films that have been featured in international festivals such as Cannes Film Festival and SXSW. Raised in Taiwan and fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English, Chen's multicultural perspective has been key to her success in international collaborations. Her latest work focuses on telling the stories of immigrant communities, showcasing her belief in the power of filmmaking to highlight our shared humanity.
Karen Madar, NoMad Productions
Karen Madar is a French filmmaker based in NYC and a dual MBA/MFA graduate from NYU Stern and Tisch School of the Arts. She is the 2024 recipient of the Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) Debra Hill Fellowship and the 2022 recipient of the Robert Oberman/Gregory Pickert Media Services Award for excellence in creative producing. She has produced over a dozen short films, including GRANDMA NAI WHO PLAYED FAVORITES by Chheangkea (2025 Sundance Jury Award for International Fiction, Rotterdam), SKIN CAN BREATHE by Chheangkea (2022 HBO Asian Pacific American Visionaries winner, streaming on Max), WASSUPKAYLEE by Pepi Ginsberg (2025 SXSW, streaming on Arte) and LET by Alyssa Loh (2024 SXSW, streaming on Short of the Week). She is currently developing Chheangkea’s debut feature film, LITTLE PHNOM PENH (Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab, MunichFilmUp, HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab, NYU Purple List).
&
Jack Auen, Audrey Chou, Mahum Jamal
cinematographer:
Safran Lecuivre
Safran Lecuivre is a cinematographer of French Guyanese and Belgian descent. At 18, he worked as a photographer for AFP and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He studied at an American film academy in Cebu, Philippines, and honed his skills in advertising, fiction, and documentaries in Hong Kong. In early 2020, he moved to Paris to explore new opportunities, shooting commercials for clients like Nike, Durex, and Christie’s, as well as working on various creative projects across Europe. His work emphasizes lighting and movement, inspired by his passion for Kungfu and music.