Support our Film Finishing Fund: "Hungry Hearts"

Hi! Welcome to the fundraising page for HUNGRY HEARTS, a short film about family, loss and finding love in grief--however dysfunctional. We filmed across two days in July 2025 and now we are finishing our fundraising to cover post-production costs!

Synopsis:

Brother and Sister crash a stranger's very Italian funeral in their attempt to process the death of their mother. This time however, things get spicy and dramatic. As Italian mourners grieve their patriarch, outbursts from relatives turn the gathering into a chaotic mess. For the first time, Brother and Sister witness a family dynamic more spun out than their own...and it's exciting!

What inspired the story?

I'm Arielle, writer/director/actor of Hungry Hearts. I began writing this film on a long train journey from Sicily to Rome as part of my artist in residence at KulturFactory 2024. These characters came to me whilst thinking about how families handle grief--the very real isolation and darkly comedic togetherness it produces. I found the characters of "Brother" and "Sister" as emblematic of how differenly family members cope within loss--Brother is footloose and fancy free, embracing grief with openness and wonder. Sister is straight edged and contained, holding her vulnerability at bay and under control.

Donating:

We are now at the tail end of our fundraising efforts after two successful days of filming. All donations from here on will go towards:

-Any outstanding production costs from filming

-Post Production Editing

-Post Production Coloring

-Post Production Sound

-Festival Submission Fees

Who We Are:

Arielle Goldman (Writer/Director/"Sister")

is an award winning actor, writer and filmmaker. Her recent short film Kiss My Ass won awards at the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Through Women's Eyes Film Festival, Brooklyn Shorts and screened at Bushwick, New Filmmakers LA and more. This followed her first short film Day One which screened at Nitehawk, NoBudge, New York Lift Off and more. As an actress she leads Sarah Baskin's upcoming film I Want To Go To Moscow, Courtney DeStefano's upcoming film Bench Seats, and won Best Actress at NY Women in Film for her lead role in Cristina Spina's Consider the Lilies. She has performed on stage in world premier plays by Jonathan Spector (MiND), Michael Walek (NJRep), Zarina Shea (Lincoln Center), Sam Hunter (LongWharf) and more. TV: The Knick, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Fishkill. Hungry Hearts marks her third directorial film debut.

Molly Scotti (Cinematographer/DP)

is a Brooklyn-based cinematographer, photographer, and filmmaker. A 2022 graduate of Wesleyan University's film program, her debut feature as Director of Photography, Ben and Suzanne, A Reunion in Four Parts, premiered at South by Southwest in 2024. In addition to her film work, she teaches classes at the documentary film community DCTV in Chinatown and is a regular volunteer at the nonprofit film school and community dark room Mono No Aware.

Robert Ravenscroft (Producer)

is a co-founder of Pan Up Productions, an award winning full service production company. During Robert's tenure at AKA he developed and produced award winning campaigns for the likes of Funny Girl, The Met Museum, The Tina Turner Musical, Harry Potter, & A Dolls House. On the narrative side of Pan Up, Robert has produced and overseen 40+ short films working on growing and developing directors and navigating the festival circuits. He recently wrapped a feature entitled “Great White” starring Jon Bass, Pat Healy, and Emily Davis. While building up a solid network of talent to dive into feature films. In the commercial realm Robert has either produced, directed, or photographed spots for companies such as Southwest Airlines, Canon, Netflix, Clear, Seatgeek, Square, Dermstore.

Where Will This Film Go?

Hungry Hearts is a proof of concept for a larger feature film. Once the short is completed it will be submitted to film festivals world wide and will be screened alongside international films connecting stories, artists and communities across the globe. This festival run will gather momentum for it's full vision as a feature.

Thank you for donating to our project and inspiring artistic storytelling to grow.

*Check out some stills from filming*

Our beautiful cast features:

Arielle Goldman, Max Sheldon, Sathya Sridharan, Cristina Spina, Cornelius McMoyler, Alessia Siniscalchi, Christine Renee Miller, Jan Jalenak, Christoph Pieczynski, Maddalena Pugliese & Paul Spera.

You are now part of the Hungry Hearts family and will receive updates along the journey. Any donation helps and of course, spread the word!