WiHM Massive Blood Drive 2020 PSA: RESTART by Murong Wang
Josh Millican
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As previously announced, Dread Central is hosting Jen and Sylvia Soska’s Massive Blood Drive 2020.
Every February The Soska Sisters (American Mary, Rabid) invite filmmakers and feminists from across the world to celebrate Women In Horror Month by creating short PSAs encouraging blood donation. They can be as short as and uncomplicated as an artist desires, but they do limit the maximum run times to ten minutes.
“This will be our 11th year celebrating Women In Horror Recognition Month,” Jen explains. “It all started over a decade ago when founder Hannah Neurotica pointed out that women are not getting the recognition they deserve; in fact, they’re often being written out of history! And so Women In Horror Month was born and alongside it the Massive Blood Drive.”
All February long Dread and the Soskas are encouraging people to donate blood. That’s all. There’s no catch. You donate blood and everyone wins.
“It’s a civic duty that’s often overlooked,” Jen continues. “Not everyone has cash, but blood is just about the most selfless donation one can make.”
This year’s theme is Transformation and this year’s tag line is “Be The Change”. And, of course, there’s the classic: “Blood. It’s In You To Give.”
Today’s PSA is Restart by Murong Wang; give it a spin embedded at the top of the article!
Synopsis:
A young girl finds herself in a bad situation and sees no future. She’s fighting both the demons in her head and in her life. Her mom’s words crush her. All she wants is a restart. Every story is rooted in a collection of the creator’s real-life experiences. A close friend – an art student – who’s been dealing with depression for a long time probably gave the initial idea for this short.
Artist Statement:
When I was about ten years old, I saw a blood donation bus in the park. I got on the bus to offer my blood. The nurse said I was too young, but she could do a little test to tell me which blood type I have. That day I learned I have type B. I donated blood at university, and I am enrolled in the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. I hope one day they will call me and say I am a match. There is a Chinese proverb which goes “saving one life is better than building a seven-tier pagoda”. Becoming a superhero and saving the world is out of reach for most of us, but by taking 15 minutes out of our lives to give blood, we can become a hero for someone and their family.
Filmmaker Bio:
Murong’s film journey started at the age of 16, when she first participated in a film production workshop in high school. This young experience of writing, directing and acting made her fall in love with every aspect of film production. She sold her first feature film script The Book of Immortality in 2015. The film was released in 2016, with Murong also credited as Casting Director and Assistant Director. Murong studied Screenwriting and Directing at the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
During that time, she made her second feature film Lost in Blue as Screenwriter, Producer, Casting Director and Assistant director. Lost in Blue is a film about the devastating effects of the drug business, but because of the sensitive nature of the subject, no Chinese distributor wanted to take the risk to distribute it. Murong then applied for a master’s degree in Film Distribution and Marketing at Birmingham City University, looking for more opportunities to gain experience in film industry.
Her third feature film Heteromorpha Centipede was released on Tencent (a popular Chinese streaming platform) in 2019 and got 25,000,000 hits in its first week. It hit top 1 in all major Chinese streaming platforms
PSA’s from the Soska’s Sister Massive Blood Drive 2020 will air every other day in February, so stay tuned and check back often!
