Vivie

Vivie is a heart-warming tale about a woman and her relationship with her body.

About this film. 

It's been coined the vaginismus story because, well, it is a story about consent - personal consent. We are here to talk Vagina Owners about listening to their vaginas, as they are in the front line of an intimate experience, and know when something is feeling right, and when something is not.

Amy has a love/hate relationship with her vagina. Every time she tries to have sex with a new lover, her vagina - Vivie, will not give her the pleasure to do so. Amy gets increasingly frustrated with Vivie for that, and equally, Vivie is frustrated with Amy for not listening to her. It all comes to head when Amy is in mid-coitus, and Vivie, again refuses to allow her the intimate moment she so desires. 

When your vagina doesn’t play ball. Or balls. Or anything.

About the writer / director. 

Hweiling - that’s me!:

Kia ora e te whānau. My name is Hweiling and I have been fortunate enough that the New Zealand Film Commission and Auckland Council have chosen to back my short film Vivie in the form of a Fresh Shorts funding grant, and a $2,000 Auckland Arts Comeback match fund. I’m grateful that Vivie has given me her blessing and permission to write and direct her short biopic.

I’m excited about making this film with the awesome and talented Mia Maramara  and Morgan Leigh Stewart.

The monies: we need you to bring Vivie to life!

We need your help to make Vivie. Like Frankenstein, but through fabric. Our hero costume is the most epic and beautiful vagina, or more accurately, vulva costume. It’s one that you see, and fall in love with. Delicate, strong, with glistening layers, a bead sits on the forehead. And it lights up - because we want to see her glow when she’s happy and joyful.

We also need to create Vivie’s home - the insides of a vagina. Our dream through film-making magic trickery is to make it small on the outside, and bigger on the inside - kinda like Doctor Who’s Tardis. It needs to be a large enough space for two actors where the floors, walls, and ceiling is crevice textured. A place where Vivie goes to hide. I know - it sounds very meta. 

Confessions of a small vagina 

A note from Vivie:

Like many power imbalanced relationships, I struggle with standing up to my Vagina Owner, Amy. Saying ‘no’ and ‘listen to me’ to her is such a difficult road to navigate. Conversely, I ‘want’ her to be happy.

I try my best to please her, but there doesn’t seem to be any reciprocation. I am here to shed light on what a meaningful relationship/partnership looks like, and hope that it educates other Vagina Owners and other vagina lovers, as well. If one thing comes from the telling of this story, I hope that it’s that other vaginas understand that they don’t have to suffer alone in the dark anymore. 

This is not a porn – it’s a vagina dialogue. And it needs you.

In summary:

I am a filmmaker. 

I am a Boosted Virgin.

YOLO

I want to make a human-sized vagina and bring it out into the light because it’s always hiding in the dark.

Making short films is expensive.

You will make my dreams come true. I will die happy.

Thanks for your time and donate today!

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More about the Vivie team:

MHM Productions is made up of Mia, Hweiling, and Morgan. We love movies. 

Hweiling Ow – Writer / Director has developed multi-hyphenated skills in the areas of producing, writing, directing, and acting, and has been taking the world by storm producing and originating a diverse number of productions. Highlights are her online short film The Tattooist (16 million views), The Claw (2.3million views), and her NZFC short film Vaspy that screened at Fantasia Film Festival. She has received NZ On Air funding including the horror anthology Ao-terror-oa, AFK Season 1 & 2, and The Basement. Notably, AFK is currently available on Amazon Prime.

She has recently released an episode in the TVNZ anthology series Beyond The Veil called Albularyo, which she co-wrote, and co-produced. She is also in pre-production with Kevin and Co. for HomeBound 3.0, a project that beat 8 other teams for the SPP Best Pitch Competition at the SPADA conference.

Mia Maramara – Producer is a Filipino-born filmmaker with work that has been screened both locally and internationally. Her passion for authentic, trailblazing stories has led her to wear different hats in the industry, most notably as a writer, director, and producer.

She has written and directed the NZOA-funded horror TV episode Albularyo for TV2 – released in March 2022, which will feature the first ever use of the Filipino language on New Zealand prime time drama. Mia’s heart is firmly in the genre sphere where she puts her nightmares to good use. To that end, she has received funding from the New Zealand Film Commission, New Zealand On Air, Creative New Zealand, and the New Zealand Writers Guild Seed Fund. She has participated in the Fresh Shorts Lab and the Aotearoa Short Film Lab. In the Philippines, she trained under award-winning producer Bianca Balbuena and worked as a production assistant on Pepe Diokno’s film Above the Clouds.

Morgan Leigh Stewart – Producer has worked for screen industry organisations across Australasia including MIFF, ACMI, Screen Auckland, Film Auckland, 48Hours, Doc Edge, and The New Zealand Film Awards. Morgan’s first feature DEATHGASM premiered at SXSW in 2015. In 2019 she attended the Berlinale Talents, and Morgan has been included in Script to Screen’s prestigious FilmUp mentorship program for 2020, and Strength in Numbers for 2022.

Recent projects through her company The Hot House include shorts, series for web and TV, and features in development with a wide range of top NZ talent. MHM Productions was formed by Mia, Hweiling, and Morgan in 2020 to showcase exceptional genre stories for worldwide audiences. Morgan’s focus is on strong stories, creative collaborators, and projects that understand and respect their audiences.