Having kids is a basic human right. The most fundamental human right of all. But what if the decision to have children was not up to you? What if it were actually impossible for a woman to conceive a child without a government fertility treatment? This is the issue "Etiam," a 12-15 minute short film, explores in its narrative, and an ever-pressing question in our modern society.

Sophia is a 41-year-old woman making the decision to have a child with her domestic partner. She has progressed to the final stage in the Etiam approval process: an interrogation which leaves no stone unturned in its examination of Sophia's family, history, and inner feelings. As the questions become more invasive and personal, Sophia finds herself forced to reveal painful details about her life and relationship, culminating in a confrontation with a question she fears to answer: Does she really want to be a mother?

Mehra Park plays Sophia Callas, the protagonist seeking to become a mother. Sophia is kind and gentle by nature, and the interrogation process forces her to confront elements of her life she's been trying to forget.

Mehra is a mom herself, and divides her time between Los Angeles and Seattle, where she earned a BS in public health at the University of Washington and worked in civil service before transitioning into the arts.

Jackie Freeman Vetter plays the Examiner, a cold, imposing figure who stops at nothing in her service of the Etiam Initiative. She adheres to a strict code and harbors an intense -and brutal- intolerance for those who would subvert the system. 

Jackie (she/her) is an Actor and Theatre Director based in Southwest Montana. She's recently appeared in The Videoblogs, Stole My Heart, and Hallmark Channel's Finding Love in Big Sky.

"Etiam" has a litany of important ideas packed into a brief, suspensful narrative. It's a discussion of modern topics such as personal privacy and eugenics alongside women's issues including domestic abuse and the personal and professional factors women must consider when having kids. "Etiam" wraps all of that discussion into a broader framework about population control in our day and age. We often take for granted our ability to create a family, but even today there are cases around the world where that freedom has been restricted by government. As we move further into the 21st century and face issues like climate change and the rise of genetic engineering, population control will be at the forefront of political discussion. We hope that "Etiam" can be a powerful cautionary tale going forward. 

We're launching this campaign with two months to go before our scheduled filming date. "Etiam" is designed to be shot under Covid guidelines, and due to cast and crew availability, we'll be knocking the entire project out over the course of one long Saturday. That's 16 intense pages shot in one location all at once. 

We're doing everything in our power to ensure that July 24th goes as smoothly as possible: we're conducting bi-weekly Zoom rehearsals with the two leads; we're arranging the location and fees; we're lining up crew and supply lists well ahead of schedule. As it stands, we have a solid battle plan.

But we need more resources if the project is going to succeed. We've hired a small group of talented people, and we want to pay them fairly. We also want to rent the best camera equipment that we can possibly get our hands on. Etiam is a tightly contained short- more like a play than a typical film in terms of presentation. It will be essential that the cinematography and lighting contribute in a subtle manner to the mood of the piece, maximizing the limited options present and helping make the world seem real. 

Finally, we want to insure the short in the event of a worst-possible-outcome. We're hiring a Covid Compliance Officer, and we'll be following their protocol on set, but in the event of something outside our control, we want to make sure we're protected financially. Your donation will go a long way toward making sure we're safe if something goes wrong. 

We've been working on "Etiam" for several months, and everyone involved in the project so far has been hired out of pocket over that interval. As we get closer to the shooting date, we need to come up with at least $5,000 in a much shorter amount of time. This number represents a compromise between what the set requires and what we feel we'll be able to raise from our network of supporters as a small indie project.

However! The stated $5,000 goal of this campaign is the minimum amount required to film "Etiam." Any amount we receive beyond that (our "Stretch Goal") will directly translate into acquiring better equipment and paying the cast and crew more. Everyone involved in "Etiam" so far has made concessions in order to be a part of a small project we all believe in, and any increase in our overall budget will directly benefit our group of artists!

Etiam will be a great short, and the more we receive, the more we can achieve!

Throughout the pre-production process so far, I've been asked why I want to tell this story, and there are two main reasons: 

The first is that I'm fascinated by dystopian fiction in our day and age, and a lot of my writing has to do with that subject matter. My favorite movie is Children of Men, which managed to address a variety of topics such as immigration rights, discrimination, and totalitarianism while telling a compelling sci-fi story, and I'm hoping to accomplish something similar here. The issue of population control strikes close to home as well: my family adopted my youngest sister from China, a country whose people have felt the repercussions of the One Child Policy over the past few decades. The consequences of governmental population control are broad and unpredictable, and this is a story people need to hear.

The second reason is that I want to use my voice to elevate women's stories. I have a close relationship with my mom, my sisters, and this film's producer Angelina, and I feel their perspectives are not told as often as they should be. "Etiam" discusses important issues in a mature, poignant manner, and I'm hopeful that the early praise we've received will translate into a meaningful, lasting work of film.