Darkness falls as you wander lost through the Russian woods. There, in the twilight - you can make out the shape of a small hut. A sinister feeling falls as you approach, and a branch snaps behind you. You turn around to see her, the famed witch of Russian fables: Baba Yaga!

Hi, my name is Katy and I am an award-winning student filmmaker in Washington, DC. I'm fundraising for my upcoming short film YAGA, which will serve as my thesis film to graduate with an MFA from American University.

I have had a lifelong love of mythology and folklore from all over the world. These stories show the breadth and diversity of human creativity and have survived hundreds if not thousands of years in our collective imaginations, through retellings and reimaginings and reinterpretations. As a Jewish woman with family who came to the United States from Russia and Poland, I have always felt especially drawn to Russian fairy tales and the figure of Baba Yaga. She is hard to predict and impossible to pin down - sometimes she helps, sometimes she hinders - but she always follows her own agenda.

YAGA is a short psychological horror that applies a modern twist to the story of Baba Yaga. The film follows Nadia, a woman who struggles to stand up for herself, who accidentally summons the immortal crone while on vacation with her girlfriend. Her ability to set and enforce boundaries will be tested, and if she fails, she could lose herself forever.

I need your help to make it happen! The money raised will go to the cost of production: paying the cast and crew, renting locations, and sourcing equipment and props. We will be shooting in March, with the goal to complete the film in August and start submitting it to festivals.

Thank you for your support! Every little bit helps, and I can't wait to share the finished product with you.

As they say in Russian - spasibo!

Much love,

Katy