EMBER

After months of work in pre-production, Sailboat Films is happy to announce our second short film, Ember. Written and directed by local filmmaker Shayden Lowrey, excitingly in collaboration with Ripley Films and Capvista.

Kia ora to everyone that has taken the time to check out this project and allow us the opportunity to bring this wonderful story to life!

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Ember is a precautionary story, inspired by the past and presented in the future. The film follows a family on the day of Arini’s funeral. Her husband John and his daughter Mary are brought together for the first time in years, as they discuss the themes of life, death and what struggles come next for both of them. But the real struggle lies with Arini, whose consciousness wakes up unexpectedly in a body that is not hers. 

Ember is an exploration of a future grey area between technology and culture, while also representing the past. It deals with the themes of morality, posing the question of whether uploading the consciousnesses of non-consenting people to computers is the right thing to do, and what are the potential risk and consequences of doing so?  

Ember blends what we all love about New Zealand Film, with the classic Hollywood Sci-Fi, while also incorporating psychological horror elements. 

We can’t wait to share this exciting project with you all!

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How you support will help us:

To bring the story of Ember to life, we need your help! Our intended goal of NZD 8,500 will allow us to cover the necessities, but we would love to push a stretch goal and take the film to $10,000 which would allow us to make this film even better!

Our Director and Producers are helping out as well by putting forward their contributions to the funding - but we’ll need help getting the rest. The funding will go towards:

Transport: Due to the filming location being out of the Wellington region - we will need to help our cast and crew get there. The funding will help pay for petrol as well as any vehicle hires.

Location/Accommodation: With the nature of the story, we will need to find a countryside home to use as a location. Funding will allow us to hire out a venue that suits the story for the duration of the filming - including accommodation for the cast and crew.

Food: We will be providing food for the entire cast and crew throughout the filming. The funding will allow us to get as much food and beverages as required.

Gear: Thanks to our awesome DOP we can save a lot of budget by using his gear. This will allow us to look at renting other necessary gear from Portsmouth such as camera gear and lighting equipment.

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Director Bio:

Shayden Lowrey is a local Kiwi filmmaker from Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt. Shayden has always had a passion for filmmaking, but fully discovered his love for the art while studying at The New Zealand School of Film & Television. 

After he graduated, Shayden created his own Indie Film Production Company - Lowrey Film and Media, later becoming Sailboat Films. Since graduating, Shayden has gone on to write and direct “The Man Who Asked Why”, and has spent the last 2 years perfecting his craft and working on TV shows, short films and various commercial work. 

For the past year, Shayden has been laying the groundwork for Ember, and in 2022, hopes to make his mark in the New Zealand Film Industry. 

The team behind Ember:

The incredible team behind Ember is comprised of 4 different years of film school coming together. Everyone is incredibly passionate about filmmaking and we’re all ready to show our talents and skills to the New Zealand Industry. Our shared experience of film school and working together on several projects, as well as experience in the industry on our own has allowed planning in the pre-production stage to flow smoothly, with everyone excited to bring this project to the big screen! 

Cast and Crew:

Writer / Director / Exec Prod - Shayden Lowrey

DOP / Producer - Hayden Smith

Producer - Catherine Slow

Line Producer - 안나 (Anna) Florence Koata

Production Coordinator- Janelle Sheridan

Script Supervisor - Charlie Leeming

Camera Operator - Jacob Hawkins

1st AC - Sophea Ngoun

Gaffer - Finn Lloyd

Grip / Prod - Tom Sweeney

Sound Mixer - Andrew Fabling

Art Director - Tiffany Ngan

Concept Artist - Sam Shackleton

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To help bring awareness to the film and motivation for donating, the team behind Ember wanted to give something back to everyone that wishes to help us out! Every donor, unless anonymous, will get a special mention in the credits as a thank you!

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Thank you for checking out this project, and helping us get closer to bringing this beautiful story to life! 

Follow this campaign to keep updated with our progress and see behind-the-scenes content!!

Ngā mihi.