STORY

After disappearing ten years prior to pursue stardom and release on the rodeo circuit, DESTIN is compelled to return to their family farm by a magical realist pull to their sister, feeling the symptoms of her illness in their own body. SYMPTOMANIA is a Western-Southern Gothic that explores the aftermath of Destin's estrangement and the traditions of grief that welcome them home.

When Destin arrives just moments before their triplet sister’s last breath, they grapple with compounding grief as they begin their own metaphysical journey with the familial plague. For generations, grief has physically manifested into an inheritable chronic illness that cannot be explained by medicine. Destin's mourning is encroached upon by those they must share it with– their devout mother and her desperation for reconnection, and their aunt's virtue of sacrifice. In this psychological body horror, the persistence of generational connection and desire for individuation clash– leaving only acceptance in the settled dust.

CAST

Lee Knight as DESTIN

Lee Knight is a professional athlete, musician, actor, and multidisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in physical truth, lived experience, and embodied risk. A rodeo athlete and bull rider, mountain man, and outdoor enthusiast accustomed to coastal and mountain life, Lee brings a rare somatic authority to film. Their creative work sits at the intersection of queer identity, western mythology, generational trauma, and healing through nature. As a musician, composer, and producer, Lee has performed and collaborated with artists including Joe King of The Fray, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, DeVotchKa, and Latin Grammy–winning group Ozomatli. Their musical practice directly shapes their emotionally precise work on camera. Lee’s screenwork includes a core ensemble appearance in National Anthem (dir. Luke Gilford), featured roles in a short film Call Me Cowboy, documentary short Into the Chutes (dir. Jenna Rice), a short documentary project for National Coming Out Day directed by River Gallo, and as a featured subject on This Is Life with Lisa Ling in the episode “Gay Rodeo”.

Set Shakur as DOTTY & TODDY

Sekyiwa ‘Set’ Shakur is a Philanthropic Enthusiast, passionate activist, dedicated Mental Health & Wellness Advocate, and fierce Heart Leader with over 20 years experience serving in Family Outreach, Program Coordination and Youth Creative Arts Development. She continuously strives for personal & professional growth while encouraging others to stand up for peace, truth, and goodness. Set is an original board member of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, established in 1996. For the last 23 years she has served as the President and Acting CEO of the foundation. In this role her core responsibilities are in developing compliant fundraising practices and serving as an ambassador for the organization by advancing its mission within the community. In addition to her advocacy initiatives, Set enjoys serving as Creative Advisor to Amaru Entertainment, which was founded by her mother, Afeni Shakur, to produce the unreleased work of her late brother and celebrated icon, Tupac Shakur. Early in her life, Set began her work as a human rights advocate by being the child of Activists and Black Panthers, Mutulu and Afeni Shakur. Throughout her life she faced many challenges, yet she remained dedicated to her positive virtues of creativity and maintaining peace.

TONE

Genre Bending: Western x Southern Gothic, Magical Realism, Bodymind Horror

• Magical realism and speculative depictions of generational grief – Toni Morrison’s Beloved
• Representative portraits of a community’s connection to ancestral environment – Seeds (2025)
• The cementation of legacy and emotionality of spectacle – Nope (2022)
• The intersection of womanhood and diasporic identity – Daughters of the Dust (1991)
• Trauma explored through surrealism – On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
• Familial dynamics in the Black south – Eve’s Bayou (1997)
• Western genre conventions showcased in alternative contexts – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

SONIC LANDSCAPE

✯ listen to the soundscape inspiration playlist ✯

Afro-surrealist synths and trombone dirges, contrasting upbeat gospel and organ instrumentals, roaming western ambiance, body resonance frequencies

• KIRBY – Black Leaves
• Tommy Guerrero – Road to Nowhere
• Trombone Shorty – Parking Lot Symphony
• Hermanos Gutiérrez - Hijos del Sol

BACKGROUND

In early 2025, I had the opportunity to revisit Tylertown, Mississippi where my grandmother was born and raised. For the first time since I was an infant, I was able to reconnect with my ancestral community and visit the farm my grandmother grew up on. During my visit I gained clarity around pieces of SYMPTOMANIA that were brewing in the creative corners of my mind, understanding that this was the exact place I was meant to return to and my project demanded to be set. The trip further deepened the close relationship I’ve always had with my grandmother and is one of the many reasons why I have chosen to root this story where my own reside. Filming in rural Mississippi has become essential to the making of this film. 

At 22, I received an official diagnosis for my chronic illness which had superimposed itself on developmental years of my life and recontextualized my future. I began to explore the themes of SYMPTOMANIA in the wake of diagnosis and treatment, becoming deeply acquainted with the specific grief that comes with mourning a potential life path and that mourning’s ripple effect through a family. 

In a lot of ways this project feels spiritually larger than me. My father is a twin and triplets run on my mother’s side of the family. Growing up in the West and having roots in the South is the foundation for this genre blended world. As an Afro-speculative artist, film is my most vulnerable form of expression and the story I create now has been in gestation for generations. Even through my character fabrications and magical realist alterations of the environment, this film is truth and history. The transmutation of these elements serve to be a visualization of my evolution as a filmmaker.

OUR GOAL

Production for SYMPTOMANIA will come to a close at the beginning of April 2026 with an intended entry to the festival circuit before this year's end. Our goal of $25k encompasses the ability to support our crew and cast in bringing SYMPTOMANIA to the screen. Raised funds will go towards travel and lodging accommodations for filming on location, equipment access for our women-led camera department, paying our dedicated team primarily made up of Black and queer women, and giving back to the local communities and Black farmers that have so generously contributed to the project's development thus far.

Share us on social media @symptomaniafilm and follow the campaign - this will allow us to unlock benefits that Seed&Spark offers to ambitious teams like ours made up of small indie filmmakers in order to actualize this project.