Hooray! Meg is crazy in love, but… has love actually made her crazy?

OBSESSION (2015) is a dark, satirical story about one flawed heroine’s obsession with her appearance. Unfortunately, her shame might drive her to madness…

From an early age, Meg always dreamed of having a “perfect” smile. After becoming infatuated with the seemingly perfect Joe, she feels compelled to make her dream a reality. However, when her dentist’s unable to match her idea of perfection, the naive girl secretly decides to take matters into her own hands…

OBSESSION (2015) is written by Lucia Zhai and Matthew Ware and will be directed by Zhai. The independent short is the third film by Zhai exploring mental illness and will be the most unique film yet, because of it’s twisted, comedic tone (think Tim Burton meets The Twilight Zone).

“Everyone has a bit of mental illness, or has at least experienced a period of depression,” notes the rising filmmaker Zhai. “This topic needs awareness and better discussion.”

Zhai is currently perfecting her filmmaking craft at the prestigious Academy of Art University, School of Motion Pictures and Film in San Francisco, California.

Not only is OBSESSION about a female protagonist, but it’s being spear-headed by a predominantly female filmmaking team. In fact, Zhai, and her all-San Francisco crew, are inspired to make the entertainment industry more diverse by having more female voices expressed through film.

In 2014, the same year Hollywood’s box office was dominated by Maleficent, Gone Girl, and Hunger Games – only 12% of films featured a female protagonist. The numbers of female directors and producers are similarly dismal. As of 2014, only 20% of filmmakers are female. Even worse, female directors comprised only 7% of the profession.

Zhai notes: “Small and independent film projects like OBSESSION, will prove there’s an audience for female voices in film and encourage other women to make their voices heard.”

OBSESSION is as poignant as it is important to future filmic generations. However, since funding is an ongoing scourge of the arts, OBSESSION is now turning to both crowd-funded support and social media to help spread its artistic vision.

“In order to make this film, we need to rent equipment and locations, pay for some really cool bloody and gory effects, feed our crew, and hire a killer post-production team. We also want to put this film into a number of festivals so that our work, messages, etc., will be seen,” notes Zhai. “Our budget goal is low for film, at just $10,000.”

OBSESSION is about a salient topic. As such, Zhai notes her project comes front-loaded with some rather “cool perks” (see Side bar).

We seek to deliver a finished product that both satisfies AAU’s academic standard, as well as contributes to relevant perspective on an important topic.

Will you join us?

If you’d like more information about OBSESSION please contact the director Lucia Zhai at filmlucia@gmail.com. To support the film Obsession please go to:

Indiegogo: www.indiegogo.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/obsessionthesisfilm
Twitter: @ObsessionFilm
Website: obsessionfilm.wix.com