He Loves Me
New York City, New York | Film Short
Comedy, Drama
Iris is locked out of her apartment by her jealous boyfriend and desperate to find a bathroom. She scrambles around for a place of relief and is forced to confront the reality that her relationship is not serving even her most basic needs.
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$7,509
Goal: $15,000 for post-production
Iris is locked out of her apartment by her jealous boyfriend and desperate to find a bathroom. She scrambles around for a place of relief and is forced to confront the reality that her relationship is not serving even her most basic needs.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Synopsis
When Iris wakes up in her car after a rowdy office party, she is anxious to return to her apartment only to find that her jealous boyfriend has locked her out. Desperate to find a bathroom, she scrambles around her Brooklyn neighborhood to find a place to pee.
After a series of mishaps the owner of a chinese takeout restaurant takes her in. The owner’s son comes to her aide with a much needed change of clothes and change of perspective when he challenges her to explain the events of the morning.
HUH?
Living in New York often feels like being in a dysfunctional relationship—sky-high rents, cramped spaces, and distant friends—but it’s not all bad, and we endure it because there is nowhere else like it.
In our story, Iris’s relationship with Derek feels like a microcosm of her relationship to New York at large. As she wanders through Brooklyn, desperate to meet a basic human need, the city confronts her with obstacle after obstacle. Nearing total humiliation, she is saved by the unexpected kindness of a stranger.
That, to us, is also New York—not just the chaos and the grind, but the unexpected grace and humanity that emerges from it. We hope this film inspires viewers to reflect on their own needs and the ways in which our environment mirrors or challenges those needs—ultimately, evoking a deeper understanding of our shared human experience.
Budget & Timeline
We put together an amazing crew and shot the film but we still have a ways to go. We are raising funds to get us through post and recoup some of the debt we racked up during production. We need your help to bring this film to audiences! The funds raised will go towards:
16mm scanning
editing
sound design and mixing
ADR
color grading
securing music rights
film festival expenses
As well as cover some of our debts incurred from production costs.
This project is the culmination of our years working in the industry and represents a new stage of expressing our own creative voices. Inspired by experiences during our years becoming New Yorkers - that sometimes feel like rites of passages: getting locked out of your apartment, moving in with someone you probably shouldn’t have, and yes, public urination.
With your support, we can bring this intimate, fun, and quietly urgent story to life and share it with audiences on the festival circuit and beyond.
If this campaign is successful, we are planning to complete post production by the end of February 2026, which would put us on track to begin submitting to festivals soon thereafter. We are planning to publicly release the film in Spring 2027 after its festival run.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Production Debt
Costs $8,000
Would be used to pay off some of our debts accumulated during production
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Co-Director/Co-writers
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JANE JI and JACKSON SEGARS first met at a high school filmmaking summer camp. Fate reunited them at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where they were both pursuing their undergraduate studies in the Film & TV program.
Over the years, they have collaborated on many different films, notably on Jackson’s previous short Kimchi (SXSW 2018), and as producers on Neo Sora’s 2020 short The Chicken (Locarno 2020).
Jackson works in New York as a freelance editor and filmmaker. He is a co-founder at Video Horse Films. Jane has extensive credits in the art department, and has just completed a graduate screenwriting program at London College of Communications.
He Loves Me marks a new chapter in their work together as co-writers and co-directors, a welcome progression to their friendship and collaboration.
Producer
Raven is a Brooklyn based freelance film producer with strong roots in New York indie filmmaking.
She has produced a wide variety of projects from commercials for Chase, Nike, Equinox, Crown Royal and eBay to short films that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and Rotterdam International Film Festival. Her video projects have screened at MoMA and the Whitney Biennial.
Most recently, she acted as production supervisor on the A24 Oscar nominated film “Sing Sing” and is a producer on the upcoming film “On the End” starring Tim Blake Nelson. This film screened as a part of the industry selects program at TIFF 2025, and premiered at Hamptons International Film Festival this fall. It has also played at Newport Beach, Woodstock and Santa Barbara International Film Festivals as it continues its festival run.
Cast - Iris
Rising star Kit Zauhar is a writer/director/actor from Philadelphia currently living and working in New York. Her feature films Actual People and This Closeness established her as a formidable talent and found international acclaim at festivals like Locarno and SXSW. She is currently in pre-production on her next feature, an adaptation of Sheila Heti’s novel How Should A Person Be?.
& many other awesome members of our cast and crew whose work we are excited to share!
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Synopsis
When Iris wakes up in her car after a rowdy office party, she is anxious to return to her apartment only to find that her jealous boyfriend has locked her out. Desperate to find a bathroom, she scrambles around her Brooklyn neighborhood to find a place to pee.
After a series of mishaps the owner of a chinese takeout restaurant takes her in. The owner’s son comes to her aide with a much needed change of clothes and change of perspective when he challenges her to explain the events of the morning.
HUH?
Living in New York often feels like being in a dysfunctional relationship—sky-high rents, cramped spaces, and distant friends—but it’s not all bad, and we endure it because there is nowhere else like it.
In our story, Iris’s relationship with Derek feels like a microcosm of her relationship to New York at large. As she wanders through Brooklyn, desperate to meet a basic human need, the city confronts her with obstacle after obstacle. Nearing total humiliation, she is saved by the unexpected kindness of a stranger.
That, to us, is also New York—not just the chaos and the grind, but the unexpected grace and humanity that emerges from it. We hope this film inspires viewers to reflect on their own needs and the ways in which our environment mirrors or challenges those needs—ultimately, evoking a deeper understanding of our shared human experience.
Budget & Timeline
We put together an amazing crew and shot the film but we still have a ways to go. We are raising funds to get us through post and recoup some of the debt we racked up during production. We need your help to bring this film to audiences! The funds raised will go towards:
16mm scanning
editing
sound design and mixing
ADR
color grading
securing music rights
film festival expenses
As well as cover some of our debts incurred from production costs.
This project is the culmination of our years working in the industry and represents a new stage of expressing our own creative voices. Inspired by experiences during our years becoming New Yorkers - that sometimes feel like rites of passages: getting locked out of your apartment, moving in with someone you probably shouldn’t have, and yes, public urination.
With your support, we can bring this intimate, fun, and quietly urgent story to life and share it with audiences on the festival circuit and beyond.
If this campaign is successful, we are planning to complete post production by the end of February 2026, which would put us on track to begin submitting to festivals soon thereafter. We are planning to publicly release the film in Spring 2027 after its festival run.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Production Debt
Costs $8,000
Would be used to pay off some of our debts accumulated during production
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Co-Director/Co-writers
JANE JI and JACKSON SEGARS first met at a high school filmmaking summer camp. Fate reunited them at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where they were both pursuing their undergraduate studies in the Film & TV program.
Over the years, they have collaborated on many different films, notably on Jackson’s previous short Kimchi (SXSW 2018), and as producers on Neo Sora’s 2020 short The Chicken (Locarno 2020).
Jackson works in New York as a freelance editor and filmmaker. He is a co-founder at Video Horse Films. Jane has extensive credits in the art department, and has just completed a graduate screenwriting program at London College of Communications.
He Loves Me marks a new chapter in their work together as co-writers and co-directors, a welcome progression to their friendship and collaboration.
Producer
Raven is a Brooklyn based freelance film producer with strong roots in New York indie filmmaking.
She has produced a wide variety of projects from commercials for Chase, Nike, Equinox, Crown Royal and eBay to short films that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, and Rotterdam International Film Festival. Her video projects have screened at MoMA and the Whitney Biennial.
Most recently, she acted as production supervisor on the A24 Oscar nominated film “Sing Sing” and is a producer on the upcoming film “On the End” starring Tim Blake Nelson. This film screened as a part of the industry selects program at TIFF 2025, and premiered at Hamptons International Film Festival this fall. It has also played at Newport Beach, Woodstock and Santa Barbara International Film Festivals as it continues its festival run.
Cast - Iris
Rising star Kit Zauhar is a writer/director/actor from Philadelphia currently living and working in New York. Her feature films Actual People and This Closeness established her as a formidable talent and found international acclaim at festivals like Locarno and SXSW. She is currently in pre-production on her next feature, an adaptation of Sheila Heti’s novel How Should A Person Be?.
& many other awesome members of our cast and crew whose work we are excited to share!