Synopsis
Twenty-five year old nanny and aspiring writer Sophie can’t believe her luck when she lands a gig babysitting for the daughter of her favorite author, Linda Carson. Linda (40) is successful, fun, and effortlessly cool, and Sophie is immediately starstruck by her and her classy, book-filled home. Linda’s baby, Jane, is already asleep, so Sophie has an easy night ahead of her. But not everything in this house is at it seems.
As Sophie goes further down the rabbit hole of Linda’s personal life, the lines between artist and fan, grown up and child begin to blur until a final revelation which upends everything Sophie thought she knew about her hero.
Jane is loosely based on my experiences as a nanny working for families throughout New York City and the relationships I made along the way. I saw the messy dynamics behind the calm exteriors, and the intimate moments often hidden by outward projections of success. For so many of the beautiful, artistic mothers I worked for, their personas of perfection often masked a more complicated interior life. Their stories, as well as my own, are the inspiration for my film.
Jane will be my directing debut, and I am thrilled to bring this story to the screen. I intend to shoot in Brooklyn, New York, January 10th-13th 2025, and I have already secured a location. I have a producer, cinematographer, casting director and composer attached to the project, and I am currently in the process of securing the rest of our crew. Our predominantly female and non-binary team is committed to telling this story with authenticity, boldness, and heart.
Jane’s budget is currently set at $26,000, and we intend to raise funds for our film as a non-profit. We have applied to a number of grants and are currently exploring partnerships with businesses focussed on women’s health, but also have a number of individual donors who are excited to financially support our film. NYWIFT’s Fiscal Sponsorship program will make it possible for our supporters to obtain tax incentives for their donations, and it will also allow us to take advantage of corporate matching grants as we approach the festive season. As a new NYWIFT member, I am excited to be a part of this community and want Jane to be in conversation with the other incredible projects that are being supported by this program and are elevating the voices and stories of women, both in front of an behind the camera.
We all know the outsized burden and challenges women face when deciding to be both mothers and have careers. As I embark on this project, I think often of the mothers I worked for and the unseen personal sacrifices and barters they must have made. But I am also continuously inspired by them – their striving, their unapologetic desire to be seen and known outside of the home. Jane reckons with the push and pull between isolation and exposure, longing and grief, and ultimately the ways in which women hold each other’s desires, secrets, and hopes.
Key Personnel
Eva Ravenal – Writer, Director
Eva Ravenal is an actor and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. She grew up in Richmond,Virginia and studied Theater at Wesleyan University. Eva acted in Sundance Screenwriting Fellow Alyssa Loh’s film Other Bodies (Fantasia Film Festival award winner), Dung Cake (which she co-wrote and produced), multiple music videos for the band TOLEDO (Grand Jury), and onstage in Gracie Gardner’s New York Times’ Critics Pick play Athena, amongst other projects.
She was an associate producer for Ajai Vishwanath’s short film Starch (Austin Film Festival, Short Shorts) and the documentary short Jaz (Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival Jury Nominee).
Eva is passionate about bringing thoughtful, funny, and relatable female voices to the screen. She is currently in development for her feature directorial debut, SUPER HOT.
Ajai Vishwanath – Producer
Ajai Vishwanath is a filmmaker and visual artist from Sydney, Australia, currently based in New York City.
Ajai’s short film, Starch, is currently on the festival circuit as an Official Selection at the Austin Film Festival and the Academy Award-qualifying Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia and Tasveer Film Festivals, and was acquired for distribution by Alaska Airlines. His documentary short, Jaz, was nominated for the Jury Award at the 2023 Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival. In 2021, he produced the short film Exposed, which premiered at the Palm Springs International Shortfest, and his debut solo painting exhibition, Adoxography, opened at Google San Francisco.
Ajai recently finished an MFA in Filmmaking at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he was a Robert Jahn scholar and a Maurice Kanbar scholar. In 2023, Ajai was nominated for the ARRI Volker Bahnemann Award for Excellence in Cinematography. Prior to NYU, Ajai completed his BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics with a concentration in Globalisation and a minor in Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.
Sarah Greenbaum – Cinematographer
Classical training in painting lay the groundwork for Greenbaum’s sensitive and incisive approach to cinematography. She studied film at the Kanbar School of Film and Television at NYU, where, among other accolades she was awarded the Volker Bahnemann (ARRI) Award for Outstanding Cinematography, and the Christopher B. Smithers Grant for outstanding documentary.
Greenbaum has collaborated on numerous commercial and narrative film projects in the United States and abroad. Her recent credits include Let, directed by Alyssa Loh, which premiered at SXSW 2024, and Tragedy Babes, directed by Christa Haley, which premiered at the 2024 Palm Springs International ShortFest. She currently teaches at NYU and is based in New York City.
