At its heart, The Dreamworld is a story about trusting ourselves, building community, and having the courage to imagine something beyond the world we inherited.

Hazel, Juniper, and Wren have created a life in the aftermath of a society whose structures have literally collapsed. When their water sources become undrinkable, they have no choice but to follow their intuition in hopes of finding a solution. Guided by a map from their dreams, they must face their apocalyptic surroundings, other survivors with unknown intentions, and a growing sense of self-doubt to realize they have the tools and magic they need to build a new world—they just have to remember how.

Through them, The Dreamworld explores what happens when the world you were taught to believe in fails you. The beautiful historic landscape they navigate over the course of the story will allow the movie to feel like a fleeting memory or dream, while bringing new life and meaning to the land itself. The viewer may not have the words to describe The Dreamworld, but will be left with images, sounds, and the lasting knowledge that they too can harness this energy and weave it into their own world.

Creative Approach & Cinematic Inspiration: 

Visually, we are inspired by the painterly naturalism and queer intimacy of the Venice Film Festival feature, The World to Come, and the dreamlike quality of the Sundance feature, We the Animals. Shooting on 16mm will be essential to our approach and the texture of our story. The grain, natural light and organic imperfections will help blur the line between the world as it exists and the world Hazel believes could exist. As the the collective ventures deeper into the wilderness, reality will begin to feel increasingly touched by possibility. We’ll explore how nature has begun reclaiming what humanity left behind, and within it, our characters may discover that magic hasn't disappeared. Perhaps we've simply forgotten how to see it.

The original concept for The Dreamworld lies with our Executive Producer, MariJean Wegert. MJ describes themself as a somatic writer—writing from their body and the literal physical experience of their bones as they craft the words together. Several years ago, MJ started tracking their dreams after reading Toko-pa Turner’s Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home, in which Turner educates readers on how to integrate the gifts brought to us through our dreams into our lives. With The Dreamworld, MariJean hopes to share three gifts from their dreams with others who are committed to their aliveness—and the aliveness of the world around them.

Sydne Horton, the Director, approaches the characters’ visual worlds and personal experiences as if they were right there, holding their hands and guiding them toward truth. Maureen McShane, our Writer, adapted MJ’s original prose into a screenplay, that explores the characters’ deep emotions and inner power in a way that feels unique and incredibly bold, with a touch of magic.

Each storyteller’s voice—written, experienced, filmed, and embodied—feels confident, visually compelling, and conceptually fresh. These artists have an instinct for telling stories that feel intimately present, deeply personal, and unmistakably unique.

The Dreamworld will serve as a call to action for other artists to practice site-specific and place-based artmaking and storytelling within their own natural landscapes. It will inspire them, wherever they are to make nature-based art—whether somewhere familiar or somewhere new—to trust their bodies, minds, and spirits’ intuitive experiences of these spaces and their embodied magic. The idea is a juxtaposition of the lives created by nourishing their inner worlds amid the collapsing systems that surround them.

Our production will span unique, historic Indiana landscapes, including acres of Gene Stratton-Porter’s beautiful shoreline along Sylvan Lake, vast grassland fields, and old-growth forests. Gene was one of the early 20th century’s pioneering female writers, naturalists, filmmakers, and production studio owners. Her work focuses on ecosystems within disappearing natural habitats, characters finding peace in the natural world, and the pursuit of purpose and healing in the wilderness.

Considering none of Gene’s original studio films were archived, capturing our own story on 16mm film will help bring new meaning to the historic site and Gene Stratton-Porter’s legacy.

The Dreamworld is in pre-production! We’ve locked the script, created a breakdown and budget, and are fleshing out the final members of our crew. We’ve started casting actors and will organize a table read with them soon. Next, we’ll tackle props and costuming. Our Director and Cinematographer are translating scenes into a shot list, while our Producer/1st AD constructs the schedule and oversees logistics.

But we need support from the community to get the camera rolling! At the most basic level, joining the project today means ensuring our team is well fed, that we have a working camera, and that our talented, lovely Director, Cinematographer, and First Assistant Camera can join us from California.

Capturing this story on 16mm film would mean the world to our team, honor the vision for the project, and elevate the story in the most authentic way possible. A portion of the money raised will be used to purchase film stock, as well as cover developing and scanning costs.

Craft services, production insurance, and proper permits round out the most basic version of our budget. Even on a small, independent movie, we believe in taking care of our people. We want to ensure that our actors and crew of all backgrounds, ages, and levels of experience have their specific dietary, medical, and all basic health and safety needs met.

If you can help take our project to the next level, we may explore using vintage lenses and specialized in-camera filters to better convey the ethereal aesthetic. Lastly, we’d allocate any remaining funds toward post-production services, including professional-quality visual effects, color grading, and sound mixing. We’d also pay for film festival submissions and travel, as well as a grassroots marketing campaign and merchandise.

The Dreamworld is slated to hit the film festival circuit in 2027. Our festival run will focus on regional festivals that our team can attend in person, as well as genre-specific festivals, those that elevate the work of women and the LGBTQIA+ community, and/or focus on nature and conservation.

The biggest way you can make a meaningful impact on this story and our team is to pledge any amount you can spare. Every dollar gets us closer to making The Dreamworld a reality.

But we understand a pledge isn’t feasible for everyone. Following our Seed & Spark page and sharing with 5-10 friends, family members, or co-workers would mean the world. 

Here’s some suggested copy to make sharing easy:

“A group of filmmakers I know are gearing up to shoot a short film on 16mm film at a historic site in Indiana. The Dreamworld follows a group of explorers and children as they journey through a collapsed world in search of clean water. Led by a shared dream, their journey becomes a story about having the courage to imagine something new, when the world you inherited was never built for you.

The filmmakers are crowdfunding right now! They need some support to tell this story. Would you consider making a pledge, following the campaign, or sharing this page with 5-10 people in your network? Every bit of support helps. Thanks!”

Thank you so much for checking out our Seed & Spark. We hope that you can join us in creating The Dreamworld.

Some images, videos, and visual materials on this page are for conceptual and illustrative purposes only and are intended to communicate the creative vision and aesthetic of The Dreamworld.