By Mo Moshaty

When Mary begins her first period in the middle of her math class, she literally runs through the next 40 years of her life in search of a pad. That’s the striking and unforgettable concept at the heart of BLEED, a short film that employs surreal imagery and metaphor to break the silence around menstruation.

This project is bold: no dialogue, just visceral physicality and visual storytelling; Mary’s body becomes the narrative. The intention is wide-reaching: with over 2 billion menstruators worldwide, this is framed not as niche but as a universal human experience. Through transformation, from puberty to adulthood to elder years; BLEED explores the evolving relationship many menstruators have with their bodies.

The filmmakers articulate it as a movement-piece, as much as a film: “By making BLEED now, we’re challenging an industry – and a society – that continues to overlook stories that half the world shares.”

Currently, BLEED is in its crowdfunding phase. The team is striving to raise $49,000 to bring the production to life—with an aim of filming in Spring 2026 and targeting festival launch in 2027.

Supporters are offered creative incentives, from digital menstrual-trackers to early access screenings, and even a private consultation with the film’s director for more generous backers.

Why to keep an eye on it:

• It addresses a pervasive yet rarely depicted subject (menstruation) in a fresh, metaphorical, and cinematic way.
• The film is dialogue-free, broadening its accessibility across languages and cultures.
• It’s produced by a women-led team with a strong industry background and a clear equity-driven mission.

If you’re looking for a film that fuses bold subject matter + visual ambition + social relevance, BLEED is one to follow.

A crew of bold, body-literate filmmakers, the BLEED team channels discomfort into art and silence into story—an alliance built on empathy, equity, and cinematic nerve.

SPOTLIGHT: DIRECTOR KELLY KRAUSE

Kelly Krause’s journey into filmmaking is compelling and unconventional. After more than fourteen years working as an archaeologist (with institutions including the Egyptian Ministry of State of Antiquities, UNESCO, History Channel, Discovery Channel) she pivoted into the arts, first via burlesque, then into writing, directing and producing genre film. She is co-founder of Nyx Horror Collective, a community of diverse women-identifying and non-binary horror creators, with a mission to elevate original women-led horror content. Through Nyx, she has helped launch micro-short festivals (like 13 Minutes of Horror) and partner fellowships (for women-identifying horror screenwriters).

Kelly’s own filmmaking has already begun earning recognition: her short film Storage (2023) was backed by Couper Samuelson (President of Feature Films at Blumhouse) and won “Best Dark Drama” at the Oregon Screams Horror Film Festival.

What stands out about Kelly’s approach:

• Her eclectic background (archaeology → burlesque → film) gives her a distinct voice and versatility.
• She centers empathy, particularly within genre contexts: “creating empathy, especially amidst uncomfortable backdrops or circumstances.”
• She embraces collaboration and equity: her work with Nyx shows a commitment not just to her own projects but to lifting under-represented voices.
• She isn’t afraid of the surreal or metaphoric, making her a strong fit to direct BLEED, which melds fantasy + metaphor + real-world issues.

For me, Kelly is a strong figure of creative momentum, and BLEED is a film with both heart and ambition.

BLEED asks us to confront what we’ve been taught to hide, and to see it as something worthy of reverence instead. By supporting this project on Seed & Spark, you’re not just funding a film, you’re helping to rewrite the cinematic language of the body. Every contribution, every share, every whisper of support helps ensure that stories like this bleed into the mainstream where they belong.