Almost every woman can relate to the pressure to conform or compromise oneself — the struggle to be heard and seen, valued and understood. Yet so few stories accurately or realistically represent those difficulties, and plenty of female artists are working hard to fill that gap. The following projects all explore the journeys of various women attempting to reconcile the different elements of their respective identities, or their past with their present, and challenge how society perceives them.

Web series “Sex Is a God Thing” charts how race, sexuality, and spirituality intersect for two women, Michelle, and Aiesha, who find sisterhood in the wake of grief. Short film “Unseen” dissects the tension that exists between how society views us, and how we see ourselves, through the struggle of Lien, a young woman who risks losing her identity as she’s subjected to objectification.

Finally, the short “Bitter Melons” examines line cook Sophia’s self-doubts as she learns to confront pain, and embrace life — while whipping up some delicious food.

Here’s our latest round of women-created and women-centric crowdfunding picks.

“Sex Is a God Thing” (Web Series) – Created by Rashida Khanbey-Miller; Directed by Zarinah Ali

Based on a short film of the same name, “Sex Is a God Thing” spans seven episodes that explore the ups and downs of life for two women who discover that they are sisters when their father dies.

Keen to provide fellow queer women of color (QWOC) with the opportunity to see nuanced representations of themselves on-screen, creator and lead actress Rashida Khanbey-Miller and her team have crafted a story that will explore the intersections of sexuality, race, and spirituality. The two lead characters, Michelle (Khanbey-Miller) and Aiesha (Co-Exec Producer Chanel Glover), are both black lesbians, still learning to reconcile their sexual identity with their respective religious upbringings. When their shared father falls gravely ill, they are brought together and quickly find a support system in the other. As Khanbey-Miller explains: “Through some … challenges that they’re having individually in their own lives, they kind of find each other, and find this dynamic sisterhood that pushes each of the characters to more firmly own their identity without shame, and without inhibition.”

Based on the passionate response to their previous short, which proved to the team that there was a demand for positive, humanizing representation of QWOC on-screen, the web series is building on that visibility, and will be made in collaboration with and distributed by We Are Open TV — which supports Chicago-based indie series productions. “Believe it or not, we shot ‘Sex Is a God Thing’ [the short] on a $500 budget in a day and a half,” says director Zarinah Ali, “so if you’ve seen [it] and love it, just imagine what we can do with so much more funding.” Production is set for July 2018, and they need to raise $17,000.

You can help “Sex Is a God Thing” reach its goal by contributing to its Seed&Spark campaign.

“Unseen” (Short) – Written and Directed by Lotus Hannon

“Unseen”

“As a writer and a director, I’m really driven to tell stories from the margins about human survival, dealing with themes of power, sexuality, and taboos,” explains writer-director Lotus Hannon of the premise of “Unseen.” She and producer Chi Thai have crafted a story that explores all these themes, focusing on the struggle of lead character Lien (Jan Le) to be seen for who she is — rather than through the prism of racial fetishization — as an East Asian woman in Western society.

“I have to be the illusion of the exotic, the Oriental fantasy: submissive and obedient. Not me,” Lien explains in voiceover. It’s a subject that Thai has written about extensively in the campaign’s update pages, where she describes being inspired by the artwork of Donna Choi, and “The Good Immigrant,” a book of essays that explores experiences of being a person of color in contemporary British society. “In producing ‘Unseen,’ Lotus [and] I wrestled with how to demonstrate discrimination which operates through microaggressions [and] how that can threaten one’s real identity to the point of extinction,” Thai writes. Their film offers an unflinching, sorely needed interrogation of these systems of oppression, exploring identity through a voice that remains widely underrepresented in mainstream culture.

Testament to their ambition, the film was commissioned as one of this year’s Directors UK Alexa Challenge films, providing the filmmakers with access to world class equipment. Following a challenging two-day shoot, they now require help funding its post-production costs, including editing, grading, and music, to bring this story to life.

Visit “Unseen’s” Kickstarter campaign page to learn more and make a donation.

“Bitter Melons” (Short) – Written and Directed by Thavary Krouch

“Bitter Melons” was conceived when writer-director Thavary Krouch was undergoing chemotherapy for Hodgkins Lymphoma, and especially craving her mother’s bitter melon soup. She found herself reflecting upon her cultural heritage as a Cambodian-American, and the rift in her relationship with her father. Following her recovery, she set about writing and developing the short narrative film about Sophia, a young woman who, as Krouch puts it, “learns to embrace life, rather than run away from it.”

The family drama takes place partly in the culinary world, where Sophia works as a line cook, and the story is infused with a love of Cambodian food and simultaneously explores Sophia’s pain. The film culminates in an emotionally-wrought intertwining of these two themes as Sophia must ultimately overcome her doubts and self-loathing to find her true self.

As a documentary filmmaker, Krouch explains that though always attracted to the narrative form, she knew she could not work in the medium until she was ready. “It had to be a story where I felt no other choice but to make it,” she explains. Drawing upon her desire to see Cambodian-American representations on-screen, and particularly ones that were centered in the narrative, she set about populating the world of “Bitter Melons” with actors Pisay Pao (“Z Nation”), newcomer Channy Chhi Laux, and Tae Chourb (“Chicago PD”), and imbued the script with experiences familiar to the community, such as the toll of war on families.

The film’s first act has already been shot, and funding is now required for the remaining restaurant-set scenes.

You can contribute to the film by visiting its Seed&Spark campaign page.

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.