MSA? You're Fu*ked!

Aim

MSA? You're Fu*ked! is a documentary made across 4 years, featuring Kath Gilfoy, who is living with the rare neurodegenerative disease MSA.

Help Us Finish Our Film MSA? You're Fu*ked!

I’m Susanna Howard, founder of creative health charity Living Words, a freelance director, actor, and 2026 Screen South Showcase Artist.

I’m making this film with my friend Kathryn Gilfoy. Kath and I have worked together for many years. She led arts organisations including Westminster Arts, where she first commissioned Living Words projects, and later became a trustee of the charity. Kath has spent 25 years as a member of the London Philharmonic Choir and has always been an explorer - both externally, travelling the world every chance she got; and internally, becoming an interfaith humanist minister, being a voracious journal keeper and reader.

Ours is a long relationship built on creativity, trust, friendship, and care. This film has grown directly from that. This project is incredibly close to my heart.

About the film:

This is a short hybrid documentary about Kath’s experience of living with Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). MSA is a rare, progressive neurological condition. It is often first mistaken for Parkinson’s, but it progresses much faster and gradually affects movement, speech, and the body’s essential systems.

When we first began filming, Kath described herself as “grinding to a halt.” At that point, her voice was beginning to disappear.

Now, Kath can no longer speak. She has a tracheostomy, her eyes often close, and she communicates using one arm and one finger to point to letters on a chart—spelling words slowly, letter by letter. Communication takes huge focus. From the outside, that slowness can be mistaken for absence. But what we want this film to show is the opposite.

Kath is  - as she has always been - funny, sharp, thoughtful, pedantic, creative, and fully present. Her inner life is rich and vivid, like any human alive.

This is a film about voice, identity, friendship, and what remains when the body changes.

How it began..:

As Kath’s speech became harder, we used the Listen Out Loud methodology from Living Words to begin writing down her words. We wanted to hold onto what she was saying, how she was feeling, and what life was like from the inside.

That was the beginning. From there, we started filming. It was never planned as a big film project—it grew very naturally and organically over several years, simply by staying close to what was happening.

Why does it matter?:

This film matters because there is often such a gap between how neurological conditions are medically understood and what they actually feel like to live with.

We have been working with neuroscientists and clinicians at Cambridge to help bridge that gap.

We hope the film will reach:
- film audiences
- galleries and arts centres
- clinicians and medical conferences
- carers and care professionals
- people living with neurological conditions and their families

We want this film to create understanding, empathy, and connection. It forms part of Kath's legacy. 

Where we are now:

We have been filming over several years and we are now very close to finishing.

We have a brilliant team supporting the project, including amazing editor Cassandra Roberts, animator Kate Anderson, DoP  Piers Leigh for some special moments, composer and sound designer Dan Watts, executive producer Jo Nolan, and collaborators across both the arts and medical worlds.

We are close... now we need help to finish it properly.

What we need:

We are raising £5,000 as the absolute minimum needed to complete the film.

This will cover:
- final editing
- sound design and music
- animation
- colour grading
- post-production
- festival submissions
- preparation for screenings and distribution

We have both given a huge amount of time, energy, and care to make this happen.

This funding helps us get the film over the line - and will help ensure that Kath can see the final film before she is no longer with us.

What happens next:

With your support, we will:
- complete the film in summer 2026
- submit to documentary film festivals
- tour the film to galleries and arts venues
- share it with clinicians, researchers, and medical communities

How you can help:

If you are able to donate—even a small amount—it will help us.

And if you cannot donate, sharing this campaign  will help us.

This is not a vanity project. This film has been made alongside real changes in Kath’s life, in real time. We simply want to do it justice.

Thank you for helping us bring it to life.

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HUGE THANKS TO KLIP FILMS FOR PUTTING THIS FAB CAMPAIGN FILM TOGETHER. WE LOVE YOU. XX

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made