Help Bring Nearly Departed to Life in Montana

We’re Ashley Maria and Molly Quinlan Artwick, and we’re so excited to be shooting our short film NEARLY DEPARTED in and around Missoula, Montana in September 2025!

Nearly Departed - written by Molly Quinlan Artwick and directed by Ashley Maria - is the story of Charlie and Jules, two sisters at odds discovering how to move on from their father’s death. This heartfelt piece deals with the dark, trying, and often funny ways grief manifests.

LOGLINE:

Two sisters at odds armed with a cookie jar of their father’s ashes take one last road trip with Dad to find the perfect place to say goodbye. When one threatens to smash the jar, they realize they have to learn a new way to live with each other — or risk losing their family forever.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM HERE: https://ashley-maria.com/current-projects/

IT'S BASED ON A TRUE STORY

From Molly: "A couple of years ago, I wrote a film about grief. More precisely, about how grief affects us all differently. I lost my mom in 2011 and my dad in 2017, and along with my siblings, I had a front row seat to how grief manifests—from the difficult, to the mundane, to the absolutely absurd.

In dealing with these losses, I was surprised to find myself laughing a lot more than I ever expected. Especially when I discovered one of my sisters snuck a small urn of my Dad’s ashes through the TSA by wrapping it in her underwear.

(Fun fact: you do NOT have to do this. The TSA will not confiscate your ashes.)

I found that for my family, humor became a coping mechanism to deal with complicated feelings around grief, which especially helped when things got weird. So I decided to explore this concept more in a script called Nearly Departed.

Over the past year, I’ve been lucky enough to become part of an amazing team (led by director Ashley Maria) bringing this film to life. Our production has received a Big Sky Film Grant from the Montana Department of Commerce, which has been a massive help in bringing this story to the big screen. But we still need help to close the gap, especially as we gear up for production in September."

ASHLEY MARIA

Nearly Departed is brought to you by an Emmy-nominated and DGA award-winning director. Ashley Maria’s portfolio includes a range of funny (and fun), scary, musical, and impactful films featuring superheroes, singing neighbors, and screaming television characters. Based in Los Angeles, CA., Ashley received her Master’s in Fine Arts (MFA) from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

"As a director, this is the kind of script I look for because Molly has so beautifully woven the heavy, sometimes unbearable, weight of grief with light and love and laughter. When I read Molly's script, I fell in love with how differently the sisters deal with their father's death. Molly's story really resonated with me and reminded me of how I felt when I lost my Oma and then again when I lost my 'Grumpa' a few years later. "

PRE-PRODUCTION

We're currently in pre-production of the film and are proud to work with a Montana-based crew and support the local economy -- and extremely thrilled to be able to have the beauty of Montana as part of our story too!

OUR JOURNEY SO FAR

In 2024 we received a grant through the Montana Film Office’s Big Sky Film Grant program. Since then we have been scouting to find the optimal locations to shoot the film and putting together our crew.

The Big Sky Film Grant has brought us half-way to our production funding. But now, we need your help to get us to a screen near you.

HOW YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL BE USED

MAJOR THEMES IN THE FILM

1. Adventure - taking one last scenic Montana road trip with Dad to find the perfect place to say goodbye

2. Personal Growth - exploring the diverse, painful, and sometimes absurd ways we cope with loss

3. The Importance of Family Connections - two sisters' bonds are tested as they clash over the loss of their dad

STAY UP TO DATE ON ALL OF OUR FILMS

Sign up to receive occasional email updates about our entire slate of films here: https://tinyurl.com/AMPNewsletterSignUp

You've made it to the bottom - thank you for reading!

No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or returns on investment are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.