Lavender Claws
New York City, New York | Film Short
Horror
A gifted teenager spirals under grief and life’s crushing blows as his unstable father resurfaces, demanding custody, awakening his mother’s protection from beyond the grave.
Lavender Claws
New York City, New York | Film Short
Horror
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
21 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$1,950
Goal: $25,000 for production
A gifted teenager spirals under grief and life’s crushing blows as his unstable father resurfaces, demanding custody, awakening his mother’s protection from beyond the grave.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
*Temporary campaign artwork was created with AI assistance under the filmmaker's creative direction.
The Lavender Claws title, logo, and tagline are not AI-generated.
Silence can appear as protection, but its consequences haunt us for generations.
After the death of their beloved mother, two brothers cling to each other in a world closing in. Bills mount, grief lingers, and danger circles their door. A dangerously unstable, faith-obsessed father resurfaces, claiming divine authority to reclaim his son. His presence twists righteousness into threat, shattering the divide between the living and the dead. Refusing to rest, their mother returns, her love burning into fury. As her power transforms the youngest, the worlds of mother and father collapse into one.
*references The Walking Dead, Juice, and The Walking Dead (comic books).
Inside the World of Lavender Claws
Where love, fear, and faith share the same walls. In intimate spaces, and the restless pulse of Brooklyn streets.
Every corner carries memory, every silence hums with her presence, blurring the line between safety and haunting. This world is both sacred and dangerous. Where a home can heal or harm, and even the air remembers.
Lavender Claws is an intimate psychological arthouse horror story about grief, survival, domestic violence, mental health, and a mother’s protection.
Through the eyes of Kyro, we follow a gifted teenager struggling to navigate loss, family instability, and the weight of perseverance that is instinctually placed on him. The story shows how mental health struggles and unspoken pain define identities, survival mechanisms, and the bonds that persistent families cling to in the face of grief and love that travels throughout generations.
At it’s core, Lavender Claws asks:
What happens when silence becomes a survival mechanism in the youth?
What wounds are we carrying from those who came before us?
And how far will the spirit go to protect what the world keeps breaking, and the cost of finally breaking that silence?
Many families are dealing with the issues that Lavender Claws speaks to. Generational healing continues to evolve, yet many of these experiences remain hidden behind silence, stigma, and survival.
It is especially important for young people in marginalized communities who are often taught to endure quietly, where emotional numbness becomes a survival strategy, and vulnerability is mistaken for weakness. Too often, survival is seen as strength.
At the same time, people are seeking stories that are authentic and while challenging the traditional one-dimensional archetypes. We continue to expand on who gets to exist at the center of horror storytelling and whose experiences are worthy of being seen.
Horror is one of the most powerful spaces for showcasing these social realities through an emotional lens. As highlighted in the 2019 documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, Black creators have helped shape the genre for generations, even when their stories were not always front and center or fully recognized.
Lavender Claws joins that ongoing conversation through this intimate story of generational pain and grief within this family that has lasting effects.
Now is the time for stories that challenge silence, expand representation, and remind us that healing often begins when hidden truths are finally brought into the light.
We’re not just a horror story. This is healing. Visibility. Truth.
Why Me
I enjoy creating stories where the spiritual and the real collide. Rooted in my Trinidadian lineage and guided by the Brooklyn grit of the late 80s, I found my voice through ancestry, memory, and a deep empathy for the hardest parts of being human.
There has always been a magnetic pull to the unseen how grief, love, and memory linger long after a presence has left. I personally know these feelings and how the ghosts people tend to carry can be both a burden and a blessing.
Blending psychological horror with emotional realism through a supernatural lens not only excites me, but reflects the kind of storytelling I am most passionate about. This perspective allows me to take a closer look at generational wounds, the ways love and trauma coexist, and how their presence can linger within a home, a family, or even a body.
This story is an offering to my ancestors, to the silenced, and to those who understand that even in darkness, love insists on being seen.
Lavender Claws is currently in pre-production. The screenplay has gone through multiple rounds of revisions and mentorship, key creative collaborators are attached, and we are preparing for principal photography.
Funds raised through this campaign will help secure cast, crew, locations, equipment, insurance, and post-production resources needed to bring the film to life.
Where Your Support Goes
Additional funding will continue to be pursued through grants, fiscal sponsorship, and other fundraising opportunities to support the completion and distribution of Lavender Claws.
What we're raising here on Seed&Spark campaign supports the production phase of Lavender Claws, including:
- Cast & Crew Leadership (actors, producer, director)
- Production Expenses (crew, camera, sound, locations, production design, props, wardrobe, meals, and production operations)
- Marketing, Legal & Insurance
- Contingency
Lavender Claws Production:
3–4 Day Principal Shoot Late Summer 2026
Brooklyn & Queens Locations
Professional Cast & Crew
SAG-AFTRA Short Project Agreement
Practical Effects, Stunt Coordination & Production Safety Measures
Mental Health Consultant Support
STRETCH GOALS & IMPACT
$25,000 — Production Goal Reached
Supports cast, crew, locations, equipment, insurance, and contingency costs.
$35,000 — Production Gap Reduced
Helps close remaining budget needs and strengthens post-production resources.
$45,000 — Post-Production & Festival Launch
Supports editing, sound design, color, music, festival submissions, and launch materials.
$50,000 — Fully Funded Film Budget
Allows Lavender Claws to be completed as planned and positioned for a strong festival run.
$60,000+ — Audience Impact & Distribution
Supports audience outreach, community screenings, accessibility efforts, and distribution preparation.
You are now part of the RITUAL.
If this story resonates with you, we invite you to share a memory, name, message, truth, or burden you're ready to release. Written messages and voice recordings are welcome and can remain private by email at: [email protected].
SILENCE IS FORBIDDEN.
Thank you for helping us break the SILENCE.
Follow our journey on Seed & Spark and on Instagram @lavenderclaws_short
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Package (Arri Alexa Mini)
Costs $3,000
Performs well in difficult interior lighting and small spaces. Excellent for dark, atmospheric imagery and beautiful rendering of skin tones
Stunt Coordinator
Costs $3,500
Ensures all physical action is safely planned, rehearsed, and executed in compliance with our SAG-SPA agreement.
Locations
Costs $2,000
Helps secure the intimate home, school, park, and exterior spaces where this story unfolds
Meals & Craft Services
Costs $2,000
Keeps cast and crew fed, energized, and focused throughout production.
Hair, Makeup & Special Effects Team
Costs $1,300
Creates realistic bruises, wounds, character styling, and supernatural makeup effects essential to the story.
Wardrobe
Costs $500
Supports the purchase of clothing and costume pieces that help define our characters on screen
Art Department: Set Design & Props
Costs $2,200
Supports the production designer, set dressing, and meaningful props that deepen the visual world of Lavender Claws.
Lead Cast & Crew Leadership
Costs $9,500
Supports the lead talent and creative leadership team, including the director and producer.
Insurance
Costs $1,000
Protects the production, locations, cast, crew, and equipment throughout filming.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Jennifer Dottin-Rossi is a Brooklyn raised filmmaker rooted in a lineage of Trinidadian women who move through the world with words, spirit, and inherited memory. A teenage mother turned filmmaker, she brings lived, layered experience to the screen through storytelling that is gentle yet visceral, centering underrepresented voices. A co-producer and cinematographer with Meliki Hurd Entertainment LLC, her work includes Dipshits, Vampires in Brooklyn, 8:17 in Richland, Desdemona, and Outta My Mind, a semifinalist at the Paris International Short Film Festival. Her writing credits include the short Lavender Claws and the feature Pedaling Pursuants, which earned her selection into Stowe Story Labs 2023.
Alicia (Lee) Slimmer is an award-winning filmmaker. Her debut feature film, Creedmoria, won over a dozen awards, including the Jury Prize for Best Feature Comedy at Cinequest, Audience Favorite at the Brooklyn Film Festival, and the Industry Choice Award at Dances With Films. Lee is currently working on her next feature, It’s All Relative starring Karen Allen. Her indie approach has been highlighted in multiple publications, including The Wall Street Journal, and The Hollywood Reporter. Lee is a contributing writer to Thrive Global, a member of Film Fatales, and runs a monthly writing group. Creedmoria is available on Amazon Prime.
RaShad Frett is an award-winning Caribbean American filmmaker based in New York City. After serving as a U.S. Army combat medic and experiencing 9/11, he committed fully to storytelling as a means of social impact. He earned his MFA from NYU Tisch’s Graduate Film Program and has received honors including BAFTA-HBO, Martin Scorsese Young Filmmakers, DGA Student Film, Spike Lee Production Fellowship, and Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative. His Oscar-qualifying short Ricky premiered at Sundance, and his debut feature won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Margaret Verghese has worked across nearly every facet of the Art Department since beginning her career in film and television, most recently specializing in Set Decoration. From a young age, she has been deeply intrigued by how arrangement, color, and light shape the emotional understanding of a space. With a strong reverence for storytelling, Margaret translates concepts into texture, palette, and object placement to deepen character and narrative. A former Propmaster, she believes every object a character touches becomes a talisman, drawing viewers further into the story. Her credits include Smile 2, Poker Face, Unspeakable: The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey, Skin, I Know This Much Is.
Meliki Hurd is a Brooklyn born actor, filmmaker, and musician whose work is anchored in storytelling across performance and original work. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, he trained at various acting studios throughout his career and studied musical theater and drama at the Professional Performing Arts School. At 12, he made his Broadway debut in Matilda the Musical and joined the production’s first national tour. His credits include The Equalizer, The Last O.G., The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Netflix Film Club’s Home, and Cracked, the 2021 NYU Wasserman second place winner. In addition to acting, Meliki has created his own body of work through the YouTube mini series Dipshits, short films, music videos, and three albums: Golden Boy (2022), More Alive Than Ever (2023), and Golden Scars (2026). His short film/music video Outta My Mind was a semifinalist at the 2023 Paris International Short Festival and received an honorable mention from the 2023 One Reeler Short Film Competition.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
*Temporary campaign artwork was created with AI assistance under the filmmaker's creative direction.
The Lavender Claws title, logo, and tagline are not AI-generated.
Silence can appear as protection, but its consequences haunt us for generations.
After the death of their beloved mother, two brothers cling to each other in a world closing in. Bills mount, grief lingers, and danger circles their door. A dangerously unstable, faith-obsessed father resurfaces, claiming divine authority to reclaim his son. His presence twists righteousness into threat, shattering the divide between the living and the dead. Refusing to rest, their mother returns, her love burning into fury. As her power transforms the youngest, the worlds of mother and father collapse into one.
*references The Walking Dead, Juice, and The Walking Dead (comic books).
Inside the World of Lavender Claws
Where love, fear, and faith share the same walls. In intimate spaces, and the restless pulse of Brooklyn streets.
Every corner carries memory, every silence hums with her presence, blurring the line between safety and haunting. This world is both sacred and dangerous. Where a home can heal or harm, and even the air remembers.
Lavender Claws is an intimate psychological arthouse horror story about grief, survival, domestic violence, mental health, and a mother’s protection.
Through the eyes of Kyro, we follow a gifted teenager struggling to navigate loss, family instability, and the weight of perseverance that is instinctually placed on him. The story shows how mental health struggles and unspoken pain define identities, survival mechanisms, and the bonds that persistent families cling to in the face of grief and love that travels throughout generations.
At it’s core, Lavender Claws asks:
What happens when silence becomes a survival mechanism in the youth?
What wounds are we carrying from those who came before us?
And how far will the spirit go to protect what the world keeps breaking, and the cost of finally breaking that silence?
Many families are dealing with the issues that Lavender Claws speaks to. Generational healing continues to evolve, yet many of these experiences remain hidden behind silence, stigma, and survival.
It is especially important for young people in marginalized communities who are often taught to endure quietly, where emotional numbness becomes a survival strategy, and vulnerability is mistaken for weakness. Too often, survival is seen as strength.
At the same time, people are seeking stories that are authentic and while challenging the traditional one-dimensional archetypes. We continue to expand on who gets to exist at the center of horror storytelling and whose experiences are worthy of being seen.
Horror is one of the most powerful spaces for showcasing these social realities through an emotional lens. As highlighted in the 2019 documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, Black creators have helped shape the genre for generations, even when their stories were not always front and center or fully recognized.
Lavender Claws joins that ongoing conversation through this intimate story of generational pain and grief within this family that has lasting effects.
Now is the time for stories that challenge silence, expand representation, and remind us that healing often begins when hidden truths are finally brought into the light.
We’re not just a horror story. This is healing. Visibility. Truth.
Why Me
I enjoy creating stories where the spiritual and the real collide. Rooted in my Trinidadian lineage and guided by the Brooklyn grit of the late 80s, I found my voice through ancestry, memory, and a deep empathy for the hardest parts of being human.
There has always been a magnetic pull to the unseen how grief, love, and memory linger long after a presence has left. I personally know these feelings and how the ghosts people tend to carry can be both a burden and a blessing.
Blending psychological horror with emotional realism through a supernatural lens not only excites me, but reflects the kind of storytelling I am most passionate about. This perspective allows me to take a closer look at generational wounds, the ways love and trauma coexist, and how their presence can linger within a home, a family, or even a body.
This story is an offering to my ancestors, to the silenced, and to those who understand that even in darkness, love insists on being seen.
Lavender Claws is currently in pre-production. The screenplay has gone through multiple rounds of revisions and mentorship, key creative collaborators are attached, and we are preparing for principal photography.
Funds raised through this campaign will help secure cast, crew, locations, equipment, insurance, and post-production resources needed to bring the film to life.
Where Your Support Goes
Additional funding will continue to be pursued through grants, fiscal sponsorship, and other fundraising opportunities to support the completion and distribution of Lavender Claws.
What we're raising here on Seed&Spark campaign supports the production phase of Lavender Claws, including:
- Cast & Crew Leadership (actors, producer, director)
- Production Expenses (crew, camera, sound, locations, production design, props, wardrobe, meals, and production operations)
- Marketing, Legal & Insurance
- Contingency
Lavender Claws Production:
3–4 Day Principal Shoot Late Summer 2026
Brooklyn & Queens Locations
Professional Cast & Crew
SAG-AFTRA Short Project Agreement
Practical Effects, Stunt Coordination & Production Safety Measures
Mental Health Consultant Support
STRETCH GOALS & IMPACT
$25,000 — Production Goal Reached
Supports cast, crew, locations, equipment, insurance, and contingency costs.
$35,000 — Production Gap Reduced
Helps close remaining budget needs and strengthens post-production resources.
$45,000 — Post-Production & Festival Launch
Supports editing, sound design, color, music, festival submissions, and launch materials.
$50,000 — Fully Funded Film Budget
Allows Lavender Claws to be completed as planned and positioned for a strong festival run.
$60,000+ — Audience Impact & Distribution
Supports audience outreach, community screenings, accessibility efforts, and distribution preparation.
You are now part of the RITUAL.
If this story resonates with you, we invite you to share a memory, name, message, truth, or burden you're ready to release. Written messages and voice recordings are welcome and can remain private by email at: [email protected].
SILENCE IS FORBIDDEN.
Thank you for helping us break the SILENCE.
Follow our journey on Seed & Spark and on Instagram @lavenderclaws_short
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Camera Package (Arri Alexa Mini)
Costs $3,000
Performs well in difficult interior lighting and small spaces. Excellent for dark, atmospheric imagery and beautiful rendering of skin tones
Stunt Coordinator
Costs $3,500
Ensures all physical action is safely planned, rehearsed, and executed in compliance with our SAG-SPA agreement.
Locations
Costs $2,000
Helps secure the intimate home, school, park, and exterior spaces where this story unfolds
Meals & Craft Services
Costs $2,000
Keeps cast and crew fed, energized, and focused throughout production.
Hair, Makeup & Special Effects Team
Costs $1,300
Creates realistic bruises, wounds, character styling, and supernatural makeup effects essential to the story.
Wardrobe
Costs $500
Supports the purchase of clothing and costume pieces that help define our characters on screen
Art Department: Set Design & Props
Costs $2,200
Supports the production designer, set dressing, and meaningful props that deepen the visual world of Lavender Claws.
Lead Cast & Crew Leadership
Costs $9,500
Supports the lead talent and creative leadership team, including the director and producer.
Insurance
Costs $1,000
Protects the production, locations, cast, crew, and equipment throughout filming.
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Jennifer Dottin-Rossi is a Brooklyn raised filmmaker rooted in a lineage of Trinidadian women who move through the world with words, spirit, and inherited memory. A teenage mother turned filmmaker, she brings lived, layered experience to the screen through storytelling that is gentle yet visceral, centering underrepresented voices. A co-producer and cinematographer with Meliki Hurd Entertainment LLC, her work includes Dipshits, Vampires in Brooklyn, 8:17 in Richland, Desdemona, and Outta My Mind, a semifinalist at the Paris International Short Film Festival. Her writing credits include the short Lavender Claws and the feature Pedaling Pursuants, which earned her selection into Stowe Story Labs 2023.
Alicia (Lee) Slimmer is an award-winning filmmaker. Her debut feature film, Creedmoria, won over a dozen awards, including the Jury Prize for Best Feature Comedy at Cinequest, Audience Favorite at the Brooklyn Film Festival, and the Industry Choice Award at Dances With Films. Lee is currently working on her next feature, It’s All Relative starring Karen Allen. Her indie approach has been highlighted in multiple publications, including The Wall Street Journal, and The Hollywood Reporter. Lee is a contributing writer to Thrive Global, a member of Film Fatales, and runs a monthly writing group. Creedmoria is available on Amazon Prime.
RaShad Frett is an award-winning Caribbean American filmmaker based in New York City. After serving as a U.S. Army combat medic and experiencing 9/11, he committed fully to storytelling as a means of social impact. He earned his MFA from NYU Tisch’s Graduate Film Program and has received honors including BAFTA-HBO, Martin Scorsese Young Filmmakers, DGA Student Film, Spike Lee Production Fellowship, and Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative. His Oscar-qualifying short Ricky premiered at Sundance, and his debut feature won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Margaret Verghese has worked across nearly every facet of the Art Department since beginning her career in film and television, most recently specializing in Set Decoration. From a young age, she has been deeply intrigued by how arrangement, color, and light shape the emotional understanding of a space. With a strong reverence for storytelling, Margaret translates concepts into texture, palette, and object placement to deepen character and narrative. A former Propmaster, she believes every object a character touches becomes a talisman, drawing viewers further into the story. Her credits include Smile 2, Poker Face, Unspeakable: The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey, Skin, I Know This Much Is.
Meliki Hurd is a Brooklyn born actor, filmmaker, and musician whose work is anchored in storytelling across performance and original work. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, he trained at various acting studios throughout his career and studied musical theater and drama at the Professional Performing Arts School. At 12, he made his Broadway debut in Matilda the Musical and joined the production’s first national tour. His credits include The Equalizer, The Last O.G., The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Netflix Film Club’s Home, and Cracked, the 2021 NYU Wasserman second place winner. In addition to acting, Meliki has created his own body of work through the YouTube mini series Dipshits, short films, music videos, and three albums: Golden Boy (2022), More Alive Than Ever (2023), and Golden Scars (2026). His short film/music video Outta My Mind was a semifinalist at the 2023 Paris International Short Festival and received an honorable mention from the 2023 One Reeler Short Film Competition.