The Tea Room - A short film

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£1,575 raised of £5K

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The Tea Room - A short film

Co-organized

Jiyeon Kim and Carolina Mendonca are organizing this fundraiser.

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Welcome to The Tea Room!

Thank you for being here. This is the official campaign for a short film about memory, identity, and the spaces we return to when words are no longer enough.

THE STORY

The Tea Room is a psychological drama about three people from different cultural backgrounds, each burdened by a different kind of regret, who receive an invitation to a hidden place. There, a custom-prepared tea allows them to access forgotten memories buried deep in the subconscious.

They are welcomed by a woman who explains the rules: the tea will reveal both painful and healing memories.

As the tea takes effect, each of them is transported into a vision.

What begins as an opportunity for healing soon becomes a test of will. When one of them refuses to return, the others must decide whether to step into his darkness to bring him back… before it’s too late.

This is a story about what we carry inside. It’s about grief, regret, memory, and healing. It’s about silence. And what happens when we choose to speak.

VISUAL REFERENCES

The Tea Room will feel like a place outside of time, detailed and symbolic. Each vision will reflect the inner world of the character, shifting in tone and texture to match their emotional truth.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

The Tea Room was initially inspired by a true story. Almost a decade ago, a friend told me about her experience with regression therapy. A deep, guided journey into the subconscious through memory. What she shared stayed with me. I found myself drawn to the emotional complexity and vulnerability that came with revisiting forgotten parts of ourselves.

This film was born from those stories and from my own curiosity. The fictional world of The Tea Room is grounded in that foundation, expanded through research and symbolism.

As someone who lives far from home, the film is also deeply personal to me. Even though I speak mostly English in my day-to-day life, my dreams, my internal thoughts, and my memories still speak in Portuguese. That insight became an essential part of the story. Each character in The Tea Room comes from a different cultural background, and when we enter their subconscious, we hear them in their native language. Because our inner world — our memories, fears, and emotional truths — often speak in the language of where we first lived them.

LETTING GO

The Tea Room is a story about returning. Not just from memory, but to ourselves.

This film believes that healing is not about erasing the past, but about facing it. And that the most powerful form of connection doesn’t come from being perfect or strong, but from being honest. Vulnerable. Seen.

The Tea Room is shaped by the haunting question: What happens when someone, drawn to the comfort of the past, cannot let go, and loses the ability to move forward?

While the past can reveal who we are, it can’t define who we become. Our memories help us understand ourselves, but it’s our actions that shape the life ahead.

THE CREW