ABOUT THE FILM

80-year-old Billie is the sole caretaker for her dying husband of fifty-plus years. She does everything for him from helping him use the bathroom to feeding him dinner. Billie starts to dream about life beyond being a caretaker. She realizes as a wife and mother who married young, she has never known what it means to live for herself.

One day, Billie is presented with the opportunity to move into her independent life sooner than she thought when she finds a poisonous berry bush in her backyard. She decides to take life into her own hands and makes the berries into jam to give to her husband.

Billie begins her journey of self-discovery but moving on from the life she's lived for the past eighty years isn't as easy as Billie thought it would be, and along the way, Billie is forced to reckon with her past. Billie battles feelings of guilt and regret as she strives to figure out who she is and what she wants while learning to age.

Click to visit Belladonna's website.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

The total budget for Belladonna is $700,000. The film is sponsored by a 23-year-old non-profit called From the Heart Productions and is seeking funding through tax-deductible donations. The funds will go towards hiring crew, renting equipment, casting, editing, and distributing the film.

The film is set in Wisconsin and will also be filmed there. The production is currently working with local Wisconsin organizations to make the film a unique arts opportunity for the community by providing ways for community members and local students to experience being on set.

The crew for the film is a unique collaboration of combined talent from New York City and Wisconsin. You can learn more about the Belladonna team on our website HERE.

ABOUT THE WRITER/DIRECTOR: Beah Travis

Beah was raised in Plymouth, WI and attended UW-Madison, where she earned a BA in Film and Television and spent a year living abroad in Prague studying Czech cinema. After graduating, she moved to New York City and worked for four seasons on the Emmy-award-winning series "A Crime to Remember" as a Background Casting Coordinator, Story Associate Producer, Story Producer, and Writer. She also spent time as a Second Assistant Director on numerous independent films and as a Researcher for the Amazon series "The New Yorker Presents." While in New York, Beah wrote her award-winning short film script, "Then He Smiled." Beah was accepted to an artist residency program in Sefrou, Morocco in 2017, where she spent two months filming her documentary short, "The Passing Life," which featured interviews with local artisans about their beliefs on dying. Later that year, Beah moved from New York City to Colorado, went back to working in restaurants to support herself, and began writing the script and developing the production plan for her feature film project Belladonna. Beah recently finished directing a short film called Way Upstate, which was made in collaboration with Cinematographer Justin Newhouse. 

Plans to film Belladonna are set for 2021.

PLEASE JOIN US

Please consider supporting Belladonna. Every contribution helps no matter the size.