Dear programmer, dear partner,

I'm writing to share Keepsake, a twelve-minute animated short in handcrafted stop-motion that I wrote and am directing with Memoir Productions.

A twelve-year-old maker who has watched the one lit window of the big house for six years gives up his dream machine to prove that a dead inventor's greatest idea belonged to the widow at the long table, and breaks his mother's only rule to get the proof up the stairs.

It's a film about who gets their name on things. The faces are carved and lacquered, the sweaters hand-knit, the lawn black felt. Only words are paper: when handwriting comes alive, it folds itself into a small bird and reads aloud in its writer's voice.

We're making it as a hybrid: puppets, hands, notes and every close-up of a paper bird built and shot by hand, with the wider world animated and finished using makr.ai. A human voice cast and filmed table reads come next; the trailer and the audio drama use temp voices.

For festival programmers, we're aiming to premiere at an animation festival and would welcome a conversation about fit and timing. For financiers, we're raising a proposed $350,000 for the hybrid plan; the financing deck has estimated budget ranges and the schedule.

If it's a fit, reply to this email and I'll send the materials: the screenplay, the image deck and the financing deck. Thank you for reading this far; I know the pile.

Warmly,

Mara Collins

Writer · Director · Memoir Productions