Dialing Home
Chicago, Illinois | Film Short
Drama
Silvia, a lonely international ballet student, hides her struggles from her mom and buries herself in dance. A gentle conversation with Rosa, a warm-hearted elderly woman, helps her find the strength to be honest and reconnect
Dialing Home
Chicago, Illinois | Film Short
Drama
3 Campaigns | Illinois, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $2,500 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
20 supporters | followers
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Silvia, a lonely international ballet student, hides her struggles from her mom and buries herself in dance. A gentle conversation with Rosa, a warm-hearted elderly woman, helps her find the strength to be honest and reconnect
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
It is hard to settle into a new community, and for Silvia, that couldn’t be more true. As an international student, Silvia is countless hours and a completely different time zone away from anyone she knows. But her mom is paying for her to go to the school of her dreams so she sucks it up and lies about how her life in America is really going. She speaks of parties and friend groups, when in reality she drifts through empty parks, practices ballet alone, and watches as others make plans without her.
One day, while Silvia is at the worst of her self-imposed isolation, a kind old lady, Rosa, imparts her own lonely wisdom onto Silvia. It is up to Silvia to come clean with her mom about her deceptions and rid herself of a guilt she needn’t have.
Loneliness is not solved by isolation
Silvia
She is a gifted international ballet student struggling with profound homesickness. Though composed on the surface, she feels alienated—disconnected from her peers, her surroundings, and her language. Her longing for home quietly shapes every gesture, silence, and hesitation.
Rosa
An elderly woman who becomes a mirror and quiet counterpoint to Silvia’s emotional isolation—offering no answers, but presence. Their interactions, grounded in gesture rather than language, become a small but vital reprieve from the disconnection Silvia feels elsewhere.
Dialing Home matters because it gives voice to something many people carry quietly: the ache of being far from home—whether that’s a place, a culture, or a part of yourself you’re afraid of losing.
The idea came from within our team—rooted in the real challenges of navigating identity, distance, and belonging as an international student. But the heart of this story is universal. It’s about the moments we hide behind “I’m fine,” and how one honest connection can begin to shift everything.
In a world that often asks us to choose between ambition and identity, this film says: you don’t have to. You can hold onto where you came from and still move forward. You’re allowed to miss home. You’re allowed to feel lost. And you’re never as alone as you think.
That’s why this film matters—to us, and to anyone who has ever lived in that in-between space.
Dialing Home is a deeply personal story about identity, homesickness, and the quiet resilience of young adulthood. The story encapsulates the uncertainty that adulthood brings. Silvia’s journey is not a loud scream, it is a contained wound which devours Silvia inside out. As young international dancer, she navigates the isolating pressures of a new environment while trying to maintain a connection to her family.
As a director, I was drawn to the way language, silence, and physical space reflect Silvia’s internal world. Her calls with her mother as she smothers the void inside her, her solitude in the studio, even her hesitant friendship with Rosa—all reveal a layered yet truthful portrait of a girl caught between worlds; her home, a new country, and her inward world. We aimed to highlight this duality through minimalist and quiet settings, restrained performances, and a gentle visual rhythm that mirrors ballet’s discipline and beauty.
Ballet itself became a character in the film—a world of grace and control that, while beautiful, can also be intensely isolating. There’s a specific kind of solitude in ballet: the way it savagely demands perfection, yet rarely offers affirmation. Silvia’s experience in the studio is not just about movement, but about navigating unspoken hierarchies, expectations, and her own self-doubt. It’s within this silence that her yearning for connection becomes most pronounced as she tries to unchain herself from this deafening and ravaging chamber that lives inside her.
This film is for anyone who has ever felt far from home, or unsure if they belong. It doesn’t isolate anyone, as our main focus is to highlight the human experience, that which is unnerving, frightening, and uncertain. Dialing Home is a quiet reminder of our vulnerability and fragility.
Our goal is to bring Dialing Home to life with the care, quality, and authenticity this story deserves. We’re raising $6,500 to make that possible—funds that will go directly toward securing locations, feeding our cast and crew, paying our actors and dancers, and hiring a choreographer to bring the ballet sequences to life.
Every dollar helps us honor both the emotional truth of the story and the artistic discipline of ballet. With your support, we can create a film that feels just as real, vulnerable, and beautiful as the story it tells.
Dialing Home is a deeply personal story about overcoming depression and isolation that can only come to fruition with support from people like you. Your money will go towards securing the perfect venues and actors to bring our story to life. It will also go towards the transportation of equipment and feeding all of our amazing cast and crew. We all have had moments where reaching out for help is hard, but it shouldn’t be, and that is why we are asking for your help to make Dialing Home.
FOLLOW ALLONG FOR UPDATES ON OUR INSTAGRAM @dialinghomefilm
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Art Department
Costs $1,000
Helps us create a visually rich world with dancewear, décor, and meaningful props that reflect our character’s journey
Choreography & Cast Support
Costs $500
Supports fair pay for our performers and choreographer whose movement and emotion bring the story to life
Catering
Costs $500
Keeps our hardworking cast and crew energized with healthy meals and snacks during long, movement-heavy shoot days
Locations
Costs $1,000
Covers the park, dance studio, and a home that doubles as our character’s dorm — each space is vital to the story’s emotion
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
WRITER
My name is Bee Sinclair and I am a writer from Phoenix, Arizona. I have been writing stories my whole life, and wrote my first script in 7th grade. Since then, I have been writing countless scripts to further my dreams of becoming a screenwriter. Most of the ideas and scripts that I write for fun have some form of fantastical element that dissociates it from the real world, however I have loved branching out with writing new genres and creating new worlds to submerge myself within. When I’m not writing for the screen, I love helping out with production design!
PRODUCER
My name is Sarmite “Sami” Poga, and I’m originally from Riga, Latvia. I’m a producer currently based in Chicago, where I’m earning my second degree in Film and Television with a focus on Producing. What I love about producing is being part of the creative process — supporting a team, solving problems, and helping bring powerful stories to life. I’m especially drawn to projects that linger with you — stories that challenge, surprise, or quietly break your heart. I’m excited to be producing Dialing Home, a story that started with me and grew into something much bigger.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
My name is Louis Mellinand, I am from Lyon, France. I am a cinematographer in my senior year at Columbia College Chicago. What I love about being a cinematographer is the ability to create captivating films by working closely with a large group of people, where everyone can express their unique ideas. I love being able to create new worlds from scratch and engage the viewer into a new experience. Over the last 5 years, I have had the opportunity to shoot numerous short films which have won awards, as well as commercials and music videos. I am very excited to be the DP for Dialing Home!
EDITOR
My name is Ella Bizianes and I am from Louisville, KY. I am an editor in my junior year at Columbia College Chicago. I love working with the details of a film and to bring the story together in the edit. I have worked on a variety of short film projects at Columbia and enjoyed every step of the post production process. I am so excited to work with everyone and to edit Dialing Home!
LINE PRODUCER
My name is Gaelle Dalmacy and I am from Detroit, Michigan. I am a Film and Television major with a focus in Producing and I am a Junior here at Columbia. I love working on projects that I resonate with on a personal level and Dialing Home does just that. I'm so happy that I get to help bring this project to life and can't for others watch this heartfelt film.
DIRECTOR
I’m Rae Rodriguez, director of dialing home. I’m a senior and film major at CCC with a concentration in directing. Besides film, I’m a writer, visual artist, and can play the guitar, piano, and even harmonica as well. I enjoy reading about any stuff that I come across.
Ultimately, I believe that art should always hold up a mirror to its audience to reveal who they truly are when freed from perception. Unbounded. Infinite. True.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
It is hard to settle into a new community, and for Silvia, that couldn’t be more true. As an international student, Silvia is countless hours and a completely different time zone away from anyone she knows. But her mom is paying for her to go to the school of her dreams so she sucks it up and lies about how her life in America is really going. She speaks of parties and friend groups, when in reality she drifts through empty parks, practices ballet alone, and watches as others make plans without her.
One day, while Silvia is at the worst of her self-imposed isolation, a kind old lady, Rosa, imparts her own lonely wisdom onto Silvia. It is up to Silvia to come clean with her mom about her deceptions and rid herself of a guilt she needn’t have.
Loneliness is not solved by isolation
Silvia
She is a gifted international ballet student struggling with profound homesickness. Though composed on the surface, she feels alienated—disconnected from her peers, her surroundings, and her language. Her longing for home quietly shapes every gesture, silence, and hesitation.
Rosa
An elderly woman who becomes a mirror and quiet counterpoint to Silvia’s emotional isolation—offering no answers, but presence. Their interactions, grounded in gesture rather than language, become a small but vital reprieve from the disconnection Silvia feels elsewhere.
Dialing Home matters because it gives voice to something many people carry quietly: the ache of being far from home—whether that’s a place, a culture, or a part of yourself you’re afraid of losing.
The idea came from within our team—rooted in the real challenges of navigating identity, distance, and belonging as an international student. But the heart of this story is universal. It’s about the moments we hide behind “I’m fine,” and how one honest connection can begin to shift everything.
In a world that often asks us to choose between ambition and identity, this film says: you don’t have to. You can hold onto where you came from and still move forward. You’re allowed to miss home. You’re allowed to feel lost. And you’re never as alone as you think.
That’s why this film matters—to us, and to anyone who has ever lived in that in-between space.
Dialing Home is a deeply personal story about identity, homesickness, and the quiet resilience of young adulthood. The story encapsulates the uncertainty that adulthood brings. Silvia’s journey is not a loud scream, it is a contained wound which devours Silvia inside out. As young international dancer, she navigates the isolating pressures of a new environment while trying to maintain a connection to her family.
As a director, I was drawn to the way language, silence, and physical space reflect Silvia’s internal world. Her calls with her mother as she smothers the void inside her, her solitude in the studio, even her hesitant friendship with Rosa—all reveal a layered yet truthful portrait of a girl caught between worlds; her home, a new country, and her inward world. We aimed to highlight this duality through minimalist and quiet settings, restrained performances, and a gentle visual rhythm that mirrors ballet’s discipline and beauty.
Ballet itself became a character in the film—a world of grace and control that, while beautiful, can also be intensely isolating. There’s a specific kind of solitude in ballet: the way it savagely demands perfection, yet rarely offers affirmation. Silvia’s experience in the studio is not just about movement, but about navigating unspoken hierarchies, expectations, and her own self-doubt. It’s within this silence that her yearning for connection becomes most pronounced as she tries to unchain herself from this deafening and ravaging chamber that lives inside her.
This film is for anyone who has ever felt far from home, or unsure if they belong. It doesn’t isolate anyone, as our main focus is to highlight the human experience, that which is unnerving, frightening, and uncertain. Dialing Home is a quiet reminder of our vulnerability and fragility.
Our goal is to bring Dialing Home to life with the care, quality, and authenticity this story deserves. We’re raising $6,500 to make that possible—funds that will go directly toward securing locations, feeding our cast and crew, paying our actors and dancers, and hiring a choreographer to bring the ballet sequences to life.
Every dollar helps us honor both the emotional truth of the story and the artistic discipline of ballet. With your support, we can create a film that feels just as real, vulnerable, and beautiful as the story it tells.
Dialing Home is a deeply personal story about overcoming depression and isolation that can only come to fruition with support from people like you. Your money will go towards securing the perfect venues and actors to bring our story to life. It will also go towards the transportation of equipment and feeding all of our amazing cast and crew. We all have had moments where reaching out for help is hard, but it shouldn’t be, and that is why we are asking for your help to make Dialing Home.
FOLLOW ALLONG FOR UPDATES ON OUR INSTAGRAM @dialinghomefilm
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Art Department
Costs $1,000
Helps us create a visually rich world with dancewear, décor, and meaningful props that reflect our character’s journey
Choreography & Cast Support
Costs $500
Supports fair pay for our performers and choreographer whose movement and emotion bring the story to life
Catering
Costs $500
Keeps our hardworking cast and crew energized with healthy meals and snacks during long, movement-heavy shoot days
Locations
Costs $1,000
Covers the park, dance studio, and a home that doubles as our character’s dorm — each space is vital to the story’s emotion
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
WRITER
My name is Bee Sinclair and I am a writer from Phoenix, Arizona. I have been writing stories my whole life, and wrote my first script in 7th grade. Since then, I have been writing countless scripts to further my dreams of becoming a screenwriter. Most of the ideas and scripts that I write for fun have some form of fantastical element that dissociates it from the real world, however I have loved branching out with writing new genres and creating new worlds to submerge myself within. When I’m not writing for the screen, I love helping out with production design!
PRODUCER
My name is Sarmite “Sami” Poga, and I’m originally from Riga, Latvia. I’m a producer currently based in Chicago, where I’m earning my second degree in Film and Television with a focus on Producing. What I love about producing is being part of the creative process — supporting a team, solving problems, and helping bring powerful stories to life. I’m especially drawn to projects that linger with you — stories that challenge, surprise, or quietly break your heart. I’m excited to be producing Dialing Home, a story that started with me and grew into something much bigger.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
My name is Louis Mellinand, I am from Lyon, France. I am a cinematographer in my senior year at Columbia College Chicago. What I love about being a cinematographer is the ability to create captivating films by working closely with a large group of people, where everyone can express their unique ideas. I love being able to create new worlds from scratch and engage the viewer into a new experience. Over the last 5 years, I have had the opportunity to shoot numerous short films which have won awards, as well as commercials and music videos. I am very excited to be the DP for Dialing Home!
EDITOR
My name is Ella Bizianes and I am from Louisville, KY. I am an editor in my junior year at Columbia College Chicago. I love working with the details of a film and to bring the story together in the edit. I have worked on a variety of short film projects at Columbia and enjoyed every step of the post production process. I am so excited to work with everyone and to edit Dialing Home!
LINE PRODUCER
My name is Gaelle Dalmacy and I am from Detroit, Michigan. I am a Film and Television major with a focus in Producing and I am a Junior here at Columbia. I love working on projects that I resonate with on a personal level and Dialing Home does just that. I'm so happy that I get to help bring this project to life and can't for others watch this heartfelt film.
DIRECTOR
I’m Rae Rodriguez, director of dialing home. I’m a senior and film major at CCC with a concentration in directing. Besides film, I’m a writer, visual artist, and can play the guitar, piano, and even harmonica as well. I enjoy reading about any stuff that I come across.
Ultimately, I believe that art should always hold up a mirror to its audience to reveal who they truly are when freed from perception. Unbounded. Infinite. True.