Project Synopsis

The Low Season is a hybrid documentary-fiction film. Inspired by films from the mid 1980s such as John Sayles’ Brother From Another Planet (1984) and  Eliseo Subiela’s Man Facing Southeast (1987), The Low Season takes place along Roosevelt Avenue, a corridor in Queens, which has been demonized and romanticized by outsiders, but which has a life of its own.

The story centers around Rafa, a woman who possesses an uncanny ability to soothe people by listening to their stories. While the character of Rafa is largely scripted, her conversations with a variety of participants who either live or work on Roosevelt Avenue will be unscripted and closer to “documentary” in nature. Our production team is seeking to raise $15,500 in order to do two key things to kickstart a full feature:

• We will conduct a 2-day workshop with our lead performer, who will travel to New York from Mexico, and community members who live or work along Roosevelt Avenue. In addition to paying our lead performer, the project will pay each of the participants an honorarium to compensate them for their time. Through the workshop, participants will be guided to share their personal stories and reflections in a way that strikes a balance between being factual to their personal stories, but also serving the broader narrative structure of the film.

• We will film and edit a “proof of concept” sequence for the film, with one or more participants and our lead performer. These samples will be used to fundraise for the full feature film which we are aiming to produce in FY26.

Bios