When A Cardinal Appears, An Angel Is Near - Short Film

A short film written and co-directed by Anne Harvey-Jones and Stephanie Boddington

Hi! We are raising funds to cost our next student short film.

Some things you need to know about the project:

Logline

A documentary crew follows an elderly queer woman who after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis, decides to have her funeral while she is still living.

Synopsis

When a Cardinal Appears is a pseudo-documentary covering two days in an elderly woman’s life as she prepares and throws a living funeral. Candid conversations about life and death, being a woman, being a queer woman, and the importance of relationships.

Annie's Creative Statement

Creating this screenplay was extremely meaningful for Annie as a young queer woman.

Those who have paved the way and dealt with the harsh world before us meant that we can now live more freely and loudly than ever before. This is a love letter to them.

Exhibiting how much of an impact people can silently make on the world for the better. There simply aren’t enough films being made for them so this is my attempt to give them thanks and give them recognition for all they have done for us.

This isn’t all the film is about, however. The topic of death and grief is so much a part of being human and yet is still a struggle for everyone when their/a loved one’s time comes.

Annie wanted to have an open dialogue about death and grief, especially about one’s own and how this affects relationships with those around you after receiving a terminal diagnosis. Not only the lead-up to the passing but how it is dealt with after the fact.

The dead don’t get to participate in their funerals so having a living funeral can be a way for the person dying and their loved ones to grieve together before the passing.

Mood Reel

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