INTRO
Hello! Welcome to the crowdfunding page for our short film, Kingdom of Your Own. Our team appreciates any support you can provide to us, from donating to our Indiegogo to sharing a link to our campaign on your social media.
We are a passionate group of filmmakers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Our goal is to show unrepresented perspectives, stories, and people in this film. The film is intended to be screened at the annual Reel Loud Film Festival at the University of California, Santa Barbara where it will be accompanied by live music and spoken word poetry. Afterwards, we hope to submit the film to other film festivals.
Kingdom of Your Own is a very personal story, and your contribution counts.
Short Summary
Kingdom of Your Own is a drama about a young, transgender person named Rihan and their father. The two characters are very close, bonding over their shared love of photography, but as Rihan gets older, they grow distant and their relationship fractures. However, Rihan’s father will bridge the gap between them by showing his support for Rihan’s journey to come out and accept who they are.
This film has no dialogue; the story will be represented through stellar acting and cinematography. The score will underscore the melancholy of separation and the hope of reconciliation, and the film will be accompanied by a spoken word poem, written from the father’s perspective, about his struggle to come to terms with his child’s gender identity.
What We Need & What You Get
As this is a short student film, our budget is not too big, but that doesn’t mean the movie is gonna be cheap. Your contributions will help in making the film the best that it can be. You’ll be able to help us fulfill our director’s vision perfectly as well as make the production process more pleasant for the crew.
Your money is going to go towards renting equipment, paying our cast, transporting equipment, cast, and crew, feeding cast and crew, paying location costs, and buying props.
Our perks are our way of personally thanking you for the part you had in making this film and emphasizing your contribution.
The Impact
The writer and director of Kingdom of Your Own, Kaith Karishma, is part of the transgender community and has struggled with the issues addressed in the script personally. He hopes that by making films like this, he can help transgender and queer people get the representation in media that they deserve.
Kaith also believes that film is one of the most powerful and influential tools for education, and hopes that he can teach people more about the beautiful, gender diverse communities they may overlook.
The Crew
Director - Kaith
Kaith Karishma is the writer and director of Kingdom of Your Own. He is a screenwriter and director finishing his senior year in Film Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara. He has worked on several short films and directed three of his own scripts, and he’s written even more. He is very passionate about storytelling through cinema, and he is especially invested in creating better representation for minorities, including those groups that he belongs to as an Indian American, transgender filmmaker.
Producer - Michael
Michael, a second year Film and Media Studies major at UC Santa Barbara, is the producer of Kingdom of Your Own. Having started his film production career as craft services for a short student film, he is incredibly excited to produce his first short film. Having worked as craft services, key grip, gaffer, associate producer, and assistant director on a multitude of other films, Michael is eager to continue building his experience with hopes of becoming an industry screenwriter and producer.
Director of Photography - Santiago
"I'm not just excited, I'm doing this project because it is a real problem that I feel Kaith is artistically addressing. Hi friends! My name is Santiago Sanchez, and I am a fourth year here at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I've been involved with film-making for a while now! I've directed the Reel Loud Film Festival, here at UCSB, I've had short films from different avenues win awards in other festivals. I also have a little photo business too! So, I welcome these experiences onto this project and hope to funnel them together to bring Kaith's vision to life as best as I can. I know together we will make something great and moving."
Editor and Gaffer - Christine
Christine Mouton is a hard-working and relentless creator that aspires to emerge into the film industry as a professional cinematographer, among other positions. She was a National YoungArts 2019 winner and has won awards at Mission Viejo Film Festival and TVT Film Festival. If she’s not working her butt off at school, you may find her at the dog park with her adorable blue-nose pitbull named Oreo. Christine is excited to create some fantastic films and she said, “I wouldn't want to be doing anything else with my life besides this (the art of filmmaking I mean)”
Assistant Director - Brea
Breanna Lynn is the assistant director of Kingdom of Your Own. She is from Los Angeles, California and is currently a junior at the University of California, Los Angeles studying both Film and Sociology. Filmmaking has always been her deepest passion, and she hopes to use her undying love for the art to tell inspiring and heartfelt stories like Kingdom of Your Own. She met the film's director Kaith while producing a short film over the summer, and is excited to work alongside him once again on such a personal and moving project.
1st Assistant Camera - Laura
Laura Hong is the 1st Assistant Camera for Kingdom of Your Own. She is a senior Film and Media studies student at UCSB. She has worked on several short films during her time at UCSB taking on various roles including production design and roles within the camera department. Through her work, she's found a passion in cinematography and the visual elements of storytelling done with the camera in her hands. She's excited to be apart of this crew and to contribute to this film.
Other Ways You Can Help
If you can’t donate, that’s fine! To help us out, try spreading our campaign to people who may be interested in helping!