What happens when you commit to the wrong person? Do you stay with that person? Do you leave her knowing that your life will never be the same? We explore these questions in GASLIGHT GRAIL, a short film that follows the rise and decay of a female vampire friendship over the course of a century.
What happens when you commit to the wrong person? Do you stay with that person? Do you leave her knowing that your life will never be the same? We explore these questions in GASLIGHT GRAIL, a short film that follows the rise and decay of a female vampire friendship over the course of a century.
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Story
About The Project
What happens when you commit to the wrong person?
Do you stay with that person?
Do you leave her knowing that your life will never be the same?
We are making GASLIGHT GRAIL to explore these questions.
GASLIGHT GRAIL is about Charlotte and Amelia – two women trapped in a relationship that is both toxic and yet the only peace they have ever known. In 1916, Charlotte finds a beaten and broken human Amelia left to die outside her isolated Spanish mansion. She takes pity on Amelia and carries her inside. When Amelia awakes, Charlotte offers to save her – and give her eternal life – if Amelia agrees to one condition:
She must never leave.
Charlotte and Amelia pass the decades first as friends and then as adversaries stuck in a cage of their own making. Years later, a weary Amelia turns another soul into a vampire and slowly unravels Charlotte’s lies about eternal life.
GASLIGHT GRAIL is about relationships - specifically a female friendship. It's about how people change over time and how sometimes you have to break free from a toxic friend to become the woman you were meant to be.
By creating this story, we hope to explore the universe of women and themes of commitment, possession, and ultimately liberty.Why vampires?
Everything is more extreme in the vampire world, particularly friendships. Imagine comitting to someone, realizing that they aren't good for you, and yet being stuck with them for eternity. The stakes are higher and the characters more brutal and powerful. Vampires live in extremes and we want to see what a female friendship pushed to extremes could be like.
Speaking of friendships...
We had been friends for years, but only recently found a creative partnership since moving to Los Angeles around the same time last year. The first of many movie nights was spent with INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. We bonded over a love of vampires and female-centric films and we noticed that the two rarely coincide.
So we joined forces to create the characters we want to see on screen - multifaceted women who suck blood.
At first, it was a story about committment and later became a friendship break-up story.
It is important to us to tell a story about redemption and breaking free from unhealthy relationships. We have both found ourselves in unhealthy relationships and friendships and want to confront that territory creatively. Through this process, we hope to give voice to the part of us that stayed in those toxic relationships, and the part of us that ultimately left.
Dark Walk Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Incentives
$5
A Drop of Blood
Every drop counts! Get a shout-out on our Facebook page for helping us complete Gaslight Grail.$10
Shaft of Sunlight
You are the shining light in the long expanse of our life. Get a personalized thank-you from either Karen or Ilona!
Also Included:
Social Media Shout-Out$25
Vamp Out
Ever wonder what you'd look like as a vampire? Wait no longer! Get a personalized picture of yourself with some key vampire touches!
Also included:
Social Media Shoutout
Personal Thank You
$50
A Glimpse of the Future
A personal 3-card tarot reading, giving you a glimpse of what was, what is, and what may soon come to pass.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-Out
Personal Thank You
Vamped Out PhotoClaimed: 6 of 40
$75
Voyeur
Exclusive password-protected link to the finished film.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-OutPersonal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
$100
Vampire's Kiss
Personal video of Karen and Ilona singing (or lip syncing) your favorite sultry ballad, sealing our partnership with a kiss. ;)
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-OutPersonal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
Exclusive Online Link
$200
Let Us In
Invitation to an intimate LA Screening of the final film and cocktail party.
Also Available:
Social Media Shoutout
Personal Thank You
Vamp Out photo
Tarot Reading
Singing Video
Claimed: 1 of 20
$500
A Century of Your Life
We'll tell the story of the first century of your vampire life.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-Out
Personal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
Exclusive Online Link
Singing Video
LA Screening
Claimed: 0 of 12
$1,000
The Maker
Become an Executive Producer of Gaslight Grail and get the full vampire experience.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-Out
Personal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
Exclusive Online Link
Singing Video
LA Screening
Story of Your Vampire Life
Claimed: 0 of 6
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$5
A Drop of Blood
Every drop counts! Get a shout-out on our Facebook page for helping us complete Gaslight Grail.$10
Shaft of Sunlight
You are the shining light in the long expanse of our life. Get a personalized thank-you from either Karen or Ilona!
Also Included:
Social Media Shout-Out$25
Vamp Out
Ever wonder what you'd look like as a vampire? Wait no longer! Get a personalized picture of yourself with some key vampire touches!
Also included:
Social Media Shoutout
Personal Thank You
$50
A Glimpse of the Future
A personal 3-card tarot reading, giving you a glimpse of what was, what is, and what may soon come to pass.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-Out
Personal Thank You
Vamped Out PhotoClaimed: 6 of 40
$75
Voyeur
Exclusive password-protected link to the finished film.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-OutPersonal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
$100
Vampire's Kiss
Personal video of Karen and Ilona singing (or lip syncing) your favorite sultry ballad, sealing our partnership with a kiss. ;)
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-OutPersonal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
Exclusive Online Link
$200
Let Us In
Invitation to an intimate LA Screening of the final film and cocktail party.
Also Available:
Social Media Shoutout
Personal Thank You
Vamp Out photo
Tarot Reading
Singing Video
Claimed: 1 of 20
$500
A Century of Your Life
We'll tell the story of the first century of your vampire life.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-Out
Personal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
Exclusive Online Link
Singing Video
LA Screening
Claimed: 0 of 12
$1,000
The Maker
Become an Executive Producer of Gaslight Grail and get the full vampire experience.
Also Available:
Social Media Shout-Out
Personal Thank You
Vamp Out Photo
Tarot Reading
Exclusive Online Link
Singing Video
LA Screening
Story of Your Vampire Life
Claimed: 0 of 6
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
Karen Bacellar – Co-Writer/Director/Producer/ActorKaren Bacellar is a writer/director, who places multifaceted women at the center of her films and strives to inspire women to brace complexity. She recently co-wrote, produced, and directed a comedic web series, Shiksa Confessions, and also a produced and starred in a comedic short, Baby Powder. Her latest experimental short film, Act Like Me, premiered at NewFilmmakers NY last year. Karen also serves as LA Opera’s Content Manager, where she plans content strategy, edits the company blog, and produces promotional videos.Ilona Concetta - Producer/Actor/Co-WriterIlona Concetta is an actor/writer who takes pride in her quirk and encourages others to do thesame. She graduated from NYU Tisch’s BFA program, with a second major in psycho-linguistics. She co-founded, produced, and cast for the theater company Quirky Productions,which garnered a positive review from NY Magazine within its first year. Recent rolls include: Alice (Murder Book - Discovery ID), Prushka U/S (Sacred Fools), Ethel MayMears (Yesterday Today, lead supporting).Madeline Berger - Director of PhotographyMadeline is a cinematographer based primarily in Los Angeles and additionally in New Yorkand Philadelphia. She loves collaborating with directors to create the visual rules for a film. And as a logician and storyteller, she relishes crafting the arcs of those rules to serve the narrative as it shifts and the characters grow. She graduated magna cum laude from USC with a major in Film and Television Production.Kristin Laffey - Assistant DirectorKristen Laffey is a filmmaker living in Los Angeles. She specializes in collaborating with other young female filmmakers to bring stories to life. After graduating from NYU: Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Drama and Producing, she has done almost every job on set minus craft services; except she is very good at hanging around the craft services table. Recent credits include: Adam Devine's House Party (Comedy Central), Justice TV (Entertainment Studios), All Earthly Constraints (Feature Film) Tegan and Sara (Faint of Heart Music Video), Scatter Elsewhere (Independent Short) and most recently GARBAGE (Independent Short).Stephen Kaiser-Pendergrast – EditorStephen Kaiser-Pendergrast is a freelance editor and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. He is the director of a short film entitled ‘Weed’, which was recently licensed for web and television distribution by Shorts TV and Shorts HD. Born and raised in New Jersey, he is interested in off-kilter stories that find their emotional core in realistic human feeling and experience. -
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