THE SOURCE short film

Two young girls—one trapped in a well, the other in rubble—face parallel struggles. As the media sensationalizes one and ignores the other, their stories intertwine, revealing a shared origin.

As an artist, I intend to offer experiences that transform suffering into something beautiful. Here is a link to a sample of my work as a filmmaker: https://www.nobudge.com/videos/san-clemente-syndrome

This story aims to transcend individualist notions of a main character, and to invite viewers to connect with what Thích Nhất Hạnh referred to as “interbeing.” This film is about the inherent connection of all beings.

My producers, Mel Mah and Frankie Rubio, and I are setting an ambitious goal for this Gofundme. I had originally planned to put a significant amount of my personal funds towards the budget of this project but my car was recently totaled in a hit-and-run. No mud, no lotus. Lol.

The money we raise will be used to pay crew members, cover equipment and location costs, production design, and meals.

We are sincerely grateful for any amount anyone is willing to contribute to the making of this project. Seriously, thank you.

All who donate will be mentioned in the Special Thanks credits (feel free to let us know if you would prefer to remain anonymous) and receive a private link of the completed film as soon as it is available for viewing.

Those who donate over $50 will receive a copy of the script along with a handwritten thank-you note from the key crew.

A bit about me:

My name is Claire and I am a writer/director from Orange County, CA.

My dad’s family came to the U.S. to escape the Holocaust and my mom’s family immigrated to the U.S. to escape poverty in Ireland.

My family’s struggles inspire me to tell stories that reach for truths about the collective human experience.

I have a BFA in Film Production with an emphasis in directing from Chapman University.

Here are some references/inspirations for the film:

Biutiful by Iñárritu - I am inspired by the way Iñárritu weaves together various stories to reveal their interconnected nature

Mulholland Drive by David Lynch - Inspired by David Lynch, I aim to infuse this film with a sense of eeriness, to explore the inherently liminal nature of the human experience.

Come and See - inspired by anti-war themes, haunting performances, and visceral sound design

A few reference images:

“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are…

Looking even more deeply, we can see we are in it too. This is not difficult to see, because when we look at a sheet of paper, the sheet of paper is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also. So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper. You cannot point out one thing that is not here-time, space, the earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sunshine, the cloud, the river, the heat. Everything co-exists with this sheet of paper… “To be” is to inter-be. You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.

Suppose we try to return one of the elements to its source. Suppose we return the sunshine to the sun. Do you think that this sheet of paper will be possible? No, without sunshine nothing can be… The fact is that this sheet of paper is made up only of “non-paper elements.” And if we return these non-paper elements to their sources, then there can be no paper at all. Without “non-paper elements,” like mind, logger, sunshine and so on, there will be no paper. As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it.”

― Thích Nhất Hạnh

Thank you.