At first, people began to hallucinate. Workplace accidents, plane crashes, and suicides all increased dramatically. It didn't take long for people to lose their jobs, for companies to shut down, for families to become destitute, all transformed into husks of their former selves.

But let's take a few steps back....

This is a glimpse of a world falling apart, unravelling at the seams, a world not far removed from our own.

And it's surprising how quickly it can all c

                                                                     o

                                                                      l l

                                                                       a

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                                                                           e. .  .   .

Less than a year ago, an "event" occurred. 

Although shrouded in secrecy and covered up at the highest levels, this event has had one very public consequence:

Ever since that bright flash in the sky, no living creature on Earth has been able to sleep.

It started off slowly, with restless, intermittent sleep.

No one discussed it, because why would they?

As sleep  s l  o  w   l    y  disappeared and people began to talk, people across the globe found that they all shared this unique commonality.

And nothing helped - no drug or other form of therapy was powerful enough to overcome this fundamental rewriting of one of the brain's core functions.

This is when the hallucinations began, and the infrastructure of society started to collapse. All those little, seamless things we don't notice that help the world function, they gradually broke down. 

But a chance discovery gives the governments of the world an ace up their collective sleeve - a black powder left behind after the event has the power to induce sleep.

Subject Zero, the designation our protagonist has been given, thinks these are more than mere hallucinations. 

And thinks she can find a way to save the world.

My name is Tom Rotenberg and I'm a video artist and curator. You're not here to read a laundry list of things that I've done - you can find that here...but here are a few ways you might've heard of me:

1. curating and installing digital art exhibitions for the Made in NY Media Center
2. video art that I've created for the Leo Kuelbs Collection, independent curators, and LIGHT YEAR
3. co-directing, shooting, and producing the upcoming Longmont Potion Castle documentary, Where in the Hell is the Lavender House?
4. my blog, Metallic Imagery, where I've been sharing the best music the underground has to offer for more than half a decade

Anyway, what you're really here to learn more about my narrative short film, Don't Forget to Remember.

Long before I ever held a camera or touched a piece of editing software, I was writing. I developed a taste for realism and structure with just a hint of the unknown, that something new could be around the next corner. 

Sometimes life takes you in unexpected directions, though, and after working in development at HDNet Films and a suffering through a brief stint in reality TV, I began curating and making video art. Being given the freedom to invent my own structures and stories from abstracted imagery and non-traditional editing techniques has liberated my brain from some of those learned confines. 

I'm ready to return to more traditional narrative storytelling but with a reinvigorated ability to incorporate the visual and structural concepts that have been infused into my recent creative work.

Don't Forget to Remember is the tip of the iceberg, as they say. It's a short introduction to just one point in one timeline of the world that I've created. This is a complex world, dealing with inequality, struggles for political power, increasing reliance on technology, and an environment that's becoming more and more inhospitable to human life every day.

There's so much more yet to be realized, and with your help we can take the first step.

What else?

How about a timeline:

Shooting is set to occur in late spring, 2019. I'm hoping to have a rough cut of the film in late summer and we should be locked by late fall....hopefully.

What about our team members?

Martha Frances Williams is our producer on this project. She most recently produced Up or Out, a short film that's gone on to screen at festivals throughout New York and across the country. She's a logistical mastermind who's dedicated to the filmmaker's vision in a way that few producers are, and has been an integral part of developing Don't Forget to Remember's script and bringing talented cast and crew on board.

Josh Graham is a multi-instrumentalist, graphic designer, and music video director. He was a member of Neurosis for a decade, crafting their visual identity across album design, packaging, live visuals, and more. He also served as Soundgarden's creative director and just released a new album from his long-running A Storm Of Light project. He'll be composing our score under his IIVII moniker and I couldn't be more excited to have someone with his level of experience, professionalism, and dedication to craft on board.

Seriously, he's amazing and is going to bring so much to the film...that music you hear in the video above?

All him. 

As we get closer to our expected shoot date, we'll be announcing additional cast and crew members, and a large portion of your donations will go toward ensuring we have the best people possible in every role, both in front of and behind the camera.

Oh, we've got incentives. There are the usual "thanks-in-the-credits" and "digital download" incentives, but there are a bunch of unique ones, too. I can manipulate some of footage for you, or you can give me footage to use in the film. You can have a personal consultation with Josh, or you can have him come to your house for special live performance. Our team will also evaluate a project of yours and give you our two cents - we've got a strong track record with narrative and documentary development, story structure, festival strategy, budgeting, and more, so here's your chance to get some feedback.

Help us and we'll help you.

This short film is just the beginning.