Sparkle On! is a documentary feature film about Kara Picante—Portland's Queen of Air Guitar! Kara was a sparkling unicorn performance artist who fought stage 4 cancer while also competing in the U.S. Air Guitar National Championships. Check out what her husband Charles "Mr. Picante" has to say about her:

Kara was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer in May 2019. Six months later, she launched a blog inviting readers to join her as she navigated an incurable illness. "I want to share my experiences," she wrote, "because maybe something I do can ignite a spark in you."

Over the next four years, she published over 400 essays bubbling with levity, intimacy, and unabashed optimism. She showed readers that serious illness is not a medical narrative, but an opportunity to give the world your most vibrant self.

You're probably wondering where air guitar fits into this. If you do competitive air guitar, you are pushing the socially accepted limits of the imaginary. This is where the spark ignites: Kara did just that--not only with an invisible instrument, but with a terminal diagnosis. She turned her disease into a shared creation of possibility regardless of the outcome.

Whether blogging in a post-surgical delirium, belly dancing through a major abscess, or shredding her way to becoming America's second best air guitarist while on chemo, Kara dared us to perceive reality--even matters of life and death--beyond our social programming. Not to call attention to herself, not to shore up some delusion about her prognosis, but to bring us together as witnesses to our awesomeness in extreme conditions. To remind us how wild, creative, and fiercely sparkly we can be in the face of our mortality.

From Charles's testimony as well as our video, you can see why we're making a film about Kara! We have an amazing story on our hands. Please consider helping fund post-production. THANK YOU for joining us!

Love and sparkles,

Charles, Adam, Bethany, and Jennie