It’s mid-afternoon, sunlight streams through the windows, and we watch a person ‘wake up’ to discover several months have passed. We’ll be following Sadie as they struggle to get through mundane day to day moments of life: making tea, brushing their teeth, getting out of bed... Seems simple, but for Sadie, it’s a battle against dissociation and emotional trauma. Desperate to reconnect with themselves, they discover that healing is not always gentle.

Why this? When you’re recovering from trauma, stories become very important - seeing your journey represented helps you feel less alone. I wrote the story that I needed back then and now we’re bringing that story to life. There's an audience out there that needs this film. They need to see themselves reflected back to them, to know that someone, somewhere understands.

Why now? Did you know that suicide rates among trans people are significantly higher than the general population? Did you know that there were zero trans characters counted across major studio films released last year?  Waking Up is about a trans and queer person healing- it has hope, it has a light at the end of the tunnel. If Sadie can reach for it, so can you. We need films like this in the queer canon. In this political climate, we need all the representation we can get!

Why 16k?

Making films is an expensive endeavour. We’ve done our best to minimize costs - all of our locations are free, including the pool - but we need funds to cover the rest of our budget. We're actively in pre-production now: hiring actors and crew, finalizing shoot dates, and creating our shooting schedule. We’re pushing the boundaries of indie filmmaking with our underwater location and as a result, our insurance premium is much higher than a regular low-budget short film. Help us pay The Man and get the gear of our dreams!  

CONTRIBUTE: Backing this project means we get closer to our goals and there are some cool rewards in it for you!

IN-KIND DONATIONS: Have some gear/coffee/set decoration you can donate to the cause? Or maybe you have experience on set and want to offer your skills!  Email us at [email protected]

SHARE: Send this to everyone you know! Post it onto your instagram  - we’ll be sharing more info about the project and team over there - text your friends, email your work’s Gay Straight Alliance! The more people we reach, the higher our chances of getting the funding we need.

INSTAS:

@realchristinafox @casscivi_

Check out our fun incentives!

What happens after?

After we finish this film, we head straight for festival submissions. We believe in this film's festival potential- there's nothing quite like this genre-bending, conversation-sparking short on the market.

We believe this project is going to have a big impact on the audiences it reaches. Thank you for helping us get it to the people who need it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

RISKS

Making a film is always really tough, and of course, due to the trans-/LGBTQIA+ nature of this project, we might end up dealing with some people who want to see this project fail. BUT we have brought together an incredible team such that we feel confident that we can deliver on everything presented above.