INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our crowdfunder for How Little Our World Has To Stay! We are currently in the run-up to production with our Cambridge location and July shooting dates secured. 

We are largely funding the project through our personal savings, but we are crowdfunding the remaining amount to help us get it over the line and onto festivals and screens. 

Thank you very much for visiting our crowdfunding page and for any donations you make.

SYNOPSIS

Terrified of the outside world, Ed hasn’t left his home in years and his partner, Liv, is slowly losing hope that he ever will. Inside their home, Ed finds escape from his ever-shrinking existence by growing plants, germinating seeds, and cataloguing dried wildflowers. Meanwhile, Liv has grown suffocated. She fears that her acquiescence, her silence, and her supplying wildflowers, seeds, and soil for Ed have enabled his total escape from reality. The cracks in their relationship slowly evolve into deep fissures that Ed and Liv can no longer ignore. Their quiet routine is troubled when the silence between them is broken, and they realise that neither of them should continue to suffer.

After a series of failed experiments and attempts, Liv makes the hardest decision of her life: to leave. Faced with the potential loss of Liv and his own self-conscious fear of failure, Ed issues her with one last request and sets himself the hardest challenge of his life: if she can leave without looking back, he will try to follow her over the threshold of the front-door and into the outside world.

DIRECTORS' STATEMENT

How Little Our World Has To Stay will be an intimate and delicate contemplation on home, healing, and how one couple navigates mental illness. A tender but uncompromising portrait of agoraphobia, obsessive thoughts, and compulsive behaviours, this film will shed light on the catastrophes that live in our heads and the personal trials that take place behind closed doors.

At the core of this film is the love and care that Ed and Liv have for each other; yet, it is the limitations of their love and care which are tested as they struggle to cope in isolation from the world and from each other. Terrified of the outside world, agoraphobic Ed takes refuge in growing and categorising plants from the outside world as he slowly turns his and Liv’s home into an obscure and surreal terrarium that he can safely hide inside. Reaching her own breaking-point, Liv, meanwhile, wonders whether her acquiescence and her silence have harmed Ed far more than they have helped him. 

A deeply experiential and psychological film, we want to invite our audience to observe the fragile dynamics of a loving relationship against the backdrop of mental illness and to experience the sensations of anxiety, agoraphobia, and claustrophobia that both our protagonists endure. This is a story about two people reaching the lowest depths imaginable and doing the hardest thing that either of them has ever done. Essentially, we are seeking to make a tender film about a couple choosing to endure in hope of a better time to come which won’t be bereft of joy but imbued with the humour and charm that accompanies even the darkest of moments in a person’s life.

Inspiration has been drawn from the cinema of Céline Sciamma; notably Petite Maman for its juxtaposition of domesticity and reverie, solitude and companionship, realism and mythology. References in terms of tone and atmosphere include Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years which is understated in its devastating, anatomised portrayal of a very ordinary older couple whose marriage is quietly imploding. 

CREW

Our Crew is a collection of brilliantly talented and lovely individuals, with a real passion for telling such a personal and special story. Here are a few of our Heads of Departments, with more Crew and Cast being confirmed in the upcoming weeks. 

Chloë (she/her) is a playwright and filmmaker who trained at RADA/Birkbeck. Her plays have been performed at Oxford’s North Wall Arts Centre and Camden People’s Theatre, longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and the RSC’s 37Play. She has taken part in the Royal Court’s ‘Introduction to Playwriting Group’ and, most recently, was invited onto their Long-Form Playwriting Group 23/24. She has worked with Clean Break (London), Women & Theatre (Birmingham), and Creation Theatre (Oxford). How Little Our World Has To Stay is Chloë’s screenwriting and directorial debut.

Paul (he/him) is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg, musician, and teacher. His theatrical works include the Olivier-nominated The Big Life (with Paul Joseph) at Theatre Royal Stratford East & West End, Rat Pack Confidential at Nottingham Playhouse & West End, and Come Dancing (with Ray Davies) at Stratford East. Awards include, Best Off-West End Musical, Whatsonstage; Best Play, Pearson; Best Production, City Life; Best Writer & Best Play, New York International Radio Festival. Paul has also written extensively for radio and has worked as a dramaturg for companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Soho Theatre, Ambassador Theatre Group, Trafalgar Entertainment, the Royal Court, and the National Theatre. He is currently an Associate Artist of Soho Theatre, Associate Fellow at the University of Warwick, Literary Associate at Trafalgar Entertainment, and Associate Teacher of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he teaches playwriting and dramaturgy.

Amelia (she/her) is a Cambridge-based producer, and director of the production company Antler Productions. She cut her teeth in filmmaking whilst working on low-budget short films much like How Little Our World Has To Stay. Nowadays, she works freelance on the productions of independent feature films such as the BAFTA-nominated Blue Jean (BFI, BBC Films) and the Cannes-winning How To Have Sex (BFI, Film4). The roll-your-sleeves-up and get-your-hands-dirty attitude on these films has equipped her with an industrious work ethic and a real knowledge of what goes into indie filmmaking. She works across the production, accounts, and legal departments on films, as well as assisting producers and providing script reading services. With a passion for independent and regional filmmaking and untold, detail-driven stories, she was immediately wow-ed by How Little Our World Has To Stay.

Joana (she/they) is a London-based cinematographer. Having graduated in 2012 from the Lisbon Film School, they have worked in commercials, shorts and features since. They moved to the UK in 2019. They have always seen films and stories as a way to help them understand themselves and the world a bit better. They grew fascinated by the way an image can communicate an emotion or an idea beyond words or rational comprehension. They want to work on films that delve into complex characters, with directors that have strong visual ideas, and that's some of the many reasons they are so excited to be a part of How Little Our World Has To Stay.

Natalie (she/her) is a visual artist working in a range of media to explore the stories we choose to define us. She trained at the Royal Academy Schools, London and has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally. Recent projects include exhibitions and events at The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; RO2 Art, Texas, Hay International Book Festival, 2023 and ‘Creative Interactions’ at the Foundling Museum, London. She has previous in the world of film, co-writing The Sycamores with Neil Hunter for Mia Bays at Missing In Action Films and Life is but a Dream with Paul Sirett for Natascha Wharton at Working Title.

HOW TO HELP

Financial donations are the best and most appreciated way that you can support our project. That said, there are lots of other ways that you can help. Here are a few: 

- share our crowdfunder on social media, and with friends to spread the word.

- lend us your plants for the shooting weekend! Our set will involve a huge amount of plants to create an immersive and overwhelming atmosphere. If you are local to Cambridge and happy for your plants to take to the screen, please do get in touch.

- be a helping-hand on set! If you are local to Cambridge and available 1st/2nd July, get in touch to be a part of our film. You will be credited as an assistant/runner in a department, depending on the role/availability. 

You can get in touch here: amelia@antler.productions