Hospice Short Film
Donation protected
Hospice is a dramatic short film about an elderly woman named Carol who, aided by her grandson Davey, is attempting to escape from her hospice. However, Carol suffers from dementia, and her journey is met by apparitions and memories from her past which force her to confront the reality of death and the fickle nature of memory.
Though Hospice, we hope to explore the subjective experience of one suffering from dementia. Each person's experience with dementia symptoms is different, yet the relatives' experience is very similar. While writing the script, casting, location scouting, etc. we've encountered a lot of different people who've been willing to help our film and share their stories of dementia with us. Each seems to have a bitter-sweet aspect to it and this is the tone we are trying to strike with Hospice.
We've begun with a simple, and common premise: a dementia patient wants to escape her nursing facility. This is not an uncommon yearning for dementia patients in nursing/memory care facilities, and we've turned this unlikely goal into an epic emotional adventure for our protagonist, Carol. Carol carries many different “versions” of herself within herself–the carefree Carol of her childhood, the jaded Carol of her adolescence, or the stubborn Carol of her adulthood–but eventually develops into a finally mature grandmother. Throughout the film, Carol's time-bending experiences and her relationship with her grandson Davey develop into a deep reflection on what is most important in our lives–our personal relationships.
With the money we raise through GoFundMe, we hope to be able to fund the essential resources needed to make a film–gas and food. As a student production, most of our cast and crew are working unpaid. The best way we can pay them back, and motivate the entire production, is through providing hot meals every shoot day. It's a simple gesture that goes a long way. We are also shooting all over the Austin-area, from Killeen to Dripping Springs, meaning that there's going to be a lot of driving. Being able to transport cast, crew, and equipment will be very important to making this production successful. We'd appreciate anything you can contribute, and it will earn you a special thanks in our end credits! We will be finishing this project by the beginning of May in order to be a part of the Undergraduate Thesis End of Semester Screening, currently scheduled for May 16th at the Texas Union Theater. We hope to see you there with your name on the big screen!
Above, Writer/Director Jude Brooks-Benham and Producer Pierson Hawkins intently scout a location for their upcoming film shoot for Hospice
Though Hospice, we hope to explore the subjective experience of one suffering from dementia. Each person's experience with dementia symptoms is different, yet the relatives' experience is very similar. While writing the script, casting, location scouting, etc. we've encountered a lot of different people who've been willing to help our film and share their stories of dementia with us. Each seems to have a bitter-sweet aspect to it and this is the tone we are trying to strike with Hospice.
We've begun with a simple, and common premise: a dementia patient wants to escape her nursing facility. This is not an uncommon yearning for dementia patients in nursing/memory care facilities, and we've turned this unlikely goal into an epic emotional adventure for our protagonist, Carol. Carol carries many different “versions” of herself within herself–the carefree Carol of her childhood, the jaded Carol of her adolescence, or the stubborn Carol of her adulthood–but eventually develops into a finally mature grandmother. Throughout the film, Carol's time-bending experiences and her relationship with her grandson Davey develop into a deep reflection on what is most important in our lives–our personal relationships.
With the money we raise through GoFundMe, we hope to be able to fund the essential resources needed to make a film–gas and food. As a student production, most of our cast and crew are working unpaid. The best way we can pay them back, and motivate the entire production, is through providing hot meals every shoot day. It's a simple gesture that goes a long way. We are also shooting all over the Austin-area, from Killeen to Dripping Springs, meaning that there's going to be a lot of driving. Being able to transport cast, crew, and equipment will be very important to making this production successful. We'd appreciate anything you can contribute, and it will earn you a special thanks in our end credits! We will be finishing this project by the beginning of May in order to be a part of the Undergraduate Thesis End of Semester Screening, currently scheduled for May 16th at the Texas Union Theater. We hope to see you there with your name on the big screen!
Above, Writer/Director Jude Brooks-Benham and Producer Pierson Hawkins intently scout a location for their upcoming film shoot for Hospice
Organizer
Pierson Hawkins
Organizer
Austin, TX