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More than 170 million women in the world are diagnosed with the most pervasive women's health issue that exists. There is no known cause or cure. This disease is invisible but the devastating affects of it are not. In 2014 at the age of 22, I was diagnosed with this disease—Stage-Four Endometriosis.
Women who silently deal with Endometriosis every day often feel completely alone. I have felt the deepest depths of sorrow, hopelessness and isolation since being diagnosed, and it is this emotional turmoil that has inspired Luminous, a film that can shed light into the darkness.
The controversial and life-threatening treatments being practiced in the medical industry on women today are not sufficient, and this inspired me to search for alternative treatments as I continue to seek healing. It is our intention to raise awareness through capturing the painful day-to-day life so many women experience.
I've spent the past two years working with conventional doctors. I took birth control, had excision surgery and was then recommended hormonal therapy. After extensive research, I found that these treatments are almost always unsuccessful, and some even caused more harm than good. This was infuriating. How is it possible that SO many women are suffering in the same way that I am, yet the options for treatment are so limited and ineffective? Meanwhile, my Endometriosis worsened and my doctor gave me a 20% chance of ever having a child. Each month his outlook was even more grim, yet he offered nothing to actually undo the damage, and nothing to stop it from continuing to wreak havoc on my body. Pregnancy was his last suggestion for treatment, and at 22, this was not an option.. I sought help elsewhere.
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I began seeing a Naturopathic doctor, and realized immediately that there was a wealth of information just waiting to be uncovered. I learned that in order to heal my body, I had to heal all of the ways that it had become imbalanced, and that there are sound treatment options for this task. Why hadn't I been shown this before? Why don't other women know that such treatment exists?
Through making this film, we are creating a narrative of the many alternative methods and protocols used for helping women heal themselves of Endometriosis. We will share what I've learned, and document how it has helped change my life. We will feature herbalists, naturopathic doctors, alternative health practitioners, spiritual mentors, psychologists, medical doctors and other vital pieces of my healing puzzle.
This film is being made with great vulnerability, with great compassion for the women who suffer, and with overflowing hope that we can find a better course of treatment that will help not only myself, but every single woman who has this disease.
My name is Sarah Angelini and although this documentary focuses on my struggle, this is the story of hundreds of millions of women.
This is our fight.
Sarah Angelini is a filmmaker who has produced a mini-series of documentary shorts exploring the different ways human life is lived. Upon her diagnosis of Endometriosis in the summer of 2014, Sarah had surgery to treat her disease. The surgery was not successful and Sarah continued to suffer considerably going through treatment after treatment. Frustrated, Sarah decided to take control of her own health. Dealing with this incurable disease and seeing the injustice being served to women by the medical field inspired Sarah to tell her story.
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Jonathan D’Ambrosio is an internationally award winning filmmaker who comes from the world of fictional narrative film. Throughout his Filmmaking endeavors Jonathan has won over 70 awards with nearly 40 short films, including a piece that was hand picked by J.J. Abrams for the “Super 8 Film Contest” as the Grand Prize Winner. After Graduating from the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan with a focus on Directing/Cinematography/Writing, Jonathan continued to direct short films winning four Telly Awards alongside a Platinum Remi-Award at the Worldfest Houston International Film Festival. With ten years of filmmaking experience and several Directorial credits, Jonathan intends to blend the art of tasteful filmmaking with a marketable and unique premise encompassing cultural and progressive storytelling through the medium of film.
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We are two passionate filmmakers, and we have been self funding this film so far paycheck to paycheck. This has made reaching our goals incredibly challenging. To maintain a standard of artistic and visual quality we need your help to do the following:
Production- Making a film is incredibly expensive. The tools required to achieve the industry standard of filmmaking such as camera rental, lens rental, stabilization units, lighting, hard drives for data management and audio equipment are essential in every aspect of creating a documentary.
There are specialists spread out across the United states whose understanding and knowledge are key parts of telling this story in its entirety. Involved in production costs are the expenses to travel to these medical centers and speak to these doctors/alternative health practitioners.
Post Production- Expenses vary during post production from editing, color correcting, audio mixing, and data management. It is within our creative vision for the film to incorporate necessary graphics and animation to enhance the story telling process. We also aim to accompany the film with an originally scored soundtrack from local musicians.
Outreach- Once the documentary is completed our goal is to promote Luminous through film festivals, land distribution, and ultimately to allow the film to reach the audience it deserves.
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Endometriosis is a pervasive disease and yet incredibly misunderstood, your donations have made us one step closer to making this issue more well known.
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The medical industry is not adequately serving women with Endometriosis, you have contributed to a film that focuses on bringing to light such controversy.
- You have given women their voice back, to scream that enough is enough and we deserve better.
We extend our deepest gratitude for all of your contributions. Every donation furthers Luminous one step closer to its full fruition. We are so grateful.
