The Unbearing
KATERINA EICHENBERGER
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LOGLINE
When a young woman gets an illegal abortion in a totalitarian America, she’s left alone to face a sinister presence that begins rapidly growing inside of her.
SYNOPSIS
The Unbearing is a short horror film that follows protagonist and pest control worker Alice Tilden (20s) living in a totalitarian America. Abortion is illegal, democracy is shattered, and privacy is in the past. She has had a difficult life to begin with and when she misses her period after sleeping with married Jimmy McMann, the son of a prominent political figure, she is in serious danger. After taking a government controlled pregnancy test, she has 24 hours before she needs to upload the results. Knowing she cannot support a child emotionally and financially, she must race against the clock to get an abortion.
In a final meeting, Jimmy gives Alice the number of someone who could help. She successfully acquires the contraband abortion pills and at first, the medication appears to be working. However, over the course of a day, something begins to grow inside her at an alarming rate. Entombed in her dingy apartment, Alice discovers the medication has been tampered with. She’s then left alone to face the nightmare coming to life in her womb. She must either seek help from the very people who could turn her in or take care of it on her own.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
It was impossible to say no; how could we ignore the opportunity to tell such a powerful story when so many of us, so many women in the US, are so close to facing the very essence of Alice's journey?
When Eichenberger approached us with the premise for The Unbearing (fka Cessation) we were immediately drawn to it. Undoubtedly, the recent overturn of Roe v. Wade in the United States played an important factor in our decision to get on board. Eichenberger’s personal approach made the piece particularly relevant at a time when women were stripped of essential human rights. Utilizing the horror genre and its ability to showcase raw violations of the female body, we have embarked on an onerous task. One that seeks to tell a relatable story of a character trapped in a liminal space, while determined to empower women by avoiding exploitative attempts historically seen in cinema. By fictionalizing an experience shared by so many women, we hope to honor a shared truth and invite women to challenge the patriarchy; a social system that yet again is deciding what women can or can’t do with their own bodies.
Katerina Eichenberger . Writer, Actor, & Producer
Katerina is an actress and Chief of Staff and Deputy Director of Admissions and Enrollment for Stowe Story Labs. She has completed three TV movies She Wants My Baby, House of Lies, and The Beauty of Love as the lead actress, was featured on Monarch and Star on Fox and in Your Worst Nightmare on ID TV, and has acted in a variety of short films and commercials for companies such as the CDC and Michelob ULTRA. Recently, a short film she starred in, Census, had an international premiere in Nantes at the world’s largest sci-fi festival, Utopiales. You can see more of her acting work here. Her most recent theatre credits include The Exterminating Angel adapted by Sawyer Estes (2021) Ubu adapted by Sawyer Estes (2020) and Spirits to Enforce by Mickle Maher (2019) all with Vernal & Sere Theatre Company in Atlanta.
Katerina is based in Atlanta and is signed with the Stewart Talent Agency (NYC & ATL) and David Laffey at Wonder Street Management. She is in post-production for her short film Cessation that she wrote, produced, and starred in. It is fiscally sponsored by Stowe Story Labs. In April, Katerina performed her solo piece Der Spiegle as part of Atlanta’s Fly on a Wall’s ETA works in progress series. She received her BFA in drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
The Also Sisters . Directors
Galician Filmmakers Sonia and Miriam Albert-Sobrino (together known as the Also Sisters) have since 2011 navigated the fluid world of Film and Media Arts from the United States.
The Sisters have directed a number of projects ranging from feature films, shorts, documentaries and experimental work of different genres and styles. Oftentimes their work takes the form of a horror film that relies on surrealism, magical realism and unconventional modes of narrative to tell compelling stories about the transformative nature of liminal space, thresholds and rites of passage.
Major Festivals such as the Sitges Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Cinespaña, Chicago Underground Film Festival, among many others have shown and celebrated their work and accomplishments. View more of their work.
Cool Mischief . Production Team
James Mackenzie, Ana Mackenzie, Malerie Grady, and Onye Eme-Akwari will act as producers for this project. Learn more about them and Cool Mischief.
Hyeyn Lee . Executive Producer
HyeYun has over 10 years of experience providing consulting services for Fortune 500, multinational, Foreign Direct Invested, and public and private companies across various industries in the US, South Korea, and Vietnam.
She is a Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) and has extensive experience working in South Korea and has lived and worked in Vietnam for 2.5 years. She is based in Atlanta and is signed with East Coast Talent Agency.
Stowe Story Labs alumni can initiate an application for fiscal agency here.
