Helga
New York City, New York | Film Short
Drama
Everyone loves the story of a discovered lost gem – that great artwork or album or film that somehow got overlooked. But what does it mean for the artist who created the work? This film explores the complex journey a singer/songwriter goes on when her so-called “lost” work is suddenly found.
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$30,920
Goal: $25,000 for production
Everyone loves the story of a discovered lost gem – that great artwork or album or film that somehow got overlooked. But what does it mean for the artist who created the work? This film explores the complex journey a singer/songwriter goes on when her so-called “lost” work is suddenly found.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
WE ARE INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL!! WE REACHED OUR PRODUCTION GOAL OF $25K IN LESS THAN 3 DAYS!!! WE ARE MAKING THIS FILM!
HERE'S WHAT WE STILL NEED TO FINISH IT: $10K FOR POST-PRODUCTION COSTS.
Your overwhelming support has given me the confidence to believe HELGA can be even bigger than I imagined! I've done it before -- made a film that stands the test of time, that still resonates with audiences decades later -- and with your support I can do it again!
But post-production is where a film finds its voice. For HELGA, a film about both music and musicians, that voice needs to sound great! We are seeking additional funds for the elements that will make this film a joy to listen to: the sound mix + sound design, the score + music licensing.
Added to that are the usual post-production costs of getting our film from rough cut to festival ready!
We need finishing funds for:
- sound mix + sound design
- music editing + original score + music licensing
- color correction
- film editing
PLEASE HELP US REACH OUR NEW STRETCH GOAL!!
Today’s the day. The long-forgotten album that Helga recorded in the ‘90’s finally drops, after languishing in a music label’s vault for three decades. Her producer from back in the day wants her to pick up and start again, as if no time has passed. Meanwhile, a young music critic asks the tough question: Exactly why did you stop singing? Before she can make sense of this new moment, Helga has to confront the heartbreak and grief that’s been unearthed too, right alongside her “lost” album.
THE CONTEXT:
Jake-ann Jones in scene from Naked Acts, 1996
Despite a positive Variety review, Naked Acts was rejected by every studio and distributor. These gatekeepers all said the same thing: “We don’t know who the audience is.” And so, Naked Acts never got a theatrical release.
Intent on preserving my work, I placed the film at Indiana University’s Black Film Center and Archive, where it languished unseen for many years until 2022, when the young curator Maya S. Cade unearthed it. Thanks to her, Naked Acts received its long-overdue distribution via Milestone Films, and in the past two years the same film originally rejected by the industry has screened in over two dozen prominent venues throughout the US and abroad, including MoMA, BAM, and British Film Institute; it has premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam as well as other global festivals; garnered critical praise; received hundreds of Letterboxd reviews; and now airs on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, and Prime Video.
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I’m thrilled that my film has been vindicated and validated as a "lost gem". But it’s a bittersweet victory. What if Naked Acts had gotten its due in its time, the first time? I might’ve been able to pursue my love of the craft with fewer barriers: I might’ve been able to make a second film.
.jpg)
Now, thirty years after Naked Acts debuted, I AM making my second film…...With your help.
My own experience has prompted me to think about all the deserving and talented yet undervalued artists out there, those who were not so much ahead of their time, but rather underappreciated in their time.
With this new film, I’m interrogating what it means to have your overlooked creative work suddenly “found”. With real-life vocalist Helga Davis cast as a version of herself, Helga addresses the excitement and sadness and hope and fear that rediscovery brings to the fore. This film asks: How do you choose between lure and reluctance?
Helga Davis is an international performance artist, vocalist, composer, actor and broadcaster who plays a version of herself in the title role. She is joined by Vernon Reid, iconic guitarist, producer, songwriter and founder of the Grammy-winning rock band Living Colour. He is co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition.
Joining the cast are Joy Brunson, best known for her roles on This is Us and Snowfall and founder of Black Girls Cinema Club; Tyler Davis Fields, actor and founder of the RE-ENBLACTOR YouTube Channel; Tayler Montague, actor and director of the award-winning short film In Sudden Darkness; and JJ Wynder-Wilkins, best known for his guest roles in The Equalizer, Gossip Girl and That Damn Michael Che show and Roundabout Theater's The Refuge Plays.
THE CREATIVE APPROACH:
This film explores what it means for an artist to walk into her own memory. How do you step back into what was, so you can step into what’s next?
The camera follows Helga, often in close up, as we witness her younger self -- on an album cover, in a music video, in intimate flashbacks -- that dissolve into her present-day life. A visual motif is a beaded curtain as metaphor for the permeable separation between past and present, which Helga can choose to hide behind, but also pull back and walk through. Throughout the film, we hear Helga’s songs from the album she recorded back in the day, as we watch her engage with old friends and new fans. This interspersing of today and yesterday is further conveyed through cutaways of ‘90s print headlines about HELGA the band, juxtaposed against today’s digital headlines; and a key object – an old-school cassette tape – becomes a container of memory that carries her past into the present. In the final moments of the film, we see the world through Helga’s POV as she looks ahead -- or is it behind?
HELGA'S WORLD:
Proud. Stubborn. Hurt. Nostalgic. Grieving. Wistful. She thought she’d moved on, but now she’s forced to confront the past everywhere she goes. Is it also the future?
TO SUPPORT:
The success of this campaign so far guarantees that we will shoot Helga this summer. With more support, we can ensure that it gets finished. Upon completion, we plan to submit the film to festivals, and seek distribution next year. We feel confident that with the momentum created both by the rediscovery of Naked Acts and the anticipation for Bridgett Davis's first film in 30 years, we can do so. Please follow the journey on our socials!
THE ARCHIVE:
IN NAKED ACTS, A BLACK ACTRESS CONFRONTS HERSELF, KAITLYN GREENIDGE, 2024, Harper’s Baazar:
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a61485325/naked-acts-bridgett-davis/
FEMALE FILMMAKERS IN FOCUS: BRIDGETT M DAVIS, MARYA E. GATES, 2024, ROGEREBERT.COM:
https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/female-filmmakers-in-focus-bridgett-m-davis
THE REDISCOVERY OF NAKED ACTS EXPANDS FILM HISTORY, RICHARD BRODY, 2024, The New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-rediscovery-of-naked-acts-expands-film-history
LETTERBOXD: NAKED ACTS REVIEWS,
https://letterboxd.com/film/naked-acts/reviews/
Thank you!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Package
Costs $5,700
Help us provide our cinematographer with the camera & lenses needed to capture the worlds of present-day and 90s Brooklyn.
Prop costs: Album cover shoot & design
Costs $1,900
This will allow us to create the band HELGA's iconic album cover!
Location Rental
Costs $4,900
To create a 90's inspired contemporary look, we need to rent key locations -- including an iconic record store and a recording studio.
Costumes & Set Design
Costs $4,500
Our film is set in both the '90s and today, which means our characters' worlds need to convey then & now!
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
BRIDGETT M. DAVIS – (WRITER/DIRECTOR)
Bridgett's work as a storyteller, whether through the lens of a camera or the pages of a book, is rooted in portraying the nuances and complexities of Black life. The rediscovery of her award-winning 1996 feature film Naked Acts has proven that stories depicting Black people’s full humanity, when told with authenticity and aesthetic rigor, do not age; they evolve. Speaking to the film’s enduring resonance, Naked Acts now airs on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, and Prime Video, and has garnered nearly 800 reviews on Letterboxd. As a prolific author, Bridgett has brought that same resonance to her books, including the best-selling memoir The World According To Fannie Davis, currently being adapted for film by Plan B Entertainment. She returns to the director’s chair after 30+ years with Helga, her new film project.
MAYA S. CADE – (PRODUCER)
Maya S. Cade is the creator and curator of the award-winning Black Film Archive, a first of its kind digital archive and the incoming president of the film distribution company Milestone Films. Milestone Films the cinematic home of Charles Burnett, Kathleen Collins, Bridgett M. Davis and numerous other film pioneers across the cinematic spectrum. The writer and curator is based in Los Angeles.
ROB FIELDS -- (PRODUCER)
Rob Fields is a marketer, art advisor, and founder of Mighty Mighty LLC. His career spans multiple industries: Rob was an associate producer on Bridgett M. Davis's feature film Naked Acts, and has marketed global brands such as IBM, Burger King, and Cadillac. As a NYC cultural institution leader, he served as the president and executive director of Weeksville Heritage Center, where he led the organization's turnaround and secured its designation as the first new member of the NYC Cultural Institutions Group in over 20 years, and was the director of the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling. Rob currently serves on the US Advisory Board of Volta Art Fair and the Board of Trustees for UnionDocs, the Center for Documentary Art.
KATRINA MONTGOMERY – (ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/PRODUCTION MANAGER)
Katrina Montgomery is an NYC-based filmmaker and the co-founder of Cool S Films. She holds an MFA in Film from Brooklyn College, where her graduate thesis film, Two of Diamonds, was a semi-finalist in the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival and was screened at the Reel Sisters Film Festival in 2024. Her short film, Saint Marks, has also received critical acclaim, winning third place in NYWIFT’s Online Shorts Festival and screened at the Queer Voices and Verdant film festivals (2023). A dedicated member of NYWIFT (New York Women in Film & Television), Katrina is a recipient of Panavision’s New Filmmaker Grant. In addition to her narrative work, she has directed several music videos for emerging indie artists, showcasing her versatile skills and creative vision.
B. MONÉT – (CREATIVE PRODUCER)
Monét is a distinguished writer and director who obtained her B.A. in English from Spelman College and an MFA in Film and Television with a concentration in writing and directing from New York University. In 2019, she became the first African American woman to direct and star in a Cadillac commercial. Additionally, she directed a branded short film, "She’s Revolutionary,” on the #MeToo founder Tarana Burke for Levi’s and Girlgaze. Differently, Monét was chosen as one of the winners of the Queen Collective in partnership with Queen Latifah, Tribeca, and P&G. Her short film Ballet After Dark is exclusively streaming on BET. Her first feature documentary, Black Girls, celebrates Black women and girlhood, featuring voices like Allyson Felix, Marley Dias, and Alex Elle, exclusively streaming on Comcast’s Black Experience on Xfinity channel, Peacock, on X1, Xumo, and Flex. Most recently, she had the opportunity to be one of the filmmakers involved in The Next Generation Narratives at Warner Brothers, where she reimagined A Star Is Born for modern audiences, exclusively streaming on MAX, allowing a new generation to connect with its timeless themes.
ALLEGRA ABRAMS – (COSTUME DESIGNER )
Allegra Abrams is a Brooklyn-based fashion and costume designer. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Fashion Institute of Technology, she was a 2021 Fashion Scholarship Fund Winner and a Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholar, debuting a gender-neutral collection at Pacsun. She has designed for Mara Hoffman and currently is a designer at Rag & Bone. Expanding into film, she has designed costumes for independent shorts, and the feature film Shifting Space. Through her work, she champions storytelling, self-expression, and meaningful dialogue.
SEBASTIEN PIERRE – (GRAPHICS DESIGNER )
Sebastien Pierre is a designer and creative director based in Brooklyn, New York. With over eight years of experience working with arts and culture organizations, his practice encompasses branding, publication, exhibition, and web design. He also maintains a collage art practice and exhibits work across NYC.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
WE ARE INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL!! WE REACHED OUR PRODUCTION GOAL OF $25K IN LESS THAN 3 DAYS!!! WE ARE MAKING THIS FILM!
HERE'S WHAT WE STILL NEED TO FINISH IT: $10K FOR POST-PRODUCTION COSTS.
Your overwhelming support has given me the confidence to believe HELGA can be even bigger than I imagined! I've done it before -- made a film that stands the test of time, that still resonates with audiences decades later -- and with your support I can do it again!
But post-production is where a film finds its voice. For HELGA, a film about both music and musicians, that voice needs to sound great! We are seeking additional funds for the elements that will make this film a joy to listen to: the sound mix + sound design, the score + music licensing.
Added to that are the usual post-production costs of getting our film from rough cut to festival ready!
We need finishing funds for:
- sound mix + sound design
- music editing + original score + music licensing
- color correction
- film editing
PLEASE HELP US REACH OUR NEW STRETCH GOAL!!
Today’s the day. The long-forgotten album that Helga recorded in the ‘90’s finally drops, after languishing in a music label’s vault for three decades. Her producer from back in the day wants her to pick up and start again, as if no time has passed. Meanwhile, a young music critic asks the tough question: Exactly why did you stop singing? Before she can make sense of this new moment, Helga has to confront the heartbreak and grief that’s been unearthed too, right alongside her “lost” album.
THE CONTEXT:
Jake-ann Jones in scene from Naked Acts, 1996
Despite a positive Variety review, Naked Acts was rejected by every studio and distributor. These gatekeepers all said the same thing: “We don’t know who the audience is.” And so, Naked Acts never got a theatrical release.
Intent on preserving my work, I placed the film at Indiana University’s Black Film Center and Archive, where it languished unseen for many years until 2022, when the young curator Maya S. Cade unearthed it. Thanks to her, Naked Acts received its long-overdue distribution via Milestone Films, and in the past two years the same film originally rejected by the industry has screened in over two dozen prominent venues throughout the US and abroad, including MoMA, BAM, and British Film Institute; it has premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam as well as other global festivals; garnered critical praise; received hundreds of Letterboxd reviews; and now airs on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, and Prime Video.
I’m thrilled that my film has been vindicated and validated as a "lost gem". But it’s a bittersweet victory. What if Naked Acts had gotten its due in its time, the first time? I might’ve been able to pursue my love of the craft with fewer barriers: I might’ve been able to make a second film.
Now, thirty years after Naked Acts debuted, I AM making my second film…...With your help.
My own experience has prompted me to think about all the deserving and talented yet undervalued artists out there, those who were not so much ahead of their time, but rather underappreciated in their time.
With this new film, I’m interrogating what it means to have your overlooked creative work suddenly “found”. With real-life vocalist Helga Davis cast as a version of herself, Helga addresses the excitement and sadness and hope and fear that rediscovery brings to the fore. This film asks: How do you choose between lure and reluctance?
Helga Davis is an international performance artist, vocalist, composer, actor and broadcaster who plays a version of herself in the title role. She is joined by Vernon Reid, iconic guitarist, producer, songwriter and founder of the Grammy-winning rock band Living Colour. He is co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition.
Joining the cast are Joy Brunson, best known for her roles on This is Us and Snowfall and founder of Black Girls Cinema Club; Tyler Davis Fields, actor and founder of the RE-ENBLACTOR YouTube Channel; Tayler Montague, actor and director of the award-winning short film In Sudden Darkness; and JJ Wynder-Wilkins, best known for his guest roles in The Equalizer, Gossip Girl and That Damn Michael Che show and Roundabout Theater's The Refuge Plays.
THE CREATIVE APPROACH:
This film explores what it means for an artist to walk into her own memory. How do you step back into what was, so you can step into what’s next?
The camera follows Helga, often in close up, as we witness her younger self -- on an album cover, in a music video, in intimate flashbacks -- that dissolve into her present-day life. A visual motif is a beaded curtain as metaphor for the permeable separation between past and present, which Helga can choose to hide behind, but also pull back and walk through. Throughout the film, we hear Helga’s songs from the album she recorded back in the day, as we watch her engage with old friends and new fans. This interspersing of today and yesterday is further conveyed through cutaways of ‘90s print headlines about HELGA the band, juxtaposed against today’s digital headlines; and a key object – an old-school cassette tape – becomes a container of memory that carries her past into the present. In the final moments of the film, we see the world through Helga’s POV as she looks ahead -- or is it behind?
HELGA'S WORLD:
Proud. Stubborn. Hurt. Nostalgic. Grieving. Wistful. She thought she’d moved on, but now she’s forced to confront the past everywhere she goes. Is it also the future?
TO SUPPORT:
The success of this campaign so far guarantees that we will shoot Helga this summer. With more support, we can ensure that it gets finished. Upon completion, we plan to submit the film to festivals, and seek distribution next year. We feel confident that with the momentum created both by the rediscovery of Naked Acts and the anticipation for Bridgett Davis's first film in 30 years, we can do so. Please follow the journey on our socials!
THE ARCHIVE:
IN NAKED ACTS, A BLACK ACTRESS CONFRONTS HERSELF, KAITLYN GREENIDGE, 2024, Harper’s Baazar:
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a61485325/naked-acts-bridgett-davis/
FEMALE FILMMAKERS IN FOCUS: BRIDGETT M DAVIS, MARYA E. GATES, 2024, ROGEREBERT.COM:
https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/female-filmmakers-in-focus-bridgett-m-davis
THE REDISCOVERY OF NAKED ACTS EXPANDS FILM HISTORY, RICHARD BRODY, 2024, The New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/the-rediscovery-of-naked-acts-expands-film-history
LETTERBOXD: NAKED ACTS REVIEWS,
https://letterboxd.com/film/naked-acts/reviews/
Thank you!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Package
Costs $5,700
Help us provide our cinematographer with the camera & lenses needed to capture the worlds of present-day and 90s Brooklyn.
Prop costs: Album cover shoot & design
Costs $1,900
This will allow us to create the band HELGA's iconic album cover!
Location Rental
Costs $4,900
To create a 90's inspired contemporary look, we need to rent key locations -- including an iconic record store and a recording studio.
Costumes & Set Design
Costs $4,500
Our film is set in both the '90s and today, which means our characters' worlds need to convey then & now!
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
BRIDGETT M. DAVIS – (WRITER/DIRECTOR)
Bridgett's work as a storyteller, whether through the lens of a camera or the pages of a book, is rooted in portraying the nuances and complexities of Black life. The rediscovery of her award-winning 1996 feature film Naked Acts has proven that stories depicting Black people’s full humanity, when told with authenticity and aesthetic rigor, do not age; they evolve. Speaking to the film’s enduring resonance, Naked Acts now airs on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, and Prime Video, and has garnered nearly 800 reviews on Letterboxd. As a prolific author, Bridgett has brought that same resonance to her books, including the best-selling memoir The World According To Fannie Davis, currently being adapted for film by Plan B Entertainment. She returns to the director’s chair after 30+ years with Helga, her new film project.
MAYA S. CADE – (PRODUCER)
Maya S. Cade is the creator and curator of the award-winning Black Film Archive, a first of its kind digital archive and the incoming president of the film distribution company Milestone Films. Milestone Films the cinematic home of Charles Burnett, Kathleen Collins, Bridgett M. Davis and numerous other film pioneers across the cinematic spectrum. The writer and curator is based in Los Angeles.
ROB FIELDS -- (PRODUCER)
Rob Fields is a marketer, art advisor, and founder of Mighty Mighty LLC. His career spans multiple industries: Rob was an associate producer on Bridgett M. Davis's feature film Naked Acts, and has marketed global brands such as IBM, Burger King, and Cadillac. As a NYC cultural institution leader, he served as the president and executive director of Weeksville Heritage Center, where he led the organization's turnaround and secured its designation as the first new member of the NYC Cultural Institutions Group in over 20 years, and was the director of the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling. Rob currently serves on the US Advisory Board of Volta Art Fair and the Board of Trustees for UnionDocs, the Center for Documentary Art.
KATRINA MONTGOMERY – (ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/PRODUCTION MANAGER)
Katrina Montgomery is an NYC-based filmmaker and the co-founder of Cool S Films. She holds an MFA in Film from Brooklyn College, where her graduate thesis film, Two of Diamonds, was a semi-finalist in the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival and was screened at the Reel Sisters Film Festival in 2024. Her short film, Saint Marks, has also received critical acclaim, winning third place in NYWIFT’s Online Shorts Festival and screened at the Queer Voices and Verdant film festivals (2023). A dedicated member of NYWIFT (New York Women in Film & Television), Katrina is a recipient of Panavision’s New Filmmaker Grant. In addition to her narrative work, she has directed several music videos for emerging indie artists, showcasing her versatile skills and creative vision.
B. MONÉT – (CREATIVE PRODUCER)
Monét is a distinguished writer and director who obtained her B.A. in English from Spelman College and an MFA in Film and Television with a concentration in writing and directing from New York University. In 2019, she became the first African American woman to direct and star in a Cadillac commercial. Additionally, she directed a branded short film, "She’s Revolutionary,” on the #MeToo founder Tarana Burke for Levi’s and Girlgaze. Differently, Monét was chosen as one of the winners of the Queen Collective in partnership with Queen Latifah, Tribeca, and P&G. Her short film Ballet After Dark is exclusively streaming on BET. Her first feature documentary, Black Girls, celebrates Black women and girlhood, featuring voices like Allyson Felix, Marley Dias, and Alex Elle, exclusively streaming on Comcast’s Black Experience on Xfinity channel, Peacock, on X1, Xumo, and Flex. Most recently, she had the opportunity to be one of the filmmakers involved in The Next Generation Narratives at Warner Brothers, where she reimagined A Star Is Born for modern audiences, exclusively streaming on MAX, allowing a new generation to connect with its timeless themes.
ALLEGRA ABRAMS – (COSTUME DESIGNER )
Allegra Abrams is a Brooklyn-based fashion and costume designer. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Fashion Institute of Technology, she was a 2021 Fashion Scholarship Fund Winner and a Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholar, debuting a gender-neutral collection at Pacsun. She has designed for Mara Hoffman and currently is a designer at Rag & Bone. Expanding into film, she has designed costumes for independent shorts, and the feature film Shifting Space. Through her work, she champions storytelling, self-expression, and meaningful dialogue.
SEBASTIEN PIERRE – (GRAPHICS DESIGNER )
Sebastien Pierre is a designer and creative director based in Brooklyn, New York. With over eight years of experience working with arts and culture organizations, his practice encompasses branding, publication, exhibition, and web design. He also maintains a collage art practice and exhibits work across NYC.