Cancer has always been a subject that people can feel uncomfortable talking about. Yet, you see it in movies all the time. How many cancer films can you think of where no ones dies? Now, how many are focused on the perspective of a child going through cancer? NODE is an autobiographical short film that centers on 11 year old Sara, as she gets diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Through small vignettes the audience gets a glimpse into her life balancing chemotherapy while playing with friends and leaning on family for love and support. It's not about death. It's about living in the moment when faced with a terrifying idea that often gets overlooked because it's scary to think about dying children. That's why it is important to me to make a short that's real where no one dies. Make it hopeful, make it beautiful, show people that kids still need to be playful and joyous, even when they are faced with an illness.

Director's Statement: Node is my personal story of going through cancer at 11 years old. I wrote the script using memories I have from the time. It started as a slow process, writing a memory every so often, till I realized I had twelve pages; which was almost a short! For me, it’s important to share this story from a fresh perspective. Most people are affected by cancer in one way or another. I want families going through a similar situation to see a story that’s not just heartbreaking, but has humor and hope mixed in. This comes from the film being centered on the children and what they see. As a kid I didn’t even know what cancer meant, it didn’t have the weight and panic that comes from the word as an adult. I think this helped me not worry so much. There were still very difficult times and it introduced me to the world of sickness and death as a young kid, but that also gave me perspective in my own life on what’s important and not take anything or anyone for granted. I hope NODE shares a slice of life that is relatable and inspiring to those facing challenges. 

We plan to film in Sandpoint, Idaho during April 2025. The idyllic setting of the town makes it a perfect place for this story to be told and this timeline allows us to line up filming schedule with the area's spring break for the kiddos! The majority of our budget will go towards travel and lodging expenses for our crew members. Although we are filming in Idaho, a third of our crew is coming from Los Angeles where our main creative team is currently located. The next big part of our budget goes to feeding our wonderful crew and cast hot meals. It takes a village to create a beautiful film so it's important that we give back to our crew for putting their time, sweat, and heart into this project. Lastly, we want to insure the safety of our crew and cast members. Safety is the utmost important thing to us, so your contribution will go towards the safety of who is working on this project to make sure we are able to bring this film to life.

We will submit to top-tier film festivals and plan to have a year of festival screenings & private screenings, allowing us to build word of mouth and audience support before seeking distribution on major platforms. This budget does not include post-production costs which we intend to raise after the film is shot.

If we exceed our campaign goal that would be incredible and we could incorporate some of our stretch goals! After hitting our initial production funds goal, we could rent some really cool lenses for our camera, start gathering funds for post production, and raise the day rates for our crew.

The way crowdfunding on Seed and Spark works is that our campaign must hit 80% of our goal to get the "green light" and receive funds. Your financial support at any level is meaningful to our project!

Here are some tips:

Incentives: We have created some special incentives for supporters who give at the $10, $25, $50, $100, and $500 levels. We think this is the best value for your support since you get something unique in return!

Pledge: Click the "Make a Pledge" button at the top of the page! A straightforward pledge of your support in any $ amount.

Wishlist: A really cool thing about the Wishlist is the ability to LOAN us an item for the shoot. Our campaign will get the value added towards our goal. The other important feature is that it provides a list of costs so you know how we intend to use our budget. If you click "Make A Pledge" on any Wishlist item, you will have the option to pledge any $ amount you choose!

No Money, No Problem: Click the "Follow" Heart at the top of the page to receive exciting updates on our journey to making this film AND your follow helps us unlock rewards! Click the "Share" icon on our page to help us build out our audience! If you know someone who would enjoy the film or the process of watching an indie short get made, share our campaign with a click, word of mouth, and email!

Please follow this campaign and share it on social media! 

Follow us on instagram @nodeshortfilm as well!

A little goes a long way and we are so grateful for anything you can do to help bring NODE to life!

Thank you so much!