That's right. We're making a feature film.

Storytellers started as a simple idea: what if four friends tried to make a movie together? What followed was a story about ambition, friendship, and what it really costs to chase a dream. After having made more than 25 short films and a feature film, I've been developing my second feature film, Storytellers, for about a year, and I'm confident this will be my best and biggest film yet. By far.

It may sound bold, but somebody has to say it: they don't make movies like they used to. Films that pulled you in completely. Films with warmth, wonder, and music that stays with you for a lifetime. Somewhere along the way, Hollywood decided that era was over, and just accepted it. I haven't.

The industry today is obsessed with chasing trends. What's popular, what's marketable, what's safe. And now with AI threatening to upend everything, the conversation has shifted even further away from what actually makes a great film: character, emotion, and story. Everyone seems to be asking what cinema will look like in the future. The movies everyone keeps coming back to, the ones that actually stood the test of time, were made with none of that in mind. It seems that somewhere in film history, filmmakers stopped chasing creative brilliance and started focusing on financial success.

The best films ever made weren't chasing anything financial. And I think we've forgotten that. And I believe good old-fashioned filmmaking (the kind driven by heart, not algorithms) can never be replaced by trends or technology. That's what Storytellers is: a film made the way I believe films should still be made.

The Story

What happens when a young man with an unshakeable dream convinces the people he loves most to bet on him, and then has to actually deliver?

Everest has one dream: to become one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. So he convinces his three best friends to help him make a World War Two epic about three soldiers, played by his three best friends (Lenny, Mickey, and Lucas), who stumble upon a lost treasure map and desert the army to go in search of lost Spanish conquistador treasure.  It starts as the adventure of a lifetime. Four friends with a camera, a script, and a belief that they can pull off something nobody expects them to.

Even though his old-fashioned father is completely against him chasing his dream, preferring that he do something "safe" with his life and focus on getting good grades at university, Everest takes the risk anyway.

And somewhere along the way, he meets Eliza, the most beautiful girl he's ever seen... and suddenly he has even more to lose.

But the real world doesn't stop for anyone's dream. Tuition deadlines don't care about shooting schedules. His father's disappointment doesn't pause for a great take. The friendships he's counting on start to fray under the weight of everything he's asking of everyone around him. Everest is chasing something enormous, and life is chasing him right back.

As making the movie begins to fall apart, so does everything around it. His grades. His relationship with Eliza. His father's last thread of patience. Everest is forced to confront the question at the heart of everything...

Is the dream worth the cost of the life he already has?

The Cast

*Note most actors depicted are examples of type and not representative of actual cast*

Why Now?

Everyone loves The Sound of Music, E.T., Jaws, American Graffiti, Cinema Paradiso, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and all those other classic films that completely escape you from the real world. But, somewhere along the way, the world just accepted that kind of filmmaking as a thing of the past. The warmth, the humor, the music, the magic, the wonder.

People act like that era is gone forever and there's nothing we can do about it.

I'm not ready to accept that.

Storytellers is a response to the cynicism that dominates much of modern cinema. At a moment when the industry is chasing franchises, IP reboots, and shock-value darkness, audiences are hungry for something that actually makes them feel something real. The movies everyone keeps coming back to weren't built on any of that, they were built on character, heart, and music that carried emotional weight rather than simply accompanying scenes.

Storytellers is a film made by a 19-year-old director who genuinely believes that if one of those movies came out today, it would be by far the biggest film of the year. Because that's exactly the kind of movie people are desperate to see, they just haven't been given one in a long time.

If that matters to you, I need your help to make it happen. Please contribute to the campaign today.

Every dollar raised goes directly toward our 10-day production shoot beginning August 24. Our $40,000 goal covers locations, gear rental, catering, paying cast and crew, and all the essential costs of bringing Storytellers to life on screen. If we surpass our goal, every additional dollar goes straight into production value, better locations, higher production quality, and the resources to make this film look and feel exactly the way it deserves to. And once it's finished, Storytellers already has a home... We have a signed Letter of Intent from a big distributor for worldwide online and physical distribution. That means when this film is complete, you'll be able to watch it from your couch on streaming platforms (like Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, etc.) or on physical media like Blu-ray and DVD, anywhere in the world. This isn't a film that disappears after a festival. It's going to be out there for everyone to see.

Your support means more than just funding.

It means belief, visibility.

It means this story gets to exist.

We can't do it alone. There are so many ways to support Storytellers:

• Contribute to the campaign - every contribution brings us closer.
• Share - with your friends, community, and networks.
• Follow - @augustinsasarman and stay connected throughout the journey.
• Spread the word - this matters more than you think!