We are raising money to produce a 12-15 minute proof-of-concept (and standalone story) short film called Crystalline.

About

Corri O'Hare is desperate for a new beginning. He must battle vivid hallucinations, and the dysfunction of his world, to nail a performance that will guarantee him the new start he's looking for. Crystalline asks: what does it take to see yourself as you are - and accept what you find?

Crystalline is a pulpy, psychological, and character-driven drama with thriller and art-house elements. The film will draw stylistically from classic queer films like Mysterious Skin and Bound along with contemporary coming-of-age stories like Euphoria and the unmooring classic Black Swan.  

Dramatic framing and kinetic camerawork will convey and heighten the turbulent emotion of the story. Colorful, exaggerated imagery will seduce the viewer into the captivating world of drag – and Corri’s hallucinations.

While being a standalone film, Crystalline serves as a proof-of-concept for a feature-length version of the story that Director Christopher Cunetto has already written. Beyond your investment in this work, your support is part of a larger vision and will propel the filmmaking careers of our team!

Why this film? Why this storyteller?

“The seeds for Crystalline were planted many years ago.

In my twenties, I worked as a nightlife photographer for the DC LGBT Magazine Metro Weekly. For years I was at multiple clubs and parties every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. My job was to observe and document. I saw people making genuine connections of all kinds. I saw shallow drama and I witnessed profound experiences. And those people… the butches, femmes, twinks, bears, baby gays, elders, addicts… activists… porn stars and priests. Diversity. Contradiction.

I saw the fullness of life. But at the time I always felt outside of it. I wanted to be of it.

Over the years, as certain nightlife artists created themselves through fantasy. People became Artists. Drag became High Art. Fantasy became Reality. The story of Crystalline grew from my experiences witnessing the metamorphic power of self-creation through art. 

Like films, drag shows are a kind of shared delusion. A local queen might be unknown to the world but to the night, to the guests, to herself – she might as well be Cher. Over time I too became something more. I was a face people expected to see. I was a beam in the structure of the night. Still, I felt like an observer.

There was a dark side. I saw drama, addiction, manipulation. Maybe caused by the pain of living in a reality that didn’t line up with one’s inner life. Our fantasies can become dark. When our imagination becomes a poison well, how do we carry on?

Ultimately this is a film that examines how and if we can save ourselves from the darkness that finds us. Corri, the main character, looks to his art for the power to overcome his brokenness and change.

The desire to, at great risk and cost, make yourself into something new is universal. Deep down you know you’re not Beyoncé or Warhol. I’m not Tarantino. It doesn’t matter.  I am me. You are you. Giving birth to yourself is enough. Drag is a celebration of that fact and a ritual honoring that ability.

Only in retrospect can I see that my life was unfolding all the while I felt like an observer. I was creating myself, too. I still am. Now I know that to be of life we must immerse ourselves in the never-ending process of change. And while I never felt as transcendent as what I saw during those years, with this film I can transform my own experiences and uncertainties into something more sublime. I want to ask the question: How do we turn our turmoil into something beautiful?”

Timeline

What your support pays for

Key Production Roles

Christopher Cunetto - Writer/Director/Executive Producer
Christopher Cunetto is an award-winning queer, Italian-American filmmaker, visual artist, and creative strategist based in Washington, DC. His films have been screened at international venues and festivals - from the premiere of his short film Jeux, a love letter to DC LGBT nightlife, at local DC bar Number 9, to a selection of shorts celebrating Iberian poets at The Kennedy Center, to the European Premiere of his film Gateway in Italy. He recently completed post-production on a short he directed and co-wrote, titled Safe Word, about a masochist who must confront his self-loathing after his frustrated dom changes the rules of their game. His 2022 short Gateway was recently awarded Best Sci-fi Short and Best Actor, Jeff Dernlan, at the Prestige Film Festival. Christopher received the Best Director at The Atlantis Awards for writing and directing Gateway, which is currently making its way through festivals.

Mauricio Pita - Executive Producer
Mauricio is a Venezuelan-American actor, director, and producer living and working in Washington, DC. He is the Community Programs Manager at Arena Stage where he oversees the Voices of Now program (VON) which produced two feature docudramas during the pandemic and most recently nine short films for the 2022 VON festival at Arena Stage. Mauricio served as Creative Producer for the 2020-2021 Virtual Season of IN Series Opera. His projects with IN Series included the film Orphée et Eurydice, the audio play A Fairy Queen, and the interdisciplinary film/theater piece Boheme in The Heights. All three were featured on DC Metro Theater Arts’ 2021 lists of outstanding productions. In addition, Mauricio currently serves as Artistic Associate with We Happy Few Theatre Company and recently directed two Sherlock Holmes audio experiences as part of their at-home Detective Play Series which received praise for their crisp style and directing. Maryland Theater Guide called Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Norwood Builder “...a perfect adventure.” In addition, Mauricio executive produced Safe Word and produced Gateway both directed by Christopher Cunetto, and traveled to Croatia in December 2022 as part of a U.S State Department delegation to devise and develop an original play with Croatian, Bosnia and Herzegovinian and Ukrainian artists.