Waxing
Chicago, Illinois | Film Feature
Drama, LGBTQ
Living out of a van in the rural Midwest, a six year-old and her two mothers attempt to make the most out of their bleak circumstances. In ways that morph and sway between semi-autobiographical and exploratory, scripted and documentarian, this film aims to capture the complexity of Midwestern life.
Waxing
Chicago, Illinois | Film Feature
Drama, LGBTQ
1 Campaigns | Illinois, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $12,020 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
46 supporters | followers
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Living out of a van in the rural Midwest, a six year-old and her two mothers attempt to make the most out of their bleak circumstances. In ways that morph and sway between semi-autobiographical and exploratory, scripted and documentarian, this film aims to capture the complexity of Midwestern life.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Waxing is about a little girl and her two mothers living out of a van in rural America, but like all films, it's about so much more.
This film, as is the case with all art, is an expression of some inexplicable, deep-seated desire to explore, deconstruct, and ask questions. If this one instance of creative flourish can spawn from me and my friends doing lunar dances in a backyard--barefoot, convinced the moon was embracing us with its splendor directly--and mean so much to me, I can only trust it will carry similar meaning for others as well.
Check out a few slides from the film's initial lookbook below!
Waxing at its core is an anti-narrative meditation--a story that seeks, dissects, synthesizes, harmonizes elements of American socio-culture, homelessness, queer life, familial trauma, economic hardship, religious validity and patronage, and life in a land that rests seamlessly in an irony between peaceful invitation and virulent rejection; all through the geographical framework of the Midwest, and the spiritual framework of adolescent innocence.
Through a myriad of experiences, hijinks, traumas, we follow the relative arc of little Sena and her mothers Levanna and Lucine learning to love and accept one another regardless and in spite of destitute circumstances, engaging in a collective appreciation of family from which the rest of life becomes that much more approachable.
Check out these stills from a demo reel of test footage we put together! :)
Moments, memories, scenes of nature, real people, and the idea of the ever-expanding American roadway come and go in this film, representing an unwavering backdrop that challenges our family's notions of patience, community, and existence itself.
Deeper understandings of the human experience and our perspectives on life are reflected and brought about not through a traditional narrative format, but through a patient focus on people, places, ideas; the world. Great emphasis is placed on those moments that we may deem mundane--the silence before a difficult conversation, the air as you deem it necessary to tell a stranger a white-lie, the dancing branches of a tree, a cigarette break under a sunset, a drive past an old farm, the ways a child entertains themselves as their parents vehemently argue--or a lifestyle we may have no familiarity with--brushing your teeth in a gas station, doing laundry in a creek, surviving off of the kindness of strangers and public pantries--in which levels of self-realization and mindfulness arise through an admiring of some hidden beauty, a beauty from which art can stand tall and the universe sing to us.
© 2025 Sterling Sullivan - All Rights Reserved
Stills captured in real locations such as Knox County, IL; LaSalle County, IL; Henry, IL; Galesburg, IL; Wenona, IL; Norway, IL.
For a summer, scenes of daily hardships, chores, adventures, mistakes, forgiveness, questions, and answers make up what is only a window into the lives of our family of three and their nomadic, beautiful home.
The films listed below serve as a great inspiration for this story, ranging from aspects of a technical and cinematographic nature to those of a more spiritual and philosophical one.
In line with work I have done in the past as a writer and director, Waxing embraces a level of naturalistic, guerilla filmmaking that best serves the constantly unfolding story. The works of directors like Terrence Malick, Chloe Zhao, Sean Baker, and Wong Kar-wai especially serve as grand inspirations for this approach, as some production days may be approached without a shot list, strangers are invited to participate and interact with our characters, scripted lines are changed in spontaneous emotion, long-takes upwards of 15-20 minutes are captured as talent fully subsume themselves into the world of the story, and, just maybe, a curious onlooker or two in the back of a farmer's market eyes our camera lens or crew directly, reminding us that the core of these characters and the world they inhabit is the farthest thing from fake.
This unique style of filmmaking is truly special to us, and is indicative of the real, lived-in places and ideas and components of Midwestern life that the film so earnestly and spontaneously beckons.
Why do birds sing in the morning? As any artist could cosign, its difficult to articulate the fervor and passion one approaches an idea they truly get struck with and have no choice but to pursue.
There are so many misunderstandings, miscalculations, misrepresentations, and unexplored questions that permeate through American life that I truthfully think could and should be given the time of day by whatever means we have available to us. Through this project, in me wanting to discover what exactly my home and all of its intricate and damning pluralities mean to me and those in and around my life, we may all be able to make just a little bit more sense out of life.
Waxing is currently in pre-production and needs your help to ensure all coming stages of the filmmaking process go according to plan!
We're slated for principal photography in August, hitting the ground running right after our campaign window is up! With ~2.5 weeks of shooting to take place and several months of editing and exploring various compositional and aural techniques, we expect this story to have a completed cut and enter festival circuits around the turn of the year to 2026!
Most updates will be given here on this page and through my (the director's) own personal Instagram: @sterlsull
Share, follow, and, if able, pledge to this film! It means the universe to us that you made it this far!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Art Department
Costs $1,825
Wardrobe, hair & makeup, as well as acquiring and dressing up our main home for the film--the van!
Production
Costs $5,400
Gas & transportation expenses, lodging, meals, etc. for cast & crew!
Rights, Legal, Admin
Costs $1,175
LLC setup and fair obtaining of desired musical works!
Talent
Costs $2,000
Fully supporting and compensating our actresses!
Camera
Costs $3,100
Our desired Sony FX3 camera setup with a few high-quality cinema lenses, such as the Venus Optics Laowa 12mm, to pair with it!
Sound
Costs $1,500
An adequate recording setup for all our on-set audio needs--namely a boom pole, shotgun microphone, cables, recorder, and 3-4 wireless lavs!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
True to the nature of independent filmmaking, Waxing's team is small but dedicated!
Sterling Sullivan (pictured here loving a night at Snakes & Lattes in Logan Square) is writer, director, producer, editor, and composer of Waxing! Recent B.A. graduate of Columbia College Chicago and former engineering student at Columbia University, Sterling's artistic process often involves an enduring synthesis of the medium's inherent technicalities with a deep-seated desire to explore, discover, and reveal the subconscious wonders of the human experience. Patient, meditative long takes, rhythmic showcasings of nature's beauty and transient mundane moments, particular compositions that blend the electronic with the acoustic, and much, much in between form a unique and earnest style that amplify a willingness to share, care, and enjoy art.
.JPEG)
Sterling on the set of his B.A. capstone directing project
Soir Syncopate (2025).
.JPEG)
Nathan Wagner is director of photography and currently a B.F.A. cinematography student at DePaul University, as well as Sterling's closest friend and collaborator! His own cinematic style is as diverse and energetic as his personality, cultivating anti-dramas and ephemeral visual pieces with Sterling on one hand, and mastering his craft of 3D modeling and experimental, world-building animation on the other.
Left: Nathan and Sterling on the set of Idnty's music video "Come Through" (2024).
Right: Nathan on the set of Ibis (2025) with a language consultant.
Elizabeth Barbosa is Waxing's casting director! A B.A. student at Columbia College Chicago with a deep admiration and understanding of character, performance, film, and people, she brings refreshingly unique and genuine perspectives to every project, whether she's configuring the right talent beforehand, watching for continuity in every scene, or leading the production charge herself.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Waxing is about a little girl and her two mothers living out of a van in rural America, but like all films, it's about so much more.
This film, as is the case with all art, is an expression of some inexplicable, deep-seated desire to explore, deconstruct, and ask questions. If this one instance of creative flourish can spawn from me and my friends doing lunar dances in a backyard--barefoot, convinced the moon was embracing us with its splendor directly--and mean so much to me, I can only trust it will carry similar meaning for others as well.
Check out a few slides from the film's initial lookbook below!
Waxing at its core is an anti-narrative meditation--a story that seeks, dissects, synthesizes, harmonizes elements of American socio-culture, homelessness, queer life, familial trauma, economic hardship, religious validity and patronage, and life in a land that rests seamlessly in an irony between peaceful invitation and virulent rejection; all through the geographical framework of the Midwest, and the spiritual framework of adolescent innocence.
Through a myriad of experiences, hijinks, traumas, we follow the relative arc of little Sena and her mothers Levanna and Lucine learning to love and accept one another regardless and in spite of destitute circumstances, engaging in a collective appreciation of family from which the rest of life becomes that much more approachable.
Check out these stills from a demo reel of test footage we put together! :)
Moments, memories, scenes of nature, real people, and the idea of the ever-expanding American roadway come and go in this film, representing an unwavering backdrop that challenges our family's notions of patience, community, and existence itself.
Deeper understandings of the human experience and our perspectives on life are reflected and brought about not through a traditional narrative format, but through a patient focus on people, places, ideas; the world. Great emphasis is placed on those moments that we may deem mundane--the silence before a difficult conversation, the air as you deem it necessary to tell a stranger a white-lie, the dancing branches of a tree, a cigarette break under a sunset, a drive past an old farm, the ways a child entertains themselves as their parents vehemently argue--or a lifestyle we may have no familiarity with--brushing your teeth in a gas station, doing laundry in a creek, surviving off of the kindness of strangers and public pantries--in which levels of self-realization and mindfulness arise through an admiring of some hidden beauty, a beauty from which art can stand tall and the universe sing to us.
© 2025 Sterling Sullivan - All Rights Reserved
Stills captured in real locations such as Knox County, IL; LaSalle County, IL; Henry, IL; Galesburg, IL; Wenona, IL; Norway, IL.
For a summer, scenes of daily hardships, chores, adventures, mistakes, forgiveness, questions, and answers make up what is only a window into the lives of our family of three and their nomadic, beautiful home.
The films listed below serve as a great inspiration for this story, ranging from aspects of a technical and cinematographic nature to those of a more spiritual and philosophical one.
In line with work I have done in the past as a writer and director, Waxing embraces a level of naturalistic, guerilla filmmaking that best serves the constantly unfolding story. The works of directors like Terrence Malick, Chloe Zhao, Sean Baker, and Wong Kar-wai especially serve as grand inspirations for this approach, as some production days may be approached without a shot list, strangers are invited to participate and interact with our characters, scripted lines are changed in spontaneous emotion, long-takes upwards of 15-20 minutes are captured as talent fully subsume themselves into the world of the story, and, just maybe, a curious onlooker or two in the back of a farmer's market eyes our camera lens or crew directly, reminding us that the core of these characters and the world they inhabit is the farthest thing from fake.
This unique style of filmmaking is truly special to us, and is indicative of the real, lived-in places and ideas and components of Midwestern life that the film so earnestly and spontaneously beckons.
Why do birds sing in the morning? As any artist could cosign, its difficult to articulate the fervor and passion one approaches an idea they truly get struck with and have no choice but to pursue.
There are so many misunderstandings, miscalculations, misrepresentations, and unexplored questions that permeate through American life that I truthfully think could and should be given the time of day by whatever means we have available to us. Through this project, in me wanting to discover what exactly my home and all of its intricate and damning pluralities mean to me and those in and around my life, we may all be able to make just a little bit more sense out of life.
Waxing is currently in pre-production and needs your help to ensure all coming stages of the filmmaking process go according to plan!
We're slated for principal photography in August, hitting the ground running right after our campaign window is up! With ~2.5 weeks of shooting to take place and several months of editing and exploring various compositional and aural techniques, we expect this story to have a completed cut and enter festival circuits around the turn of the year to 2026!
Most updates will be given here on this page and through my (the director's) own personal Instagram: @sterlsull
Share, follow, and, if able, pledge to this film! It means the universe to us that you made it this far!
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Art Department
Costs $1,825
Wardrobe, hair & makeup, as well as acquiring and dressing up our main home for the film--the van!
Production
Costs $5,400
Gas & transportation expenses, lodging, meals, etc. for cast & crew!
Rights, Legal, Admin
Costs $1,175
LLC setup and fair obtaining of desired musical works!
Talent
Costs $2,000
Fully supporting and compensating our actresses!
Camera
Costs $3,100
Our desired Sony FX3 camera setup with a few high-quality cinema lenses, such as the Venus Optics Laowa 12mm, to pair with it!
Sound
Costs $1,500
An adequate recording setup for all our on-set audio needs--namely a boom pole, shotgun microphone, cables, recorder, and 3-4 wireless lavs!
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
True to the nature of independent filmmaking, Waxing's team is small but dedicated!
Sterling Sullivan (pictured here loving a night at Snakes & Lattes in Logan Square) is writer, director, producer, editor, and composer of Waxing! Recent B.A. graduate of Columbia College Chicago and former engineering student at Columbia University, Sterling's artistic process often involves an enduring synthesis of the medium's inherent technicalities with a deep-seated desire to explore, discover, and reveal the subconscious wonders of the human experience. Patient, meditative long takes, rhythmic showcasings of nature's beauty and transient mundane moments, particular compositions that blend the electronic with the acoustic, and much, much in between form a unique and earnest style that amplify a willingness to share, care, and enjoy art.
Sterling on the set of his B.A. capstone directing project
Soir Syncopate (2025).
Nathan Wagner is director of photography and currently a B.F.A. cinematography student at DePaul University, as well as Sterling's closest friend and collaborator! His own cinematic style is as diverse and energetic as his personality, cultivating anti-dramas and ephemeral visual pieces with Sterling on one hand, and mastering his craft of 3D modeling and experimental, world-building animation on the other.
Left: Nathan and Sterling on the set of Idnty's music video "Come Through" (2024).
Right: Nathan on the set of Ibis (2025) with a language consultant.
Elizabeth Barbosa is Waxing's casting director! A B.A. student at Columbia College Chicago with a deep admiration and understanding of character, performance, film, and people, she brings refreshingly unique and genuine perspectives to every project, whether she's configuring the right talent beforehand, watching for continuity in every scene, or leading the production charge herself.