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Fake Blood Film

A menstruator's journey of discovering the power in her period after 7 years of being on the pill.

Today's Balance
£4.10
Festival Circuit
£2,000

About


The Story


Five years after her first period, Maria is put on the pill to help regulate her cycle. After almost eight years of an involuntary bleed and challenging side effects, she decides there must be a better way. On her journey of self-discovery to reconnect with her cycle and herself, Maria gains some important insights that completely change her relationship to her menstrual cycle and how she views herself as a menstruator. Eager to know why her discoveries aren't common knowledge, she starts finding her own way to connect other menstruators with their own menstrual cycle.


Maria realised so many people she spoke to about menstruation were experiencing similar struggles. From these conversations came the inspiration to make Fake Blood.


Why?

The menstrual cycle has been largely left to its own devices. In the west, we have certain perceptions and stories we repeat about periods and menstruation. As menstruators begin to have their period at a very young age, they’re often reliant on a very small group of people including their GP, family (or just a single parent/carer), and maybe a teacher.

Conversations often happen in private, there is almost always a lack of information about what’s involved in a complete and healthy menstrual cycle and the focus tends to be purely on managing the bleed.
The issue with this is that it doesn’t include the conversation about the importance of understanding and working with your menstrual cycle to live a more productive, powerful, and fulfilling life.
 
Think of it like sleep. We all know we need sleep but if it is just treated as this thing that annoyingly gets in the way of our waking life, it’s not necessarily going to let us thrive. When we understand what contributes to a healthy sleep life, we gain clarity, become more energised and find focus.

A menstrual cycle is the same. Work with it, and you’ll see a noticeable shift. This has been Maria's personal experience and as she learned more about her own cycle, she found herself sharing this with friends and colleagues.

The documentary is a natural extension of these conversations as well as a way to reach and engage more people in the conversation.

Listen to Maria discussing her experience with CEO of Kinneir Dufort on their XX Equals Podcast.


Who’s who?

We're a small team that cares deeply about menstruators understanding their cycle and feeling empowered by it, not hindered. We’d love for you to meet our core team below and see examples of their work. But first, here's who we've worked with so far...

 

Core Team


 

Maria Webb: Writer/Director

​​Maria Webb originally trained as an actor in New Zealand with the well-known and respected TAFS (Theatre and Films Studies) school in Christchurch. During her time there she performed in various stage productions and films. Since moving to the UK in 2013 she has continued acting but has also recently started diversifying her work as a Writer and Director.
Fake Blood is a story Maria has been wanting to tell for over 5 years now. After experiencing firsthand the physical and mental challenges of being on The Pill and believing menstruating was the problem, she is excited to turn the story around to help others.
As well as Fake Blood Maria has worked on independent and blockbuster films in a number of different roles. She brings a unique perspective to her own filmmaking and is passionate about telling stories that give voice to people that are not being heard.

Harry Knight: Producer

Harry is a creative, resourceful, and purpose-driven Filmmaker. Originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, Harry has had over a decade of experience in the creative industries starting to make films as a young High School student, also around the time when he met Maria.
During his career in New Zealand, Harry produced a number of art events and installations. Sitting on the board of trustees for the Festival of Transitional Architecture, running and booking artists for the ‘Pallet Pavilion’ an outdoor summer music venue, and managing creative hub and maker space ‘Exchange Christchurch’.
He has produced creative content for brands such as Barclays, TikTok, and Doordash as well as working with non-profits like City to Sea and WikiHouse promoting solutions to environmental and social issues. His most recent short film is The Light Inside which is a documentary about experiencing and surviving mental-ill health.

Bethany Fitter: Director of Photography

Bethany is an emerging cinematographer who has worked for brands like British Vogue, you can view her work here.

Gemma Elliott: Production Design/Art Director

Gemma is a recent graduate from the Screenology school and showcased her talents in the work she produced at the school. She started out her career working on music videos, short films, and stage productions. You can view her work here.


Style

The film will consist of impressionistic and recreated scenes that will tell Maria's story growing up as a teenager on her period. Maria narrates the film as we see these scenes play out. As things progress, we eventually see real-life scenes that take us deeper into her journey of what it means for other menstruators.


Visual References

 
Thank you so much for spending the time to read through and we welcome your contribution x

Our team

Harry Knight

Admin
Producer

Gemma Elliot

Core Contributor

Léa Jackson

Core Contributor
Artist

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Financial Contributions

Goal
Festival Circuit

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Help us place the film in festivals all around the world. By contributing to this tier you'll be helping Fake Blood get in front of audiences.

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28 Day Cycle

It's normal to have a cycle anywhere from 21 to 40 days. 28 Days is an average length. Contributing to this tier gets you a special thanks in the c... Read more

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Thanks so much for your support. All contributors in this tier will get a special thank you in the credits of the final film.

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Top financial contributors

Individuals

1
Margreet CM Vissers

£5,100 GBP since Dec 2021

2
Harry Knight

£3,734 GBP since Nov 2020

3
Maria Webb

£2,601.48 GBP since Nov 2020

4
SamnKim

£250 GBP since Jan 2022

5
Olivia Webb

£100 GBP since Dec 2021

6
Kerry Elkins

£100 GBP since Jan 2022

7
Nadia Bleaken

£100 GBP since Jan 2022

8
Jenny Button

£100 GBP since May 2022

9
Shirley Henry

£60 GBP since Jan 2022

10
Tarn

£50 GBP since Aug 2021

11
Mark

£30 GBP since Dec 2020

12
Alicia Green

£28 GBP since Jan 2022

13
Josh

£28 GBP since Jan 2022

14
Eugene Constable

£28 GBP since Jan 2022

15
Amy Jansen

£28 GBP since Jan 2022

Organizations

1
Seed of Peace CIC

£100 GBP since Jan 2022

2
Accountable Pitch Perfect

£50 GBP since Aug 2021

3
The Social Change Nest

£10 GBP since Feb 2021

Fake Blood Film is all of us

Our contributors 24

Thank you for supporting Fake Blood Film.

Harry Knight

Admin

£3,734 GBP

Producer

Maria Webb

Admin

£2,601 GBP

Gemma Elliot

Core Contributor

Léa Jackson

Core Contributor
Artist

Margreet CM V...

Thank You. Period.

£5,100 GBP

SamnKim

Thank You. Period.

£250 GBP

Olivia Webb

£100 GBP

Kerry Elkins

Thank You. Period.

£100 GBP

Nadia Bleaken

Thank You. Period.

£100 GBP

Seed of Peace...

Thank You. Period.

£100 GBP

Jenny Button

Thank You. Period.

£100 GBP

Connect


Let’s get the ball rolling!

News from Fake Blood Film

Updates on our activities and progress.

Day 1: Behind the Scenes

For the first time, the Fake Blood team assembled on set! After assessing that the shoot could be done safely during the COVID-19 Pandemic, we were able to go ahead with production. It was an exciting time for everyone to work on this proje...
Read more
Published on January 20, 2021 by Harry Knight

Pre-Production

Feeling the fear and doing it anyway.In the context of the pandemic and recession we're currently facing, it could be easy to fall into a default mode of being cautious. What we've found from creative peers is that there's actually a desire...
Read more
Published on November 30, 2020 by Harry Knight

Budget


Transparent and open finances.

-£370.00 GBP
Paid
Invoice #212618
-£31.56 GBP
Paid
Reimbursement #200726

SSD 2TB Drive

from Harry Knight to Fake Blood Film
-£129.00 GBP
Paid
Reimbursement #161984
£
Today’s balance

£4.10 GBP

Total raised

£11,985.44 GBP

Total disbursed

£11,981.34 GBP

Estimated annual budget

--.-- GBP