The Roots Within - Short Folk Horror Film

The Film

Welcome to The Roots Within crowdfunding page! This is a modern folk horror story vaguely based on Eastern European folklore stories and will be shot in the South East of England by local filmmakers.

Hi, my name is Ana Iscru and I'm crowdfunding for my short film. Help me tell the story of young Grace and her aunt Jadwiga and let's discover the mysteries hidden in Jadwiga's house and in the forest nearby. You might learn a thing or two about how NOT to get in trouble when you're deep in the forest.

I have been planning for this film for almost a year now and the only steps left are to cast the actors and raise enough funds to pay my team fairly, as hard work and great talent deserve compensation.

You can watch the following presentation video with the director and producer introducing the film, so you see we're real people:

Crowdfunding Video

The Story and Main Characters

If you harm nature, she will harm you back.

19-year-old Grace comes back to her hometown to visit her distant father and finds out that her aunt Jadwiga might be hiding some secrets about her identity.

Jadwiga is a mysterious woman, inspired by slavic folklore character Baba Yaga. She is uncanny and appears to have a lot of love for the natural world. She is friendly to those who want to live in harmony with her and loves her niece, but could there be a more dangerous side to her?

Leshy is Jadwiga's adorable and mysterious cat. She would do anything to protect her owner.

Moodboard

Budget Breakdown for funds

The Team

Ana Iscru (Co-writer and Director) is a director, writer, producer and editor based in the UK. She has written and directed a few short films and is a fan of the horror genre. She loves the films of David Lynch, Agnès Varda and Ken Loach and generally likes characters who break free from societal expectations.

IMDb

Bianca Lucia Rus (Producer) is a filmmaker who has been making short films since 1997, worked in television and radio, produced music and corporate videos and photography projects.

She has won several national film awards for her productions and is currently working on her first feature documentary film.

IMDb

Ankolika Kumar (Co-writer and Art Director) is a screenwriter and creative director based in the UK. After formally studying screenwriting, she went on to work on several short film projects as a writer as well as a consultant. She gravitates towards strong, female driven narratives with larger-than-life themes.

IMDb

Dilly the cat (Actor) as Leshy in the film (no IMDb yet)

You can follow our Instagram to see updates and behind the scenes: Instagram

We will keep this campaign going for a couple months, as we need support for post-production as well.

Thank you so much once again for your support! It would help a lot if you could share this crowdfunding campaign or our social media posts with your friends and family and we can't wait to share our film with you! <3

As per GoFundMe rules: *No raffles, sweepstakes or promotions are offered directly in exchange for any donations made through our GoFundMe.* Follow Instagram for more details please -> Instagram The Roots Within