Saint Margo - Short Film

What is the Project?

Saint Margo is a fifteen-minute short film about Margo’s journey with faith. After experiencing excruciating pain during and after intercourse, Margo seeks a diagnosis for endometriosis. Starved of a proper support system, she reaches out to her childhood priest Father Gideon, however, his guidance does not go as she expects and Margo finds herself in a whirlwind of talking crucifixes, prescriptions of “Hail Mary’s” and a whole lot of religious guilt. 

This short film is the final project for the crew’s Masters of Fine Arts in Film (MFA) at Victoria University of Wellington. It is a piece that is extremely close to our hearts; exploring some deeply personal themes and touching on the isolation of trying to find a diagnosis, particularly as a woman. We are very excited to give some much-needed screentime to these themes and feel honoured to be able to tell such a universal, yet rarely spoken about, story. 

This surrealist, feminist comedy short film is about faith, religious guilt, and women’s health issues and we need your help to bring it to life! 

What Are We Fundraising For?

Our Boosted funding will go towards paying our cast and for our production design. From building a confessional to the mass amount of crosses, your donations will help bring these whacky ideas and Margo’s subconscious to life. 

We will also be seeking guidance from an intimacy coordinator to help create a safe onset environment and foster genuine intimate scenes between Margo and her partner Charlie. Ensuring our cast feels safe and held throughout this process is extremely important to us and your donations will help us gain the mentorship to achieve this. 

Any additional money made will go towards giving our crew a small koha to thank them for their time, passion, and support throughout this project. 

Who is Involved?

Saint Margo’s key crew includes: 

Jess Hockey (she/her) 

Director, Writer & Co-Producer 

Abby Lyons (she/her) 

Co-Producer 

Piper Kilmister (she/her) 

Director of Photography (DOP)

Jake Weller (he/they) 

Art Department / Production Designer 

Esteban Jaramillo (he/him)

Sound

Max Helbick (he/him)

Gaffer

A Note from The Writer & Director

“I’ve been to too many doctors appointments where I’ve been told to just ‘relax’ and ‘have a glass of wine’. Rarely am I given the time of day, always rushed out the door feeling worse than I did before the appointment. These interactions have knocked down my confidence and made me question if I truly know my body. I want to talk about this, and this is why I wrote Saint Margo. 

 When I was younger I went to church a lot. There I heard whispers of ‘waiting till marriage’, so when I first experienced pain, I felt like God was punishing me for living a life outside of what I was taught at church. Over the past few years this pushed me further and further away from my faith, so it was nice to write Margo as a character who consistently turns back to God. 

Saint Margo isn’t about sh*tting on institutions, it’s about starting a conversation, raising awareness, and of course, about laughter - making light of the uncomfortable things that happen in our lives.”