I Am Rare is a dramatic short film based on one family’s true to life struggle to discover what is wrong with their son’s health before it is too late.
The film, produced by Edmonton based She Wolf Media, aims to shed light on rare illnesses and the difficulties families experience when faced with a lesser known disease. Creator, actress, and team lead, Heidi Ellen says, “through making this movie we hope to help others with rare disease feel less alone, and possibly, even save lives”. The story, Heidi explains, is about her own son’s diagnosis as a baby, “when my production partners and I were thinking of a story concept to submit to StoryHive for funding, I presented to them my own story. My family’s story. So yeah, there is a lot of attachment to this film. It’s real.”
STORYHIVE has funded productions, supported filmmakers with mentorship and support from the National Screen Institute and brought hundreds of films to life online and around the world*. I Am Rare is only one of the projects in the running to be granted a 10K cheque to produce their film. 40 short films will be given funding. Along with financial support, StoryHive will mentor film creators through the production of their projects. “It’s pretty incredible what Telus’ StoryHive is doing for the indie film community in B.C. and Alberta. Especially in Alberta, it can be hard to find the finances to make a film. StoryHive allows local filmmakers a way to do that,” Ellen says. “A lot of local filmmakers gravitate towards creating comedies or horror. Personally, I’m drawn towards drama. It resonates with me and I love the emotional challenge of acting in the genre. It’s an amazing opportunity to not only act in my favourite kind of movie, but to also tell a story that is so dear to my heart. And it seems to resonate with others as well. We’ve recieved a lot of encouragement and support (through votes and facebook page likes) from a lot of people. So even if we don’t get the funding from StoryHive, we know that this is a film that people want to see. We will find a way to make I Am Rare one way or another”.
* quote from https://www.storyhive.com/
Website: https://www.storyhive.com/project/show/id/3662
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