ABOUT THE FILM 

Sugar Rag is a short subject film, meant to be a both satirical and visually alarming look at Alfred Adler's Theory of Dethronement. Adler, a renowned Austrian psychotherapist, had presented a theory which is essentially the idea that many children in their early stages of psychological development will feel greatly threatened by the arrival of a younger sibling, and often become prone to behavioural issues. This theory is one that deals with both a young child's natural territorial impulse and could even be seen as an extension of Freud's Oedipus Complex. 

The idea behind the film is to make an uncomfortably comical, and deeply unsettling interpretation of this concept in which the characters and the setting are both extremely surreal by nature. The film follows a young boy named Alfred living alongside his highly wealthy (and eerily cartoonish) mother and father who have just brought home a new child. While an immediate feeling of betrayal consumes Alfred, he becomes unable to see his younger sibling as what he is, but rather a full-grown man wearing a child's mask. 

ABOUT US

             Writer/Director - Jai Love

Jai Love is an emerging filmmaker based in Sydney, Australia.  He began making short films with his friends from an early age, with an interest in the darker aspects of human behaviour. Jai interned for Tommy Lee Jones on the 2014 feature film "The Homesman," before returning to Australia to study at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. During this time, Jai realised his interest in both documentary and in California's punk music scenes, and began development of Dead Hands Dig Deep with longtime friend Spencer Heath.

Dead Hands Dig Deep has since received successful acclaim from The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire alike, won awards and travelled across the globe at a broad variety of international film festivals such as:

Slamdance Film Festival - Utah, USA

Sydney Underground Film Festival - Sydney, Australia

Fantasia Film Festival - Montreal, Canada

Lausanne Underground Film Festival - Lausanne, Switzerland

Sidewalk Film Festival - Alabama, USA

Trailer - Dead Hands Dig Deep

                                     Writer - Spencer Heath

Spencer Heath is an emerging American writer and producer, residing in Los Angeles, California. Spencer was interested in film from an early age, using it as a way to escape the mundane life he experienced growing up in Temecula. After forming Southern Californian punk band The Coltranes, Spencer became immersed in this world of music. In 2011 Spencer met Edwin Borsheim, and as the two began a longterm friendship, Spencer initiated the concept of a documentary. Spencer pitched the idea to his childhood friend, Jai Love, and they soon began development of Dead Hands Dig Deep, their first collaboration together.

                                    Producer - Holly Warner

Holly Warner is a producer and director based in Sydney. Her interest in film began at a young age when she bought her first film camera, photography opening up a doorway into a quick obsession with telling stories. Holly is studying at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, where she has worked on multiple short films as a production designer and produced and directed her first film Searching for Ruben; a documentary about Ruben Cuda, a young transgender artist. 

                          Cinematographer - Kate Cornish

Kate Cornish is a 23 year old filmmaker and photographer who has a passion for telling darkly funny stories. She began her career straight out of film school, nabbing a job at Panavision in Sydney as a camera technician. She now freelances as a cinematographer and camera assistant, most recently working as Director of Photography for Freudian Nip, an ABC iView commisioned sketch show. 

     Production Designer - Alexandra Culliver

Alex Culliver is a production designer based in Sydney. Her work has been shown in feature films, short films and advertisements across many genres, reaching a national audience. her work seamlessly blends into the worlds created by the filmmakers, whilst maintaing a distinct voice and style that is instantly recognisable. Sugar Rag is her first collaboration with director, Jai Love. 

Production Costs

We are making a film...actually shot ON film like the good ol' days, and we need to raise money in this campaign to cover the costs of buying a measly 60 minutes of film stock to shoot on. 

The reason we need to shoot on film is because: 

"My entire time at filmschool all I ever wanted to do was shoot on film; this is my opportunity to do it." - Jai Love

- The nostalgia and warmth that film creates we cannot replicate with digital cameras, unless we attempt to raise way more than we're asking for than in this campaign to use top of the line digital cameras

- Shooting on film will be a huge learning curve for the crew; an incredibly valuable and important experience to us to develop as better filmmakers and storytellers

-  It's important to keep the medium alive! Kodak are now bringing back previously discontinued film stocks due to the recent high demand; help us revive the art of film.  

Cost Distribution:

Film - the cost of hiring a film camera from Panavision with insurance, as well as the cost of film and developing is approximately $1200. 

Catering - a hungry crew is an unhappy one, unhappy crews don't create magic and who wants that?

Production Design - Sugar Rag involves some pretty hefty props and costumes; hiring bouncing castles and shooting on location will be big ticket costs

Travel & Accomodation - Some of our scenes involve shooting 2 hours outside of Sydney where will have to transport/accomodate our entire cast and crew

Creating films is a challenge, no matter the amount of money you have; although, there is no denying having more dollars as opposed to less defintely decreases that stress. Furthermore it allows us as filmmakers to focus on the creative process, making this film as good as it can pozibly be! Every penny helps.