Help us make our film LIFELINE come to life!

Hi everyone,

We are Emma-Rose & Maxim, and this summer we will be co-directing our first professional short film... yay! From starting out a number of years ago as PAs on set and having worked our way up through various positions within the film industry, we could not be more excited to make our directing debut. Our script was one of only 3 scripts selected by a Cinelab program for further development and production and we cannot wait to see our idea translated to the big screen.

LifeLine is a short film about the invisible but ever present bond between a parent and child, and on how lonely it can feel having to be a grown up - for children do grow up eventually, whether they like it or not. Our protagonist LILY (25) is trying extremely hard to be a "real" grown up which means sorting out her messy mistakes on her own. Lily plans on secretly having an (legal) abortion and lies to her mother about where she is and what she is doing. After having inserted the abortion pills and while waiting for whatever is about to happen, Lily tries hard to convince herself she knows what she's doing. After all, this is just one of the many things in life that no one really knows how to deal with but which, as a "real" grown up, you're meant to figure out on your own. However, her secret isn’t safe for long: Lily gets caught in the act. Her secret is now out, and news soon makes its way back to her parents. Her parents... all she really wants is their love, support, and help. But she isn't supposed to ask for that anymore, is she? Will Lily and her mom be able to redefine their parent-child relationship in order for it to survive? Will they learn to ask for help, without that making them any less of a "real" grown up?

LifeLine is a comedic drama in which we try to find the humor in this very silly yet human thing we all seem to do: believing we have to do everything by ourself, never asking for help even when we’re drowning. Being a grown up can be ironically lonely...

In the film we also explore the ever-present taboo surrounding abortion and all the prejudice it evokes. After all, should anyone be made to feel ashamed or guilty about something concerning their own body, especially when it is the result of circumstances beyond their control? Do we still need to feel embarrassed or secretive about having sex? Aren't we supposed to be openminded and tolerant living in the 21st century? Or are we still stuck in old, judgemental patterns, trying desperately to be as close to perfect as we possibly can be?

We are beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to bring this beautifully funny story to life and can't wait to start filming. Shooting a film, however, is a very expensive process. As one of the 3 selected projects, we have received a small budget intended to help us get started. In addition, we have both invested all we can spare in equipment, networking, and coaching (never mind in time and effort). The real challenge is coming up with additional funding, which is why we need your help!  Our goal amount of €5000 euros gives us the minimum we need for a minimal crew, small cast, and minimal amount of shooting days. Obviously, we would love as much wriggle room as possible so we can reach an even higher level of quality and really challenge ourselves. In film, just like in the rest of the world, time = money. For our film that would mean more shooting days, more crew, better locations, better costumes, more prep days, more editing days, more reimbursements for travel expenses, better and more equipment, better catering, more opportunities to submit our film to festivals… It would give us more room to breathe.

And then we haven’t even gotten to the most important reason for asking for all the financial support we can get… As freelancers in the film industry we feel very strongly about paying our cast and crew fairly. This is our passion project, our baby, and for that reason we are both more than happy and willing to give up our fee in favor of our cast and crew. But that alone won’t cover it. Almost all the money we manage to raise will go into paying the amazing people who will be helping us to make this film. All of them are extremely talented young people, many of them starting out just like us. They deserve every opportunity to practice their craft and develop their careers AND a fair wage. We know from experience how eagerness to take on any job that comes your way often leads to others taking advantage of you and your ambition. We have both worked for far too little money, for way too long. Continuously putting in 150% and only getting 50% back. We feel very passionate about creating a fair work environment for our everyone involved with our film, because we believe that to make the best film we can possibly make, everyone needs to feel appreciated and seen. Creativity is a humbling and fragile process, and as artists we want to do everything we can to respect that process and the artists.

In our opinion, filmmaking and storytelling is absolutely the best job in the world. Sharing stories with the world, engaging people and touching hearts... there is nothing more beautiful than that. We'd really appreciate your help in making this story come to life, and we'd be forever grateful for your support! Once our film has been screened, we would be overjoyed to share it with you so you can see how your hard-earned money was well-spent by us 

Thank you for your time and energy, and thank you for listening to our story.

Love,

Emma-Rose & Maxim