This is a story about strong women, love, sacrifice and a paranormal creature that will haunt you for days after watching.

"The Last Leaf" is a story about Cathy - a young painter who has been haunted by visions of a mysterious gentleman Mr. Pneumonia. Mr. Pneumonia is a literal personification of the illness, who has viciously taken Cathy's family when she was young. Left an orphan, she decides to spend her inheritance on traveling where she meets her new friend and a lover, Sue. Though their happiness has be cut short by an unwelcome visit of Cathy's old follower Mr. Pneumonia. Cathy will have to make hard choices to save her lover who has lost all will to live.

It is very important to us to be authentic to the time period. We have a dedicated team of production designer, costume designer, hair and make up artists who are working hard to make this film beautiful, haunting and, most importantly, true to the story.

For this film we are building a set using recycled flats to create a unique space of Cathy's parlor room. 

Furthermore, we will be filming exterior shots at Heritage Square Museum that preserves authentic victorian houses brought there from across California.

A strong sense of texture is spread throughout the film. Starting from the authentic to Victorian times wallpapers to a dress made custom for Cathy.

Sia Aleskovskaya: I grew up on gothic romances. It was the genre that shaped me and the movies I like right now. My adolescent world was filled with Dracula and Mina, Ichabod and Katrina, Lestats and Claudias, Misunderstood Edward and American sweetheart Kim and mortally separated Victor and Emily. But I always wondered: why aren't there more people like me? In the end all lesbian girls are themselves strange and unusual.

I want to bring more romance and less drama into LGBTQ movies. I want to see a couple that just loves each other and has to go through the same struggles as any other couple (in our case it's of paranormal character). 

My goal is to create a movie that I can watch late at night with a bucket of chocolate ice cream.

The original story by O'Henry hints that the lead female characters are more than just friends:

“She always wanted to go to Italy and paint a picture of the Bay of Naples,” said Sue.

“Paint! Not paint. Is there anything worth being troubled about? A man?”

“A man?” said Sue. “Is a man worth—No, doctor. There is not a man.” 

I simply noticed the subtle note and enhanced it to a predominant theme of the film.

We are trying to bring equal employment opportunities and are working hard to bring aboard lots of passionate female filmmakers, filmmakers of different ethnical background and have an equal and respectful work environment.

Both our Director, Sia Aleskovskaya, and Producer, Kamilla Brenneysen, are members and supporters of the LGBTQ community. It is our goal to not only tell a hauntingly beautiful story, but also a story that supports our community.

Both our director and producer have experience in over 20 short films. This is a thesis project for both of them and one they care very much about.

You might think to yourself at this point "Gee, this all sounds great, but also like it would cost a lot to make this" and you would be completely right.

We are able to sponsor some of the film's budget but we need your contribution to fulfill the entirety of it.

Most of our budget is going towards the locations and design of the film. We are lucky to be students and get such advantages as receiving equipment from school. With that said there is still some additional equipment that we must obtain to ensure safety and humane condition for our crew. We also need money to feed our crew, to build the rain effect, cover transportation and pay for our cast and crew.

We want to extend our storytelling onto the perks you get from contributing.

Just because you can't contribute right now, doesn't mean you can't help. We appreciate if you spread a word about our campaign on social media almost as much.