Fund 1920's Short Film on Mental Health

Hello! My name is Joseph Mosca and I'm an aspiring 18 year-old independent filmmaker and film student based out of Washington, NJ. I'm putting together a short film project on the subject matter of mental health, and facing and understanding the continuity and change of it over the last century. The entire film will be mostly spoken in-German (American subtitles). The film will be titled, "SEELENFRIEDEN", which translates to "piece-of-mind" in-German.

The first half of the film, in accurate contextualization of the time-period, is set in the 1920s, as a crowd of high class citizens watch a schizophrenic woman, Rudiger, who's separate identity is a 'pop-star'-- have a schizophrenic breakdown/episode for their entertainment. Her episode is seen by her as a 'performance' on a large 'stage' in-front of 40,000 of her 'loyal fans.'

The second half focuses more on the continuity and change of what followed the horrible times of institutionalization of mentally-ill people (first half), and how their effects boiled over into a contemporary, American society/modern world.

The film prompts a larger question to audiences and people who are apart of this constantly growing society, allowing them to ponder: has anything changed since the 1920s and our views/treatment of mental illness?

There will be scenes which include a dance number/choreography (professionally choreographed), a horse-and-buggy scene, and on-location set pieces in Times Square, outside the Empire State Building, and many more.

The film will be shot, mostly, in Kings County, in Brooklyn, NY. There will be professionals (steadicam operator, AC, and DP's) hired for the project, providing industry-standard equipment (ARRI ALEXA MINI camera, STEADICAM ZEPHR, and COOKE 45MM lenses), along with professional talent (actors/actresses) based out of NYC. The donation goal will go towards these wonderful professionals, and help spread the message and the question of contemporary mental illness.

Any donation is highly appreciated, and will be put 100% into the project's finances/expenses. Donors reaching certain amounts will receive promotional content, merchandise (branded after film), B-Roll (behind the scenes) footage and still-shots (on-set), along with a private screening of the first/rough-cut of the film. The breakdown of these goals are as follows:

*FOR ANY DONOR AND NON-DONOR:

If you have any of the following items you wish to donate as *temporary props, it would be highly appreciated:

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THE PROJECT, IT'S SUBJECT MATTER, OR INTENTIONS-- PLEASE MESSAGE ME ON INSTAGRAM: @josephtarantinoo

Thank you for your consideration, and I'll see you in the movies.