Speak to Me (Short Film)
Donation protected
Hello everyone!
My name is Anmol Bajpai and I just recently graduated from the University of Southern California this Spring. Having studied and practiced filmmaking for the last four years, I now aspire to finally direct my own short film, which I plan to use in my applications for graduate film schools this fall.
For the past several months, I have been working on a personal project of mine, that I would like to now share with you a little bit. Speak to Me is a deeply intimate tale pulled from my own journey as an Indian-American immigrant growing up in the United States. While the characters and emotional tenets of the story have been with me for some time now, I am now bringing that vision to a reality. The film is a character study of a mother and a daughter, torn apart by grief, pain, resentment, and mental illness. Though the story is completely original and fictional, it reflects my own immigrant experiences, family history, and cultural heritage. As my first big project as a filmmaker, I wanted to make this a love letter to my own family.
Keep reading to hear more about the story behind Speak to Me!
Our finished film will be a 5-minute-long drama following two characters . The story will also take place in one house (one location) and will be operated by a vaccinated, skeleton crew - a COVID-19 safe production.
A Mother and Daughter, Estranged
Aisha Sharma (30s, Female): Aisha is a successful Indian-American modern home architect who leads a solitary life. After a traumatic death in the family, she immigrated from India in her teenage years to start fresh, fully westernizing herself in the years since. She’s an obsessively compulsive workaholic, dedicating everything to her career, unable to trust or make space for anyone else in her life. However, still holding on to the past, she desperately longs for connection and closure with her estranged mother. Fluent in English (no accent), fairly fluent in Hindi (rusty).
Kunti Sharma (60s, Female): Years of grief, stress, guilt, and loneliness related to the death of her husband and estrangement of her once close daughter eventually led Kunti to develop severe dementia. In her current state, she is a frail, timid, and irritable woman with strange habits and ticks. Arriving in America after a lifetime in India, Kunti is disoriented and defensive in her new unfamiliar surroundings, especially since she does not recognize her current caregiver - her own daughter. Fluent in Hindi (no accent).
Here is a general breakdown of the Budget from our producer, Lana Nguyen, who has had experience working on micro budget shorts in the past. As you can see, your contributions will be going to everything from taking care of cast and crew to logistical production challenges.
Our team is expanding and currently crewing up, but here is who is attached so far. Stay tuned for more updates!
Writer/Director: Anmol Bajpai
Producer: Lana Nguyen
Sound Designer: Alexis Tran
---
Thank you for reading about my passion project. Films can be extremely difficult to finance, even short films like mine. To make my project come to life, I would like to ask for your help in partially financing it. With your support, I can make a big leap in my personal journey as a filmmaker.
Please feel free to share this fundraiser!
Thank you,
Anmol Bajpai
My name is Anmol Bajpai and I just recently graduated from the University of Southern California this Spring. Having studied and practiced filmmaking for the last four years, I now aspire to finally direct my own short film, which I plan to use in my applications for graduate film schools this fall.
For the past several months, I have been working on a personal project of mine, that I would like to now share with you a little bit. Speak to Me is a deeply intimate tale pulled from my own journey as an Indian-American immigrant growing up in the United States. While the characters and emotional tenets of the story have been with me for some time now, I am now bringing that vision to a reality. The film is a character study of a mother and a daughter, torn apart by grief, pain, resentment, and mental illness. Though the story is completely original and fictional, it reflects my own immigrant experiences, family history, and cultural heritage. As my first big project as a filmmaker, I wanted to make this a love letter to my own family.
Keep reading to hear more about the story behind Speak to Me!Our finished film will be a 5-minute-long drama following two characters . The story will also take place in one house (one location) and will be operated by a vaccinated, skeleton crew - a COVID-19 safe production.A Mother and Daughter, EstrangedAisha Sharma (30s, Female): Aisha is a successful Indian-American modern home architect who leads a solitary life. After a traumatic death in the family, she immigrated from India in her teenage years to start fresh, fully westernizing herself in the years since. She’s an obsessively compulsive workaholic, dedicating everything to her career, unable to trust or make space for anyone else in her life. However, still holding on to the past, she desperately longs for connection and closure with her estranged mother. Fluent in English (no accent), fairly fluent in Hindi (rusty).
Kunti Sharma (60s, Female): Years of grief, stress, guilt, and loneliness related to the death of her husband and estrangement of her once close daughter eventually led Kunti to develop severe dementia. In her current state, she is a frail, timid, and irritable woman with strange habits and ticks. Arriving in America after a lifetime in India, Kunti is disoriented and defensive in her new unfamiliar surroundings, especially since she does not recognize her current caregiver - her own daughter. Fluent in Hindi (no accent).
Here is a general breakdown of the Budget from our producer, Lana Nguyen, who has had experience working on micro budget shorts in the past. As you can see, your contributions will be going to everything from taking care of cast and crew to logistical production challenges. Our team is expanding and currently crewing up, but here is who is attached so far. Stay tuned for more updates!
Writer/Director: Anmol Bajpai
Producer: Lana Nguyen
Sound Designer: Alexis Tran
---
Thank you for reading about my passion project. Films can be extremely difficult to finance, even short films like mine. To make my project come to life, I would like to ask for your help in partially financing it. With your support, I can make a big leap in my personal journey as a filmmaker.
Please feel free to share this fundraiser!
Thank you,
Anmol Bajpai
Organizer and beneficiary
Anmol Bajpai
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Lana Nguyen
Beneficiary