Commuter
San Francisco, California | Film Short
Drama, Fantasy
Routine, burnout, disconnection, repeat. Avni's story reflects what so many people experience but rarely share or name. Commuter offers a new perspective on navigating mental health amid stifling realities and accepting change from within. If one can find it, maybe others can too.
Commuter
San Francisco, California | Film Short
Drama, Fantasy
1 Campaigns | California, United States
20 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$1,711
Goal: $10,000 for pre-production
Routine, burnout, disconnection, repeat. Avni's story reflects what so many people experience but rarely share or name. Commuter offers a new perspective on navigating mental health amid stifling realities and accepting change from within. If one can find it, maybe others can too.
Participating In
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Avni, 27, is an Indian-American woman navigating the weight of corporate burnout, depression, and cultural expectations. She is disconnected from reality and exhausted by the meaningless, repetitive cycle of work and life in San Francisco. The overbearing, loving presence of her roommate and successful older sister Mira doesn’t help either, constantly showing Avni everything she’s not. Her only time alone is spent on the train. A reminder of transience and impermanence, Avni’s daily commute lets her numb herself from reality with her headphones and snacks… until she accidentally picks up Mira’s bag of “special gummies” and a guided meditation.
By chance, Avni discovers that when she consumes the gummies, train advertisements transform into portals. Each one reflects an alluring, craved reality and an unmet desire to take up space. But they also force Avni to confront darker, inevitable truths: in the forest portal, she sees a reflection mirroring her most depressed self. In the roller skating rink, she trips and brings her partner down after denying assistance. In the rave portal, she is discreetly offered a substance… only to realize they’re her own prescription meds, a reminder of the complicated relationship she has with healing.
Mira invades Avni’s meditative subconscious in a Fortune Teller’s studio, crashing Avni back into reality. Through a complicated conversation, she reminds Avni of who she is: embrace her agency and the possibility of change, and the powers she discovered in the portals are hers to bring into reality.
While her sister never fails to introduce reality’s rude awakenings into this new, fantastical way of life, Avni must face a choice by the end: remain lost in escapist worlds, or accept the growth her mind almost always resists and decide which reality is her present. In the final moment, standing on the train packed between fellow commuters, she looks towards the ads, their invitation both uncertain and hopeful.
This project explores the experience of moving through a repetitive and transient route: feeling trapped in your own reality without knowing how to escape, change, or find hope. It's for those navigating internal and external pressures while still searching for something beyond what they see in front of them. It asks whether happiness requires escape, or if it can be found from within. This is a story I've lived through for years as a corporate worker, and one I know so many others have too.
Although we are only asking for 10K, we need more funds to finish this project. With more funds we could bring so much more of this story, its worlds, and its necessary conversations about mental health to the forefront with a higher production value. Thank you for your time and potential contribution! We know there are hundreds of other projects to fund and we are grateful for your patronage.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Animator
Costs $1,000
The animation sequences will need a seasoned professional to create Avni's turbulent inner world.
Composer
Costs $1,000
To bring the most engaging and visceral texture to Avni’s world, acomposer will be onboarded to produce music and score the film.
Editor and VFX
Costs $1,000
Organizing footage, and then making it make sense! Additonal VFX support wil be needed to make the portal sequences work.
Festival Submissions
Costs $500
What is a film with no audience? We'll need to cover a festival fees to ensure our picture gets seen by those who will be impacted by it.
Crew Meals
Costs $600
While many hands may work for free, these hands must be fed! A necessity to provide nourishment to a hardworking team on set for 5 days.
Avni - Actor
Costs $1,000
Our anxious, depressed, and lovable lead will need compensated for 5 day 12 hour days of being on camera.
Cinematographer
Costs $1,500
An expert in guerilla filmmaking to wrangle our complex train and portal sequences as well executing the film’s tone and quality.
Production Designer
Costs $1,500
Avni & Mira’s apartment, the train, and the portal locations will all need a practiced visionary designer to bring these spaces to life.
Production Design Materials
Costs $500
Avni's work items, her wardrobe, the incense in the apartment, a fortune teller's set... Many details are needed to make these spaces real.
Cinematography Materials
Costs $500
The lights, lenses, and equipment necessary to film high quality work.
Mira - Actor
Costs $750
3 days of filming the quirky, loving, and domineering sister to our lead Avni.
Location Fee
Costs $150
We'll be taking over an apartment for 3 days of design and filming this world! This fee will help cover the utlities used in the apartment.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
The Team
Not only are we working together on 'Commuter,' but we have also been hard at work on a pilot for a T.V. series called 'Out Of Office,' a farcical comedy about a failing tech startup company in San Francisco. In that non-hierarchical setting, we have shown successful creative collaboration and respect for each other. We function harmoniously and productively together and look forward to the numerous other projects in the future.
Sirisha Varigonda, Writer-Director-Producer
Sirisha is a 31-year-old Indian-American with an engineering background, currently working as a built-environment consultant, but always a writer and storyteller. Her portfolio consists of being a wardrobe lead and production design assistant to her friend's award-winning short film “(In)convenience” (2023)", animation modeler of a minute short film about robots, editor and director of an 8th-grade documentary about state budget cuts, and many technical narratives and project management reports from her 9-5.
Lukas Sarnow, Producer
Lukas has worked in film for over ten years as an actor, writer, director and producer. The feature film they wrote, directed and executive produced,The Last Day of Retrograde distributed by Gravitas Ventures, is available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Tubi and others. Currently, their animated children's feature script is in development. They are also a producer on three short films and the CEO of 'Chillers Productions,' an event planning and film production house. They hold a B.A. in Drama from Vassar College and an M.F.A. in Creative Non-fiction from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Haley Celeste Baldwin, Producer
Haley works in the film & media industry as a film producer and creative consultant out of San Francisco, CA. She also fills contract producer roles for commercial clients in the area, with an emphasis on docu-series sets, corporate media, and short films. Her latest short film (in)convenience has garnered international acclaim including Best In Show Comedy Short at Wicked Queer Boston, Audience Favorite at SF Indie, and screened at 17 festivals in 2023. Her feature film The Last Day of Retrograde garnered praise in a widespread VOD release in 2024.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Avni, 27, is an Indian-American woman navigating the weight of corporate burnout, depression, and cultural expectations. She is disconnected from reality and exhausted by the meaningless, repetitive cycle of work and life in San Francisco. The overbearing, loving presence of her roommate and successful older sister Mira doesn’t help either, constantly showing Avni everything she’s not. Her only time alone is spent on the train. A reminder of transience and impermanence, Avni’s daily commute lets her numb herself from reality with her headphones and snacks… until she accidentally picks up Mira’s bag of “special gummies” and a guided meditation.
By chance, Avni discovers that when she consumes the gummies, train advertisements transform into portals. Each one reflects an alluring, craved reality and an unmet desire to take up space. But they also force Avni to confront darker, inevitable truths: in the forest portal, she sees a reflection mirroring her most depressed self. In the roller skating rink, she trips and brings her partner down after denying assistance. In the rave portal, she is discreetly offered a substance… only to realize they’re her own prescription meds, a reminder of the complicated relationship she has with healing.
Mira invades Avni’s meditative subconscious in a Fortune Teller’s studio, crashing Avni back into reality. Through a complicated conversation, she reminds Avni of who she is: embrace her agency and the possibility of change, and the powers she discovered in the portals are hers to bring into reality.
While her sister never fails to introduce reality’s rude awakenings into this new, fantastical way of life, Avni must face a choice by the end: remain lost in escapist worlds, or accept the growth her mind almost always resists and decide which reality is her present. In the final moment, standing on the train packed between fellow commuters, she looks towards the ads, their invitation both uncertain and hopeful.
This project explores the experience of moving through a repetitive and transient route: feeling trapped in your own reality without knowing how to escape, change, or find hope. It's for those navigating internal and external pressures while still searching for something beyond what they see in front of them. It asks whether happiness requires escape, or if it can be found from within. This is a story I've lived through for years as a corporate worker, and one I know so many others have too.
Although we are only asking for 10K, we need more funds to finish this project. With more funds we could bring so much more of this story, its worlds, and its necessary conversations about mental health to the forefront with a higher production value. Thank you for your time and potential contribution! We know there are hundreds of other projects to fund and we are grateful for your patronage.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Animator
Costs $1,000
The animation sequences will need a seasoned professional to create Avni's turbulent inner world.
Composer
Costs $1,000
To bring the most engaging and visceral texture to Avni’s world, acomposer will be onboarded to produce music and score the film.
Editor and VFX
Costs $1,000
Organizing footage, and then making it make sense! Additonal VFX support wil be needed to make the portal sequences work.
Festival Submissions
Costs $500
What is a film with no audience? We'll need to cover a festival fees to ensure our picture gets seen by those who will be impacted by it.
Crew Meals
Costs $600
While many hands may work for free, these hands must be fed! A necessity to provide nourishment to a hardworking team on set for 5 days.
Avni - Actor
Costs $1,000
Our anxious, depressed, and lovable lead will need compensated for 5 day 12 hour days of being on camera.
Cinematographer
Costs $1,500
An expert in guerilla filmmaking to wrangle our complex train and portal sequences as well executing the film’s tone and quality.
Production Designer
Costs $1,500
Avni & Mira’s apartment, the train, and the portal locations will all need a practiced visionary designer to bring these spaces to life.
Production Design Materials
Costs $500
Avni's work items, her wardrobe, the incense in the apartment, a fortune teller's set... Many details are needed to make these spaces real.
Cinematography Materials
Costs $500
The lights, lenses, and equipment necessary to film high quality work.
Mira - Actor
Costs $750
3 days of filming the quirky, loving, and domineering sister to our lead Avni.
Location Fee
Costs $150
We'll be taking over an apartment for 3 days of design and filming this world! This fee will help cover the utlities used in the apartment.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
The Team
Not only are we working together on 'Commuter,' but we have also been hard at work on a pilot for a T.V. series called 'Out Of Office,' a farcical comedy about a failing tech startup company in San Francisco. In that non-hierarchical setting, we have shown successful creative collaboration and respect for each other. We function harmoniously and productively together and look forward to the numerous other projects in the future.
Sirisha Varigonda, Writer-Director-Producer
Sirisha is a 31-year-old Indian-American with an engineering background, currently working as a built-environment consultant, but always a writer and storyteller. Her portfolio consists of being a wardrobe lead and production design assistant to her friend's award-winning short film “(In)convenience” (2023)", animation modeler of a minute short film about robots, editor and director of an 8th-grade documentary about state budget cuts, and many technical narratives and project management reports from her 9-5.
Lukas Sarnow, Producer
Lukas has worked in film for over ten years as an actor, writer, director and producer. The feature film they wrote, directed and executive produced,The Last Day of Retrograde distributed by Gravitas Ventures, is available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Tubi and others. Currently, their animated children's feature script is in development. They are also a producer on three short films and the CEO of 'Chillers Productions,' an event planning and film production house. They hold a B.A. in Drama from Vassar College and an M.F.A. in Creative Non-fiction from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Haley Celeste Baldwin, Producer
Haley works in the film & media industry as a film producer and creative consultant out of San Francisco, CA. She also fills contract producer roles for commercial clients in the area, with an emphasis on docu-series sets, corporate media, and short films. Her latest short film (in)convenience has garnered international acclaim including Best In Show Comedy Short at Wicked Queer Boston, Audience Favorite at SF Indie, and screened at 17 festivals in 2023. Her feature film The Last Day of Retrograde garnered praise in a widespread VOD release in 2024.