Tummy Bug | Short Film

Tummy Bug is a surreal dark comedy and body horror short film about endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain, and the experience of not being believed.

Inspired by writer and co-director Kate Laidler's lived experience, the film follows two young women navigating medical dismissal and the different ways they attempt to reclaim control, visibility, and womanhood within bodies that are constantly misunderstood.

Blending satire, camp, and body horror influences, Tummy Bug aims to make invisible illness impossible to ignore.

We are raising funds to help bring this world to life through art department, medical props and equipment, SFX makeup and prosthetics, costumes, locations, sound, music, and post-production - ensuring these experiences are portrayed with both authenticity and visual ambition.

Alongside the film, we are collaborating with organizations including Hello Period, TAP Health, Endo Awareness Aotearoa, and Scarlet Period to help create conversation, awareness, and support for those living with chronic pelvic pain.

Tummy Bug is being created by an experienced team of New Zealand filmmakers, artists, and performers passionate about telling stories about Women's health and making invisible experiences impossible to ignore.

The film is written, co-directed by, and stars Kate Laidler (The Traitors NZ S3, East of Eden (Netflix), The Sender, Shortland Street), alongside co-director Meggy Laguda, director of the series Takahoa.

Producing the film is Lazybones Films (George Teagle and Liam D Stevens), with award-winning cinematographer  Isaac Newcombe, production design by Alice Bratley, costume design by Rose Morgan, makeup by AJ Wehipeihana  and our first AD Maddy Diack

Our cast features Kate Laidler as Millie, Eden Hart (Sweet Tooth, Spartacus: House of Ashur, My Life Is Murder) as Alex, David Van Horn (Avatar, Sweet Tooth, Cowboy Bebop) as Doctor, and Hanah Tayeb (The Twelve, Raised by Refugees) as Millie's closest friend.

We are also incredibly grateful for the support and collaboration of Hello Period, TAP Health, Endo Awareness Aotearoa, and Scarlet Period, whose advocacy and commitment to women's health align closely with the heart of this project.

Tummy Bug is a camp, darkly satirical, and surreal take on lived experience -  using humour and heightened reality to reflect the emotional truth of gynaecological pain and medical dismissal.

We are raising the funds needed to bring Tummy Bug to life as a high-quality short film and to connect with it's audience.

Funding will go toward:

• Equipment hire
• Location fees
• Costume and props
• Hair, makeup, and prosthetics (including SFX)
• Music and sound design
• Post-production
• Film festival submissions and distribution

This support allows us to create a visually bold, emotionally honest film that reflects the lived reality of endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain, while ensuring the production is delivered to a professional standard.

Tummy Bug is a surreal dark comedy and body horror short film about endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain, and what it feels like to live inside a body that is constantly dismissed.

This story comes directly from my lived experience of endometriosis. I had my first severe symptoms at fourteen, and over the years my experience has been defined by escalation, dismissal, and long periods of being told my pain was not serious enough to act on. The emotional reality of that - and the fight to prove extreme pain - is what sits at the centre of this film.

The film follows two young women navigating chronic pelvic pain in different ways. One becomes increasingly absorbed into the medical system as it fails her, while the other turns outward, performing identity through social media and wellness culture in an attempt to have agency, empowerment, and to be truely seen.

I’m using camp, satire, surrealism, and body horror influences to reflect what this experience actually feels like. Chronic illness is not linear or calm - it can be absurd, isolating, humiliating, and overwhelming all at once. The world of the film is intentionally heightened because that emotional reality already feels heightened in lived experience.

At its core, Tummy Bug is about what happens when disbelief becomes the system you are forced to live inside, and how women are often expected to perform credibility in order for their pain to be taken seriously.

This project exists to make invisible illness visible, and to turn something that is usually internal, private, and dismissed into something undeniable.

The impact of Tummy Bug goes beyond the film itself.

Alongside the narrative short, we are developing a documentary-style project capturing real lived experiences of endometriosis, adenomyosis, PCOS, and chronic pelvic pain - not just in NZ but globally. This will sit alongside the film’s release as a way of bringing real voices into the same space as the story as part of the wider conversation the project is trying to create.

Long term, the vision is to build screenings and community-led events that include panels, discussions, and educational talks with women's health organizations. These spaces are intended to give people with chronic pelvic pain more agency over how their experiences are understood, shared, and spoken about.

The goal is simple: to make invisible illness visible, and to make the conversation louder, more honest, and less isolating.

Growing up, I’ve seen gynaecological health conditions softened, sanitised, or turned into something visually “pretty” in media. That has never reflected the reality I’ve lived or seen in others. The truth is often uncomfortable, messy, and devastating - and I think avoiding that only deepens the silence and shame around these conditions.

I don’t believe it should be normal for women and people with uteruses to repeatedly justify, explain, or minimise their own health in order to be taken seriously.

Tummy Bug exists to challenge that - and to make space for a more honest, visible, and collective understanding of chronic pelvic pain.