I’m making a movie
The inspiration, the journey, and how you can join me
Tl;dr: I’m making my first drama short film, “After Moonrise,” a mother-daughter story about grief and healing; I’d love for you to join me in bringing this vision to life by joining our crowdfunding campaign.
There’s a story that I’ve been afraid to tell—until now.
My mom and I've always been very close, but it hasn’t always been easy, especially when we struggled to understand each other or talk about what was going on in our lives. But when her dad, my nanaji, died of COVID, it was a turning point in our relationship: it was as if the floodgates opened and I saw a side of my mom I hadn’t seen. She was more open, vulnerable, sharing with me details about her life and childhood that helped me see her as a multifaceted human, rather than my superhero mom.
This understanding didn’t just change our relationship—it was also a critical step in my healing journey.
What I've come to understand is that my healing journey is inseparable from my mom's, which connects to her mom's, and stretches back through generations. We're all part of this interconnected web, healing together. But to this date, I’ve yet to see many narratives showcasing this journey. Instead, it feels like our parents are still portrayed as stereotypical tiger aunties or uncles, whereas the younger generation heals independently through “doing the work.”
Instead, I want to see a different story: how a mother-daughter can, despite all the baggage, grief, generational differences, shame, trauma, and resentment, find their way back to each other and heal together.
This is exactly why I wrote my short film, After Moonrise, and why I want you to join me in bringing it to life.
So, why a film?
Movies have literally changed my life. As a young child, growing up across India, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, and the US, movies were my way of making sense of the world. The opportunity to do that for others, perhaps even inspire or shift the way they look at the world, feels immensely meaningful to me.
However, I haven’t attended film school and have no real experience in this field (nor does anyone in my family). So, how does one go about doing this?
The answer: learning, community, and lots and lots of trial and error.
My filmmaking bootcamp
After writing this script in Rickshaw Writer’s Lab by December 2024, I decided to put myself through a three to four month “filmmaking bootcamp” to learn the key skills of directors that I lacked, like working with actors or the visual film grammar (like the difference between a pan vs tilt).
For the first one, I took a class through Sundance Collab, where I spent two days drinking from a firehose as our incredible instructor walked us through the entire process of making a short film: everything from pre-production to distribution and marketing. Having that context was invaluable, but it still felt theoretical.
Enter The Barrow Group. It’s an acting and filmmaking school that came highly recommended by friends, so I signed up for an acting class there. My biggest learning? As an actor, you have to reconcile two realities at the same time: that it’s just you and your scene partner in the moment, and the audience is intently watching your every move. The process gave me immense respect and empathy for actors, as well as how to collaborate with them.
Next, I took a filmmaking class, where we created seven shorts in ten weeks (you can find a sample of them here). Some of these films were originals, others a replica of an existing scene, but all gave me a new appreciation for all the thought and work that goes into filming anything (regardless of its length)
Juggling this with my personal life and day job was tough. There were some breakdowns, but the progress and people keep you going. When you look back, you realize that you’ve learned and improved a lot.
You’re becoming a filmmaker, even if you’re not comfortable saying those words out loud.
Why this film
Once I wrapped up The Barrow Group in April of this year, I shifted gears to working on the film. Since then, I have:
Interviewed six producers and brought on Maria, who has been my rock. It’s also how I met India, who became an EP and key supporter through this process.
Interviewed eight cinematographers and five production designers, resulting in the addition of Michael and Rhea to the team. Each is an incredible collaborator yet also a wizard at what they do. I feel so lucky to have their support.
Ran a full casting search for our two leads, which resulted in reviewing over 250+ applications for our lead role, 30+ self-tapes, and now 16 callback auditions.
Started location scouting to find our dream set.
But there’s still so much more work to do—which is where you come in.
Join me on this journey of healing.
I’d love to have you join me on this journey of bringing this film to life. Here’s how you can support us:
Contribute to our crowdfunding campaign. We have six weeks to raise $7,000, which will help us acquire equipment, compensate our cast and crew effectively, and have funds for post-production (including editing, sound mixing, music, etc.). Plus, we also have some really fun perks that I’m excited about (like a digital recipe e-book!)
PS: If you're interested in investing—or know someone who might be—reach out, and we can discuss details. We're open to offering producer credits.
Share the campaign on Instagram and Substack with your friends. Helping us spread the word ensures that the message can reach more people. Consider sharing the campaign link (or this post) with a friend.
Partners: We’re seeking partners in marketing and distribution: nonprofits and Asian American creators who are passionate about mental health, grief, and intergenerational healing. If you have suggestions for NGOs and/or content creators that would resonate with our story and are open to having a conversation, tell me!
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for helping us bring this story to life. We can’t wait to bring “After Moonrise” to a screen near you!
Wow this is awesome
I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!! I literally cannot wait to see this movie come to life.