Back to Everly

The film explores a seemingly perfect 1950s-inspired world where taking a daily pill is as ordinary as brushing your teeth. As the story unfolds, that comforting normality begins to crack, revealing how easily routine, media, and social expectations can shape what we accept as truth. At its heart, Back to Everly is about curiosity. It's about having the courage to ask questions, even when everyone around you tells you not to. 

While the film is set in a stylised world, its themes of conformity, comfort, and unquestioned belief feel increasingly relevant today.  As student filmmakers, this project is an opportunity to bring together an incredible group of creatives across film, fashion, music, and performance to create something far more ambitious than any one of us could achieve alone. 

Every contribution will directly support production design, costumes, locations, props, transport, catering, and the practical elements needed to build the world of Back to Everly.
 

We have a large team of student creatives behind us consisting of:

• Joan Tan - Director 
• Charlotte Reid - Producer
• Jenna Ashworth - Producer
• Sophie Kelsall - Art Director
• Logan Kahui - Director of Photography 
• Rosie Hazard - 1st Assistant Director
• Tai Ngaia - Editor 

We are raising money for:

• Art Department - $2000 of our budget will go towards costuming, props, hair and makeup, and set design. 
• Payment - We want to give back and express our appreciation to our talented cast. 
• Food - We want to accommodate and ensure everyone on our set is fed and looked after, as the crew is giving us their time for free
• Transport - Though we aren't paying our crew, transportation to and from set is expensive. Funds will go towards van hire and gas payments. 

Back to Everly is a short psychological drama-thriller set in a pastel, idealized world inspired by 1950s aesthetics. Society is built around a daily pill called Everly, which is believed to be essential for survival. Its use is completely normalized and reinforced through constant propaganda embedded in television, advertisements, and music, shaping a world where no one ever questions its necessity.

The story follows Anya, who finds herself stranded outside any nearby town after an argument with her boyfriend, Tommy. In the aftermath, she realises she has left her Everly pill in Tommy’s car, which is now long gone down the road. Alone and isolated, what begins as mild anxiety slowly develops into something far more unsettling as she starts to question the reality she has always accepted. As Anya spends more time without the pill, cracks begin to form in the world around her. The perfection of her environment becomes increasingly uncanny, revealing that beneath the polished surface lies something deeply controlled and disturbing. The film builds toward the
possibility that the system she has lived under may not be protecting her, but conditioning her.

This film explores themes of conformity, control, and conditioned belief systems. At its core, Back to Everly asks how easily people accept systems of “truth” without questioning their origin or purpose.

It reflects contemporary anxieties around social media, misinformation, and algorithmic influence, where beliefs are shaped and reinforced through repeated exposure rather than independent thought. The film encourages audiences, particularly young adults, to question the systems that shape their understanding of reality.
 

Ultimately, it is about the importance of independent thought and the discomfort that comes with challenging what feels normal.

Back to Everly is a wake-up call for Gen Z and Millennials. It is a film that explores the dangers of conformity and the importance of individual free thinking. Too often, social media feeds us the 'perfect' way of living, which is highly unrealistic and damaging to young adults and youth. 

Gen Z and young Millennials have the highest rates of depression, social anxiety and stress, and many researchers have found this to be from the constant expectations social media puts on us. 

By backing us, not only do you support the next generation of filmmakers, but you also help highlight an important message in a time of mental health crisis. Any donation, big or small, will be greatly, greatly appreciated.