“Under the cover of night, a troubled young woman attempts to escape into another world. Armed only with a flashlight, maps of the constellations and a mysterious device, she sets off into the unknown…”

"Through the Stars” is the story of Casey, a young girl running from—and after—a shrouded mystery hidden across reality. Beamed through a multiverse of clues and snippets, this rhythmic, propulsive narrative will map the constellation of Casey’s heart as she seeks out the truth, fragmented and spread asunder across realms of time and space. Against a backdrop of beautiful desolation in rural America, Casey and her best friend Max are pursued by forces both inside and out.

At the zero-point of our cinematic universe is a deeply human story: the relationship between a father and a daughter. By blending aspects of young adult sci-fi with larger, heavier thematic conflicts such as trauma and abuse, “Through The Stars” emotional core orbits powerful imagery and deeply felt, gravitic performances. As Casey struggles with traversing her own reality and the multitude of fractured relationships surrounding her, we hurtle along through the continuum, following her race against the clock as it entangles with an unraveling quantum mystery that may change the very essence of space-time—forever.

With a script by creative polymath and executive producer Ryan Marth, and production to be helmed by award-winning director Ariel Danzinger and fêtêd Director of Photography Waleed Sokkar (“Into the Abyss”), “Through the Stars” is a unique blend of high-commercial style and strong, emotional and compositional story beats. Produced by Lisa Carr, with production by Alex Knapp and Max Gardner of A+M Creative (“Go/Don’t Go”), TTS will be shot in/around Columbia County, New York in October of 2021 with a spring 2022 anticipated festival release.

Says creator and executive producer Ryan Marth: "The story of "Through the Stars" comes directly from my heart and mind. The questions posed, and the issues broached are universal, but also deeply personal in their origin. We want TTS to feel like a fresh new take on tales of otherworldly travel, featuring a story that connects with viewers across experience and situation. The themes we explore exist beyond space-and-time—they are forever, fundamental constants—and we want our fans and audience to feel this as we embark on this exciting, new journey together."

The Plan

TTS will be produced and shot in beautiful, cinematic Upstate New York. The diverse and scenic landscape combined with the strong and built-out local filmmaking workforce makes the Hudson Valley and Catskills region a substantial proposition on its own. But like all filmmaking ventures, we need to supercharge our production to make this the best and strongest film possible.

As we move swiftly from pre-production into production, we are looking to bring in additional resources for post-production during this time through fundraising and building a community of creative and material support. This campaign will make additional, crucial resources available so we can make the best film possible and deliver in a timely, expedient fashion.

With the money raised during this period, the funds will help us provision our post-production schedule: editing the film, putting together an unbelievable sound-design and score, mixing, VFX, color-correction and mastering/finishing the film for exhibition. Additionally, funds raised through this campaign will help us continue to develop and package TTS with the goal of creating a larger iterations of the project with future resources from a studio, streamer or future development.

Importantly, the money raised during this campaign will immediately aid in finishing our film before we’ve even started. Post-production is one of our largest single cost periods, and with an eye to enter the film into some of the major prestige and genre festivals in the late 2021/early 2022 season, we want to pursue an aggressive post-production timeline, coinciding directly after the film has wrapped principle photography. 

With a portion of the funds we raise during this time, we will be able to work with professional post-houses on the edit, sound design, color correction and mastering and ultimately, putting together a fantastic showpiece that will begin a cinematic multiverse, and a dedicated fan community.

Your support takes us to the next dimension!

Stories are nothing without the community to tell them to, and we want to build a community with this film and hopefully, future films, on the journey with Casey across space and time.

But simply put, making movies—even short films—is an expensive venture. We are a group of skilled film professionals pursuing a fantastic new passion project, and because of that, we’re building a production that will not only meet the need, but exceed it. Philosophically, and ethically, we want to make this the best time possible for every filmworker involved, so that every aspect of our collective labor and talent is evident on screen. And in order to ensure we create an authentically purposeful work environment, we need your help. 

By contributing to this fundraising campaign, you're contributing to the creation of a powerful piece of art and supporting local and regional economies, supporting skilled workers, and helping to continue the tradition of creating films as a community endeavor. Every dollar raised means another dollar reviving and revitalizing a profession hard hit by the pandemic, and helps us make a safer, more equitable future for the independent film industry.

The Ask, broken-down:

Below is a breakdown of how every dollar raised will be used for TTS in our post-production stage of creation:

Our post budget will be comprised of—

- Editorial - 25% - Editing the film will be our first step after getting it the proverbial can. You make a film many times, and the edit is just the first step along the way to finishing TTS.

- Sound Design - 15% - Sound design will be crucial to creating an immersive audio atmosphere to match our outstanding visuals. We intend to work with some of the premiere names in sound design to bring TTS to a new dimension.

- Color Correction and Image Mastering - 10% - To create the most indelible and quality imagery, we will already be shooting on some of the highest-quality industrial movie cameras and lenses offered today. But none of this matters if we can dedicate the proper resources to color correcting and producing the best quality post-production imaging for our film possible. Additional resourcing to this effect will help us liaise and work with the best color correction and final imaging houses in the field.

- Mix + Mastering - 10% - Ryan Marth, our intrepid executive producer, will be furnishing a score as the creator and chief composer of TTS, and we will be working to mix and master the film's sound design, and importantly, the score at a high-level of aural fidelity at professional facilities—eventually with the goal of making the OST available as a companion piece to the short for our fans and network.

- Post-Production Development - 15% - As we finish this first iteration of TTS as a short film, we intend to continue developing the IP and story to build out our cinematic multiverse. Our intention is to leverage this short film into a much larger opportunity for everyone involved, and for that we'll need additional resources to build out a competitive and enthralling development portfolio for the property.

- Festival Entry and Marketing - 25% - We want to bring TTS to some of the major domestic and international festivals and sales marketings in the 2022 year, with the hope of connecting with critics, reviewers and distributors and marketers alike. Festival plans are already formulating, but paying for festival entries and marketing can be spendy—your support will ensure that we can make a competitive showing at the various industry events throughout the coming year.

Rewarding and building a Community

The story of "Through the Stars" comes directly from Ryan's heart and his experience as a young man finding his way in the world. The questions posed, and the issues broached are universal, but also deeply personal in their origin. We want TTS to feel like a fresh new take on tales of interdimensional travel, but featuring a story that connects with viewers at across experience and situation. The themes we explore exist beyond space-and-time—they are forever, fundamental constants—and we want our fans and audience to feel this as we embark on this exciting, new journey together.

We will be offering to the supporters of this campaign rewards in the form of:

• Special Thanks in our credits—your name will be emblazoned forever in our credit roll!
• Digital Scripts—getting a full look at the narrative background of TTS
• Special Seed&Spark Digital Poster—we will be producing and offering a first-run digital poster for contributors
• Exclusive Production Email Updates—certain contributors will get early updates and information on TTS at various stages of pre-production, production, and post-production
• IMDb Credits—our Associate, Co-Producers and Co-Executive Producers will all be given official IMDb Credits as part of their contribution to our campaign!

Regarding COVID

Our team plans to ensure a high-level of compliance to all COVID19 safety protocols, with on-set CCO's monitoring and managing all COVID-related needs. As with all productions these days, we will be mandating that our crew are vaccinated or, if they are not, are testing regularly to maintain a COVID-safe environment so we can all work successfully, starting and finishing the production in good health.

FOLLOW ALONG! And be sure to share this campaign with your network!

On Instagram: @throughthestarsmovie

Team Accounts:

@ryanmarthmusic - Ryan Marth, Writer & Executive Producer

@yelizaveta_carr - Lisa Carr, Executive Producer

@ariel_danziger - Ariel Danziger, Director

@waleedsokkar - Waleed Sokkar, Director of Photography

@alexknapp - Alex Knapp, Producer

@maxmgardner - Max Gardner, Producer

@amcreativenyc - Production Company