My Rareness Kinda Happened : An MRKH Short Film

Hello! My name is Rebecca Walshe! And I have MRKH!

I'm an independent and aspiring writer and filmmaker within the West Midlands. 

The story is something new and unique, and fairly unfamiliar within our everyday society. I feel our efforts will create a brave tale that'll also be a useful but powerful source within the future for those diagnosed with MRKH, and something that will widen the societal and social understanding of such a rare condition whilst also captivating our audience and have an emotional but, knowledgeable impact. 

The title of the short film will be “MY RARENESS KINDA HAPPENED”

"Lilly Wilks lives an ordinary childhood until she starts to feel disconnected from her peers and soon senses something is wrong with her body. She keeps unused sanctuary products in her bag, waiting for a day that will never arrive, and spots are the least of her concerns while her friends trade sanitary supplies and gossip about their periods. Lilly is diagnosed with MRKH, a rare condition that will permanently alter her life, at the age of seventeen. Her past haunts her in her current relationship, and her fears persist as she gets the courage to talk about her condition and how it has affected her life and how it impacts her in the present day.”

WHAT IS MRKH?
Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome is a rare condition that impacts the female reproductive system. Its characteristic feature is an underdeveloped or absent uterus and vagina, but functioning ovaries and a female chromosome pattern. 

MRKH affects 1 in 5000—myself being one of those women affected with this rare condition.
That's why it's so important to me that we get this project out there and made by the film industry, not to mention the profound ways this could help those diagnosed as a resource going forward. To see successful women paving a way across employment is always wonderful, but to help me make this whilst I have the condition, about the condition, simply illuminates a better future for all of those afflicted with MRKH (including family, friends, and partners).

All of the money raised by our Crowdfunder will be used to help fund a variety of elements needed for production. 

• Cast & Crew 
• Catering
• Expenses
• Equipment
• HMU
• Locations
• & More!

All donations are appreciated and will greatly help this dream project become a reality for myself and for the rest of the MRKH community. 

MRKH COMMUNITIES 

We're extremely lucky to have the support and encouragement of some of the charities that support MRKH. With this film, I want to help and support as many people as possible, and this short film will also assist in doing so as a community-based initiative.

As this is something that unites all of us, and is something that benefits all of us, I see this page as a call to action. The ultimate ambition of a charity is to help those who need it, and with so many MRKH charities, we feel that this project would benefit twice as much from even more support, and make this relevant and striking piece happen. 

There are so many MRKH organisations and communities that I’d love this project to reach and help make this film accessible to everyone within the community. If you are able to support, I’d be extremely thankful.

On that note, with such incredible links being made, we're incredibly lucky that Birmingham and The Midlands has such a fantastic range of Actors, Crew and Creatives, and so with your donation, we're closer than ever to bringing this story to life. In doing so, you're supporting a great region for Film, Television and Stories and helping us show our industry why more projects should be made here. Thanks to Splendid Isolation Productions running such a successful trainee placement scheme, you'll also be helping to afford the opportunity to new young and talented students and underprivileged, disadvantaged and  marginalised creatives across Birmingham and the Midlands hoping to hone their craft.

Our cast will consist of five main Actors and around a handful of Supporting Artists to feature in a couple of poignant, authentic, and bittersweet scenes. 

If you are a business looking to support this project with a donation, I can wholeheartedly assure you that we would be happy to include your business or organisation within the credits to help promote yourself or even be a part of the short film yourself.

So whether you're donating ONE pound or ONE HUNDRED, let's show you where it's going:

CATERING
Nobody likes to work on an empty stomach! Breaking it down, with smart and healthy choices for hearty and filling meals on set, every £2 we raise could feed a cast member or member of the crew on set for a day. Whilst we're working with a very small crew and cast across approximately three days, we still need to feed them!

EQUIPMENT
In order to get this off the ground, we're going to need a camera to shoot on, a boom to help us record sound, lighting, and lenses, and the list goes on. Films (even very short ones like this!) are not easy to make under any circumstances. If we have good kit, we can trust our incredible team to create a fantastic result.

LOCATIONS
Without locations, we have nowhere to shoot! Sometimes getting locations is a tricky business, and being able to have some money to hire or put down a deposit helps us to secure a shoot location. The money going to locations will help us ensure that we have fully realised scenes that look their best.

EXPENSES
Making a short film incurs expenses that we need to consider. This can mean travel tickets, petrol, set design and props, and often sometimes it helps to have a spare contingency fund to help with unexpected costs! Sometimes things can go awry, and creating across Birmingham and The Midlands means dealing with the most dreaded enemy of all contingency funds everywhere... The trains!

WHO AM I?

Well, like I said, my name is Rebecca, and I am 26 years old! I'm an aspiring writer, Actress, and creative born in Redditch, who graduated from the University of Wolverhampton and now lives in a small town called Bromsgrove. 

When I was 12, I knew instantly there was something "wrong" with me and my body. I remember walking around high school, always prepared with a toiletry bag and spare underwear with a sense of dread for a period that would never come.

After a biology lesson one afternoon, I visited the school nurse as I was concerned that I had still not started, and I felt left behind and slightly ostracised by my peers. I could never truly join in on the conversations about the cramps and hot water bottles, the chocolate cravings, and the Pride-and-Prejudice reruns.

For years I lived with the knowledge that under our system, nothing could be done until I was 16. I carried this weight with me for years, until eventually I had an ultrasound followed by an MRI. I was told my uterus was absent, but both of my ovaries were present.
I was so overwhelmed; I remember asking the doctor if this meant I was still a woman.
I felt lost, alone, and confused with my own body and gender identity.

I was not alone in these feelings; thousands of people the world over go through this when they're diagnosed. It can be intensely scary, and like a lot of health issues experienced by women, it seems inherently taboo; never to be discussed and never depicted in media.

These are just some things I hope we can address with our short film  and start a wider conversation and social awareness of the condition. Hopefully, our production can even be used as a resource for those who are recently diagnosed.

Individually, we can feel very alone... but together we are sisters, united by MRKH.