Welcome to the world of Blissful Ignorance!

Blissful Ignorance is a 30-minute medical thriller short film developed by Insight Pictures, a  production team led by students in our final year of study at Toronto Metropolitan University. This project is the culmination of our experience and insights from our undergraduate studies.

Blissful Ignorance follows our protagonist in her discovery and exploration of corruption in the pharmaceutical industry and poses the question of whether it is morally permissible to forget our negative memories, even if that means losing our free will and identity. The film critiques the medical model of mental illness, drawing on the director’s personal experiences with the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries. Through this film, we hope to challenge traditional narratives and spark conversations about these industries and the issues typically ignored within them. 

Remember folks, there's joy in forgetting!

In a future defined by 1960s space-age nostalgia, Dr. Lucy Hyde’s new drug Memovera has taken the scientific community by storm with its claim to eradicate all painful memories and has potentially saved her company Freestone Pharmaceuticals' worsening reputation. But on the first day of the drug’s impending trial, Lucy meets her new trial patient Dean, and can’t shake off the eerie feelings surrounding him. As her thoughts and memories begin to betray her, Lucy must uncover the truth about her situation before it is too late.

Meeting our budget is one of the greatest challenges remaining for our team, and while we'll be investing personal equity into the project to support our goal being met, we hope we can succeed alongside your generous donations!

Our position as Toronto Metropolitan University students has allowed us many opportunities to create and execute a realistic budget. Some of the major expenses of filmmaking - location costs, equipment rentals, cast and crew compensation - have either been partially supported by the staff of TMU or taken on by volunteers. We're very grateful that a community of support has already been built around the creation of Blissful Ignorance! This keeps our costs lower than anticipated and allows our team to focus our budget on other expenses that contribute to the final product; these include transportation for cast and crew, further equipment and location rentals, on-set safety expenses, catering for our production team, stylized props and wardrobe, and more.

Check out our breakdown below of where a large percentage of donations will go!

While we are eager to begin bringing the project to life, the reality is that a student's budget is difficult to fulfill with a small group of students alone. To make this happen, we rely on contributors like yourself to help us secure a future for Blissful Ignorance.

Along with our deepest thanks, our contributors will receive a variety of perks including digital downloads of our content, physical merchandise like stickers and tote bags, special credits and more!  Here's what these tiers look like in some more detail:

Freestone Trial Patient ($5 CAD)

A personalized thank you message from the Insight Pictures team, and a shoutout as a donor on our social media!

Freestone Intern ($10 CAD)

A collection of Blissful Ignorance-themed stickers, and all perks listed above!

Freestone Assistant Pharmacist ($20 CAD)

A digital download of our original soundtrack, and all perks listed above!

Freestone Pharmacy Technician ($50 CAD)

An 11x14 cinema-style poster, access to our live debut screening, and all perks listed above!

Freestone Head Pharmacist ($75 CAD)

A limited-edition Blissful Ignorance tote bag, and all perks listed above!

Freestone Board Member ($100 CAD)

A Special Thanks credit at the end of the film, an exclusive BTS video of the production, and all perks listed above!

Freestone Director ($250 CAD)

A personalized thank-you video from our cast and crew, a signed version of our 11x14 film poster, and all other perks listed above!

Freestone CEO ($500 CAD)

An Executive Producer credit at the end of the film, a digital download of Blissful Ignorance, and all perks listed above!

Insight Pictures is not just a name and collection of credits -- we are a group of young professionals in our final year of study at Toronto Metropolitan University, each with an extensive skillset used to support our production of Blissful Ignorance. Feel free to get to know us a bit more!

All film productions are susceptible to a variety of challenges, and ours is no different. From problems with rentals to budget to delivery, our team has taken them into account through a production bible filled with 200+ pages of extensive plans and solutions. Our promise, above all, is to make this film a reality by overcoming all challenges realistically, and we are confident in our ability to do so.

Despite this, we live in uncertain times. The industry is still recovering from the effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on production, and with cases still in fluctuation, our team has drafted a safety plan for all relevant on-set risks. Among other safety protocols, we will supply our team with testing materials and PPE as required or recommended to ensure health is a priority on set.

By helping us reach our goal, you help us ensure these solutions and protocols can be put in place, run our production safely and risk-free, and deliver Blissful Ignorance to the world as planned.

If you've read this far and want to help make Blissful Ignorance with us, we'd be appreciative of donations of any size! However, we understand that monetary donations are not always accessible. If you want to help but can't contribute, please share this campaign with your friends and family -- getting the word out is just as important!

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for getting to know the world of Blissful Ignorance. We'll work hard to make this the best film it can be!

Insight Pictures