Funded: £15,472
Rachel Tracy is a single, stressed-out mum of a toddler, trying to maintain her career directing documentaries. To make matters worse, Rachel’s next birthday was the big 4-ohhh… But rather than cover her eyes as she hurtled towards the edge of a 39 year old cliff, she was determined to take action, and celebrate her milestone birthday in a milestone way by making a film about it. The film follows Rachel as she tries to find 39 other women born on the same day as her so she can invite them to a joint 40th birthday party.
What she wants to know is – how do other women born on the same day as her feel about turning 40? What do they think about their own life and achievements? How they can help Rachel come to terms with the inevitable? Her search will shine a light on modern womanhood and in particular the idea of ‘success’. This is a celebration of all the different lives her birthday counterparts lead, and a reappraisal of her own, packed with humour and confession.
Since funding:
Thanks to the support of backers, Rachel held a joint birthday party for all the women she’d found born on 27 April 1982. She said “It was total mayhem and madness and utterly exhausting to film… but also beautiful and brilliant and a whole lot of fun. ‘Birthday Twins’ came from all over for the event and shared their life experiences, bonding over similarities and curious about their differences.”. Look out for future updates on her Crowdfunder page.