'Loba', a short horror film

Aim

Please support this microbudget short film that's focused on things dear to my heart: feminism, platforming new creative talent, horror FX

THE STORY

A woman navigates a world that's stopped seeing her. As she becomes increasingly invisible - to colleagues, to her doctor, to the city itself - something ancient begins to take heed. 

'Loba' is a dark comic horror about the price of patriarchy - the toll it takes on all of us, and the warped things that grow in the cracks. 

I quit my office job to tell this story, and I don't regret a single bloody second.

THE PRODUCTION

I made this directorial debut on location in Cambridge: at my favourite pub, my favourite diner and my favourite 800-year-old priory. DOP Callum Watson and I carefully curated an elite cast and crew for the project, most of whom are legends from the local filmmaking community.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

I've been fascinated by horror FX since 1988, when I saw Emil Antonowsky melting on video in 'Robocop'. I ended up in film journalism/programming, but when the opportunity arose, thought it only fair to have a stab at making a film of my own before I carry on harshly critiquing other people's work. 

Jane Martin-Smith is my muse. I met her at the Cambridge Filmmakers' meetup, and she told me she wanted to spice up her showreel. My thoughts immediately turned to cinematic areas that would showcase her immense talent and skill: horror, comedy, drinking a cup of tea without making it obvious the cup is empty. It's tough out there for elderly (>25) female actors but you'll soon see why I believed in her.

The world needs more feminist art. Feminism means equality for everyone. At time of writing, we don't have that yet. And representation is important too - we have a 65/35% gender balance across our team (could do better).

CREATIVE PRINCIPLES

• Practical FX

All our special makeup FX are practical, designed and created by me and makeup artist Layla Hobson. 

• Equality and diversity

E&D is at the heart of the project, from casting choices to the narrative themes. When building our cast and crew we brought in people from under-represented backgrounds in film - including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, gender-diverse and disabled creatives. 

• AI stance

We haven’t used, and won’t use AI or LLMs in our production design or marketing materials*. We used a human graphic prop designer, and a human motion graphics designer.

*Apart from one really revolting Temu jumper, but I promise this was crucial to the plot.

BUDGET BREAKDOWN

• Insurance - £218
• Location fees - £720
• Wardrobe, props, makeup - £367
• Catering - £560
• Travel and accommodation - £507
• Soundtrack - £100
• Camera and lighting equipment - £2178
• Colour grade - £350

Total budget that we hope to recoup: £5000 minus crowdfunder platform fees.

WHERE WE ARE

We shot 'Loba' across three days in Cambridge in October 2026, and the gory finale is our centrepiece. It involved just an hour and a half (we needed at least two) of SFX prosthetic makeup designed and applied by me and Layla. Now we've wrapped, the result is something we're very proud of and very much want you to see.

THE TEAM

'Loba' was made possible by a group of hardworking collaborators:

Rosy Rockets (me) - Producer, Writer, Director, Production Designer and HMUA

Callum Watson - Director of Photography, shooting on the Blackmagic PYXIS, with Super 8 inserts

Fin Hanlon - Gaffer

Dale Suttle - Sound Recordist

Layla Hobson - Makeup Artist / Co-FX Designer

Anthony Adams - Original electronica score

Splinterbird - Original blues song (with vocals from actor Matt McLaren)

Of Concrete Gods - Closing credits music

Jane Martin-Smith - 'Loba Dimalanta'

The rest of our cast and crew included freelancers, emerging filmmakers and film students: all killer, no filler.

WHY WE NEED YOU

I funded LOBA myself, from personal savings, and made it under the Take One Cinema banner - the independently run film website I co-founded. We’re now raising funds to recoup those savings and, if we go beyond that, to finish the film and take it to festivals. 

Here’s where your contribution will go -

Our goal: £5,000
This helps recoup the savings I put into making LOBA.

Stretch goals

£6,000: finishing the film: the edit and sound mix.

£6,500: festival submissions. We’ll enter Frightfest, Grimmfest, Scarborough and Cambridge Film Festival, and more besides.

If we don’t reach the stretch goals, I’ll fund the finish myself, but with your help 'Loba' will get the expert post-production treatment it deserves.

ABOUT TAKE ONE CINEMA

Take One Cinema is an independently run film website co-founded by me and Jim Ross. We champion the best in independent and festival cinema year-round.

Since 2011, we’ve covered major festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Venice, Sundance, London and Edinburgh, alongside smaller festivals in print and audio, and produced our own podcast series, TAKE ONE Presents...

We give experienced writers a home for thoughtful coverage of under-the-radar work, and support newer voices in finding theirs. 'Loba' is our first short film production, and we hope it’ll be the first of many.

takeonecinema.net

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 12th December 2026 at 12:20pm