Autum is always a reflective time. The long forever of summer slowly slips away. The sun can’t stay up till 9PM forever, even if sometimes we might want it to. The blinding greens of spring have held out as long as they could, now turn orange, yellow, brown.

And yet there’s something reassuring about this turn. Knowing that we can start to slow down, and that the slowing is something we can count on. Things pass, and that they need to pass, for next spring to come.

You can say that also applies to our lives and our deaths, but as humans, that’s a hard thing to accept. Loss is permanent. When we lose someone close to us, it rewires us. We must fight through it and persist, even if we are different on the other side of grief. That’s probably why after thousands of years, grief is still so ripe a subject for drama.

This month we look at three films that deal with losing loved ones. Whether that’s people who were our whole world, or people with whom we had deeply complicated relationships.

As always, these projects were helped by Film Independent’s 501(c)3 nonprofit status to obtain institutional grants and tax-deductible donations via Fiscal Sponsorship. Learn how it works in the short video below or in this full-length Fiscal Sponsorship Q&A.

Learn more about this month’s films—Morning, Something About the Tide, and Spite —and how to support them below.

Morning

Project type: Fiction Short

Project status: Development

Writer/Director: Ryan T. Lipscomb

Producers: Jamari Perry, Corlandos Scott

About the project: At the repast following his father’s funeral, Noah Butler grapples with the complex nature of his grief, and familial bonds, after the surprise arrival of his estranged uncle.

To learn more about Morning and how to support the project, click here.

Meet the filmmaker:  Ryan T. Lipscomb is a writer and director from Atlanta, Georgia and a graduate of Howard University and The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Ryan has developed projects for HBO, John Legend’s Get Lifted, and is currently in development on Jerry, a feature film based on the true-life Jerry Joseph basketball scandal. Ryan has also worked in television on Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen for HBO, Ryan Murphy’s Impeachment: American Crime Story for FX, Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof’s Mrs. Davis for Peacock, and Kenya Barris’s upcoming series based on the life of Richard Pryor.

Something About the Tide

Project type: Fiction Feature

Project status: Development

Director: Desdemona Chiang

Producers: Ashley Song, Julia Morizawa

About the project: When a misanthropic addict in recovery finds out her dying mother gave up a previous child for adoption, she must prove her self-worth by fulfilling her mother’s final wish—track down the other child and bring him home before it’s too late.

To learn more about Something About the Tide and how to support the project, click here.

Meet the filmmaker:  Desdemona Chiang (she/her) is a Taiwan-born American director and writer based in Seattle, WA and Ashland, OR. She has over 20 years of experience directing in American regional theatre and writes stories about unique intergenerational immigrant experiences. Her TV pilot Zhizha! was developed as part of Film Independent’s Episodic Lab in February 2024.

Julia Morizawa (she/her) is a writer/producer/actor with over 20 years of experience in film, television, new media, theater, and fiction podcasting. Her current project, Dragonfly (animated short film), premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in May 2023 and was awarded Best Animation at the Maryland Int’l Film Festival and Best AAPI-Directed Film at the Phoenix Film Festival in 2024.

Spite

Project type: Fiction Feature

Project status: Post-Production

Writer/Director: Carolynn Cecilia

Producer: Desirée Abeyta

About the project: When social worker Johanna returns to her childhood home after the death of her estranged mother she must confront the abuse she experienced as a child, battling a force within the house that thinks Joanna is still a child in need of discipline.

To learn more about Spite and how to support the project, click here.

Meet the filmmaker:  Carolynn is an award-winning Writer and Director based in New York City. Known for her bold approach to filmmaking and her commitment to pushing boundaries, Carolynn thrives on taking creative risks. She was commissioned by the legendary David Bowie to write a social media series interpreting Bowie’s final studio album, Blackstar, which won the David Lynch award at the Austin Arthouse Film Festival.