Film Independent’s Fiscal Sponsorship program opens the door to nonprofit funding for independent filmmakers and media artists.
 

Logline

When a storm knocks out the power to her iron lung, a polio survivor and her engineer sister find themselves in a race against time to find a new way for her to breathe.

Synopsis

NORMA PEÑA (57), a polio survivor, faces mortal danger when a tropical storm destroys their farmhouse’s backup generator, cutting power to her iron lung. The iron lung—a horizontal, metal cylinder Norma spends most of her days in—is a mechanical ventilator that breathes for her. Without it, she only has a few hours before her body gives out.

LUISA PEÑA (59), Norma’s sister, is her caretaker and also the engineer who keeps the iron lung running. Luisa quickly ascertains they have no power, they’re isolated due to the flooding, and emergency services are useless—they’re not even sure what an iron lung is. Norma, facing her own mortality, wants a heart to heart with her sister but Luisa is hellbent on finding a new way for her to breathe. When fixing an old, portable ventilator doesn’t work, Luisa resorts to operating the iron lung manually, a grueling task that trades her own lifeforce for her sister’s.

Norma finally realizes she was never a burden for Luisa. It was Luisa who, struggling with her own survivor’s guilt from not getting polio, made Norma her charge, treating her like a responsibility and not a sister. Physically exhausted, Luisa accepts the inevitable and helps Norma out onto the porch so they can spend Norma’s last moments on earth watching the sunrise as sisters. As Norma takes her final breaths, they see in the distance—flashing lights. A fire engine races towards them and we—SMASH TO BLACK.
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Vee Saieh – Writer
Vee Saieh has spent her life between worlds—as a Colombian immigrant, a trans woman, and a bad Catholic with an esoteric flair. As a drama and genre writer, she blends her passion for the unknown with the stark realities of life to tell stories of ghosts, queerness, and fucked up people trying to become a less fucked up version of themselves.

Vee has also collaborated on several short films which have garnered numerous awards and honors including the Jury Prize at the DGA Student Awards, Best Narrative Short at the San Diego Latino Film Festival, and have twice been a finalist for HBO Max’s Short Film competition. Her work has screened at such prestigious, Academy-accredited festivals as Slamdance, LA Shorts, Short Shorts and HollyShorts, among others. Last year, she was nominated for a Best of NewFilmmakers LA Award and, more recently, she was selected as a 2023 Project Involve Fellow.

Andrew Reid – Director
Andrew Reid is a DGA Award winning director and MFA graduate from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His award-winning projects have screened at Slamdance, CAA Moebius, Paramount Pictures, HollyShorts, Cleveland, Pan African and over 70 other film festivals worldwide. He was recently nominated at the NAACP Image Awards, HBOMax Latino Short Film Competition and Best of NewFilmmakers LA.

In 2022, Reid was selected as a Paramount ViewFinder Emerging TV Director where he shadowed director Pete Chatmon (Insecure, The Flight Attendant, You). He is developing feature, episodic and commercial projects that have received support from the Tribeca Film Institute, SFFilm, Film Independent, The Gotham and Sloan Foundation.

Marie Alyse Rodriguez – Producer
Marie Alyse Rodriguez is a producer boldly forging new lanes in the film industry.

Her company Intuition Films, founded in 2020, is on a mission to develop and produce socially conscious material for underrepresented voices while advocating for women, racial equity in the film industry, LGBTQIA+, and folks with disabilities.

Allen E. Ho – Cinematographer
Allen E. Ho is a California-bred Asian American Cinematographer and Camera Operator.

His recent narrative work includes Blackout which was nominated for a NAACP Image Award. Artificial which was awarded a Primetime Emmy, Peabody Futures of Media and Webby Award for Innovation. In the commercial world, he has worked on national campaigns for companies like Best Buy, Starbucks, Activision, DJI and JBL.

He was part of ASC’s Vision Mentorship Program and Film Independent’s Project Involve 2020, where he also received a Panavision Fellowship Grant Award.

Marco Rosas – Editor
A Chicano born and raised in the Chicago land area, I am now based in the city of Los Angeles. Utilizing my extensive video comprehension, intangible work ethic, let’s not of course forget my Midwest charm; I continue to seek editorial opportunities to build my reel focusing on short/feature films, commercials, music, etc.

Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.