Help us make a movie - Venus in Cancer
Donation protected
My name is Christian and I need your help.
When last March came, all of us had projects that were either cut short, cancelled or postponed across music, theatre and film because of the pandemic. And that’s a sad thing. All over the world, better independent artists than us have also been completely sidelined - and that’s a terrible thing. This is why I am launching this campaign, in the spirit of a project that can help the artists in my city have a new creative place to hang their coat this summer and that is my film Venus in Cancer. This project is something I know we can attack and complete safely and completely in the months to come.
This is has been a slow burning and building project over the last 2+ years and was initially supposed to be production last May. Ultimately, this prolonged delay has been a gift as I have been able to transform the project into something stronger, more personal and more exciting for the actors and artists I am eager to begin collaborating with again. During that time, my friends and I at our company Grown Up Costume Party have completed a number of projects (The Now Show with Jack Belle, The Gourmands, It Must Have Rained All Day) that have been championed by smaller festivals and maybe even by you! We've grown a lot from our theatre roots and cannot wait to exercise that growth again as soon as we can. After completing the writing of this text in early 2020, it has undergone more than 35 complete drafts since, as well test shoots, workshop readings and endless conversations between myself and some of the artists I respect the most. There’s been this long collecting energy behind the project with myself and others that I absolutely cannot let slip away without finishing.
To describe Venus in Cancer simply. it is a story about Wes and Bernie, two old friends initially brought together through their respective heartbreaks. Their simpatico friendship is tested by the sudden arrival of Wes’ old flame, Klover. In one traumatic and booze soaked night they meditate on addiction, malaise, intimacy and the tenuous nature of friendship. Venus in Cancer is a taut and sensual drama, or more simply, a melancholy rom-com
What I cannot stress enough is another important element of shooting this project to me is the opportunity to really photograph and pay homage to my own neighborhood. There is an incredibly elegant character and kind of timeless beauty in downtown Colorado Springs. And I know it has held and witnessed so many of these stories in real time over the last hundred years and it’s something I want forever locked in time before any kind of development strips this part of town of its authenticity and austerity.
Maybe it’s all just a last gasp of my youth wanting to live on forever, for 70 minutes at a time, but from all my conversations with artists and others about the text this is a story and dynamic that so many people feel touched by and I want them to have visibility. The story is simple but requires a little investment. Paying for actors, crew members, catering to feed them both, upgrades in equipment, location compensation, ideally festival submission fees and a colorist. We’re asking for $8000 to complete this project in the Spring, which challenges my own ethics and I want to make it clear that so many people are still struggling to put food on the table and pay for a roof, so while I am endlessly grateful to any of you who donate to this project, please also consider donating to places like World Central Kitchen or the GoFundMe page to save Colorado's restaurants, there are hundreds more.
I cannot at this time offer any reward for a donation but know that every donation is going directly to local art, to feeding a local artist, to easing the financial strain of a local artist and ideally, in the true spirit of what I think art is for, changing the world.
Thank you.
When last March came, all of us had projects that were either cut short, cancelled or postponed across music, theatre and film because of the pandemic. And that’s a sad thing. All over the world, better independent artists than us have also been completely sidelined - and that’s a terrible thing. This is why I am launching this campaign, in the spirit of a project that can help the artists in my city have a new creative place to hang their coat this summer and that is my film Venus in Cancer. This project is something I know we can attack and complete safely and completely in the months to come.
This is has been a slow burning and building project over the last 2+ years and was initially supposed to be production last May. Ultimately, this prolonged delay has been a gift as I have been able to transform the project into something stronger, more personal and more exciting for the actors and artists I am eager to begin collaborating with again. During that time, my friends and I at our company Grown Up Costume Party have completed a number of projects (The Now Show with Jack Belle, The Gourmands, It Must Have Rained All Day) that have been championed by smaller festivals and maybe even by you! We've grown a lot from our theatre roots and cannot wait to exercise that growth again as soon as we can. After completing the writing of this text in early 2020, it has undergone more than 35 complete drafts since, as well test shoots, workshop readings and endless conversations between myself and some of the artists I respect the most. There’s been this long collecting energy behind the project with myself and others that I absolutely cannot let slip away without finishing.
To describe Venus in Cancer simply. it is a story about Wes and Bernie, two old friends initially brought together through their respective heartbreaks. Their simpatico friendship is tested by the sudden arrival of Wes’ old flame, Klover. In one traumatic and booze soaked night they meditate on addiction, malaise, intimacy and the tenuous nature of friendship. Venus in Cancer is a taut and sensual drama, or more simply, a melancholy rom-com
What I cannot stress enough is another important element of shooting this project to me is the opportunity to really photograph and pay homage to my own neighborhood. There is an incredibly elegant character and kind of timeless beauty in downtown Colorado Springs. And I know it has held and witnessed so many of these stories in real time over the last hundred years and it’s something I want forever locked in time before any kind of development strips this part of town of its authenticity and austerity.
Maybe it’s all just a last gasp of my youth wanting to live on forever, for 70 minutes at a time, but from all my conversations with artists and others about the text this is a story and dynamic that so many people feel touched by and I want them to have visibility. The story is simple but requires a little investment. Paying for actors, crew members, catering to feed them both, upgrades in equipment, location compensation, ideally festival submission fees and a colorist. We’re asking for $8000 to complete this project in the Spring, which challenges my own ethics and I want to make it clear that so many people are still struggling to put food on the table and pay for a roof, so while I am endlessly grateful to any of you who donate to this project, please also consider donating to places like World Central Kitchen or the GoFundMe page to save Colorado's restaurants, there are hundreds more.
I cannot at this time offer any reward for a donation but know that every donation is going directly to local art, to feeding a local artist, to easing the financial strain of a local artist and ideally, in the true spirit of what I think art is for, changing the world.
Thank you.
Fundraising team (5)
Christian O'Shaughnessy
Organizer
Colorado Springs, CO
Katie Medved
Team member
Mike Lee
Team member
Jess Weaver
Team member
Kendra Shock
Team member