Story

A little girl forms an unconventional friendship with a young woman, but unknown to her, the woman is suffering from a terminal illness. 

Mono No Aware means the beauty or pathos of passing things. This short film seeks to capture themes of growing up, grief, and loss, while at the same time showing the importance of finding peace with the fleeting nature of life and focusing on cherishing beautiful moments while they last. 

What We Need

Filmmaking is a collaborative effort and we want to invite you to consider partnering with us to help make this project happen. We are crowdfunding a budget of $12,000. While this amount may seem daunting, our expenses will be going towards the following to create this film.

Actors: $960

Locations & Accommodations: $3,000

Food: $800

Transportation: $1,120

Production Design Set Pieces & Props: $1,000

Costuming: $1,000

Hair & Makeup: $250

Marketing: $1,500

Contingency Fee & Miscellaneous: $2,370

Be sure to check out the fundraising incentives on the sidebar to see what benefits you can receive as a financial contributor. You can also receive a tax write off this holiday season for donating to our project, as our fundraising goes through a non profit organization (John Paul the Great Catholic University). If you are unable to contribute financially, we would also accept donations or gifts in kind (props, food, locations etc.) If you run a business, we would love to collaborate and create fundraisers that will promote both your products or services and our film!

Note: If you don't want to donate through Indiegogo (or if you want to donate after our campaign has closed) you can send a check to John Paul the Great Catholic University (220 W Grand Ave, Escondido, CA 92025) and put "Mono No Aware" on the memo line! By doing this, you will also be helping us keep the 5% that Indiegogo takes out of each donation! Be sure to follow our Instagram at @mononoawaremov for updates. For any questions, please email mononoawaremov@gmail.com

The Impact:

As artists and storytellers, we believe in the power of good stories to captivate the hearts and minds of our audiences. We plan to deliver a good product and tell a story of how the beauty of friendship is meant to be cherished. Furthermore, many of us have experienced loss, especially in the wake of COVID-19, and we want to share this movie, from our hearts to yours.  

As filmmakers, this is our senior capstone project, which we plan to use as a stepping stone to launch us into industry careers. Your contributions can help not only make this film happen, but can also reach audiences with this beautiful message and help support young artists starting out in the professional world.

Meet Our Team

Director and Writer: Caterina Franks has three short films under her belt. She likes making stories that focus on subtle character changes and relationships. Originally from Massachusetts, she brings her love of fall and the rural countryside to this project. When she's not making movies you may find her reading Lord of the Rings or playing Minecraft with her fiancé. 

Co-Producer: Bernadette Timson

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Bernadette Timson grew up in a storytelling family. At a young age, she would often tell people that she would become a writer or a teacher when she grew up.  When she began her studies towards her Bachelor of Science in Communications Media at John Paul the Great Catholic University, she became immersed in a film environment. This led to her being asked to help behind the scenes in her capacity as a producer.

Mono No Aware speaks to Bernadette personally, as she lost her grandmother to a terminal illness when she was five. She believes in the power of effective storytelling to communicate simple ideas, particularly those that deal with the issues of loss, grief and building emotional resiliency in people of all ages. This project will the the fifth short film that Bernadette has produced, with previous films having been either nominated for or won awards at her school's film festivals. Her program of study ranges from acting for the stage and screen, musical theatre, filmmaking, media studies and business, to the humanities, theology and philosophy.

Her mission in life is to create a culture of discerning storytellers, artists, creators and consumers by bridging the gap between education, business, the arts and media. In her spare time, Bernadette can be found experimenting with food, taking walks, expanding her maple syrup collection or trying to find a ski hill in Southern California.

Co-Producer: Sebastian Morzen

Raised in Atlanta Georgia, Sebastian has been interested in filmmaking ever since watching Signs at 11 years old. He goes to school in Escondido California. He has Produced one short film.

Cinematographer/DP: Anthony Koonce is a young filmmaker originally from Ohio, now studying here in San Diego. He is very passionate about cinematography and is excited to create beautiful visuals for audiences to enjoy!

First Assistant Director: Anna McKellar studies screenwriting at John Paul the Great Catholic University. Along with screenwriting, she also enjoys script supervising and assistant directing sets. Anna has worked on over 20 sets, including a feature film. She is excited to help the powerful story of Mono No Aware come to life.

Head of Art Department: Patrick Kobbermann has been doing concept art and storyboarding for 3 years, and is a graduate of JPCatholic. Born in Wisconsin and raised in Minnesota, he hates palm trees with a passion.

The Vision: 

Beauty is a huge theme in this film. With this in mind, we want to share some of our plans for the look of the movie. 

We have several recurring visual motifs: 

Fall: this visually represents the fleeting aspect of life. 

Stone Wall: represents history and permeance, being worn down over time. 

Dying Flowers: Representing Eve's condition, but also Anne growing up. 

We have several movies we are drawing on for inspiration: 

Pride and Prejudice: This movie has gorgeous lighting and uses its locations to the fullest, something we wish to emulate. 

Juno: This movie has a beautiful use of color palette, as well as very natural character blocking. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: This movie has a great use of character coloring to signify relationships. 

Ladybird: This movie frames its characters against the background in striking, but natural ways. 

For our own movie, we've created a color palette: 

Also, check out some of our concept art!