Imagination, J.K. Rowling shared in her 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech, is “not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not” but also “the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” Film has the same ability: by bringing filmmakers’ imaginations to the screen, we are able to envision possibilities and empathize with experiences we never could have dreamed of ourselves.
Our latest round of crowdfunding picks features women filmmakers who are stretching their imaginations — and, as a result, our own — through their short films. In their visions of the world, both present and future, each writer-director challenges us to undertake an experience outside of our own, making us a little wiser and more understanding as a result.
Iris Devins’ “Trashy Booty” imagines a hopeful fate for one hitchhiking robot, testing the limits of human kindness along the way. Christa Haley’s “Roadhead” imagines a dystopian future in which fuel is scarce, money is worthless, and two women take to the road, traversing the Western frontier. Alyssa Asaro’s “Fish Out of Water” imagines an extraterrestrial companion for a struggling little boy, who begins to discover his own inner strength in the real world.
Here are Women and Hollywood’s latest women-created and women-centric crowdfunding picks.
“Trashy Booty” (Short) – Written and Directed by Iris Devins
https://vimeo.com/313587718
In 2015, a Canadian research team sent out a small robot named HitchBOT on a mission to hitchhike through the United States. The project’s goal, the team said, was “to see whether robots could trust humans.” The results were less than encouraging: HitchBOT was recovered soon after its deployment in Philadelphia, where it was found vandalized and torn apart.
That’s when filmmaker Iris Devins got the idea to make a movie inspired not only by HitchBOT, but by her own experiences. She was deeply and surprisingly moved by the news story, which went viral. “The story really caught my attention,” Devins shares on the project’s Seed&Spark page, “and I became fascinated with how the press covered it. … I rarely see stories covered in depth that really get to the heart of issues that matter to me.” Then she integrated her own lived experiences — from when she was “a bit younger and transient” and spent some time “dumpster diving with a friend” — to flesh out a fully-formed idea for a film.
In a crowdfunding video, Devins describes her short film “Trashy Booty” as “a live action dark comedy about two dumpster-diving trans women in Philadelphia who come across a hitchhiking robot who’s a lesson in human kindness.” The story’s imaginative intentions are twofold. First, Devins uses the device of a traveling robot — unjaded, uncorrupted, and utterly trusting in the boundless potential of human kindness — to reflect on the human condition itself. By imagining an alternative reality and a different fate for HitchBOT, she considers the very best that people can be towards each other and, yes, even a robot. But second, and perhaps most importantly, “Trashy Booty” provides an authentic depiction of trans women as told from the perspective of a trans woman herself. “Trans women are rarely portrayed onscreen with positive, complex stories of friendship and support,” Devins says.
Through sheer force of imagination, deeply informed by reality, Devin’s “Trashy Booty” is a promising meditation on human compassion and connection.
Donate to “Trashy Booty” on Seed&Spark.
“Roadhead” (Short) – Written and Directed by Christa Haley
Much of the work of the feminine imagination involves inserting ourselves and our narratives into spaces from which we have traditionally been excluded. In “Roadhead,” that’s exactly how writer-director Christa Haley is putting her creativity to use. “Growing up, I would imagine myself escaping across the west, the frontier of masculinity,” she writes on the film’s Kickstarter page. “It’s in this same landscape that I want to give a home to femininity. I am desperate to set the female body free from the expectations that have come to define it.”
In “Roadhead,” Haley doesn’t only place women at the center of a story inspired by the American Western landscape, but she also invents a rough, dystopian future for her protagonists to navigate. The film is set “in the near future after an economic collapse [that] has devastated America.” In this brave new world, “fuel is scarce,” “money no longer holds it value,” and “communications between men and women have broken down.” Against this apocalyptic backdrop, “Roadhead” follows traveling companions Brooke and Weasel — who, Haley says, “represent two false archetypes of female sexuality: the virgin and the whore” — as they traverse the open road “Thelma and Louise”-style.
By imagining a distorted future reality, “Roadhead” really explores many pressing issues of today, especially relating to sexuality and women’s relationships to it. For example, the film’s “iconic Western landscape, which is now in ruins, represents how traditional masculinity has failed both men and women,” Haley shares. And despite its futuristic setting, “Roadhead” is first and foremost “a personal story” — an intimate character study as well as an original, gritty imagining of the future.
With its robust and detailed aesthetic vision — be sure to check out the filmmaker’s impressive storyboards — and refreshingly feminine approach to the traditionally masculine Western setting, “Roadhead” offers a complete and fascinating take on the future.
Donate to “Roadhead” on Kickstarter.
“Fish Out of Water” (Short) – Written and Directed by Alyssa Asaro
Walt Disney once said, “Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination.” In “Fish Out of Water,” writer-director Alyssa Asaro harnesses her own sense of childlike wonder and creativity to tell a charmingly original tale of childhood and belonging. For the past three summers, Asaro has been working with children with disabilities, and she was inspired to make the short because “it’s incredibly important that children with disabilities get to see themselves as the hero of the story,” according to “Fish Out of Water’s” Indiegogo campaign.
The hero of “Fish Out of Water” is Henry, a space-obsessed 12-year-old boy who has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal. Henry struggles to fit into his new school and to handle his waning relationship with his brother. Amidst these challenges, Henry meets an alien creature with “mysterious powers [that] allow Henry to speak and move during their nightly encounters.” Their blossoming friendship makes Henry feel accepted and comfortable, counteracting the difficulties he faces in reality; but Henry also starts to wonder “whether he needs the alien as much as he thinks he does.”
Ultimately, the otherworldly narrative of the film highlights themes and experiences that are very much relevant to our world — namely, how we can include, support, and do right by children with disabilities on this planet, so that they don’t have to retreat into their imaginations to find the acceptance they deserve. In Asaro’s own words, “Fish Out of Water” is above all about “self-acceptance, growing up, and dealing with change, as told through the lens of a child with a disability.” Henry’s story, while specific to the lived experiences of children with cerebral palsy, is also a portal to explore the challenges we all face to fit in and feel loved — a little imagination goes a long way.
Donate to “Fish Out of Water” on Indiegogo.
To be considered for Women and Hollywood’s biweekly crowdfunding feature, please write to womenandhollywoodinterns@gmail.com. All formats (features, shorts, web series, etc.) welcome. Projects must be by and/or about women.
