Help AYAGOZIE bring a Black maternal health narrative to the big screen.
In this fantastical retelling of Maya Golden Bethany’s 2023 memoir, The Return Trip, a first-time mom struggling with postpartum depression enacts a suicide plan as her dissenting inner voice takes the form of her son’s favorite kids' program character. A stylized personal narrative that highlights a different kind of “Texas” story: one where Black mothers are fully realized human beings and postpartum health is differentiated as a portal into self-realization.
WHY NOW?
Black mothers face a disproportionate crisis in postpartum care, frequently navigating severe depression without a safety net.
PHASE I ~ ADDRESSING MAYA’S STALLED CHILDHOOD
For our first round of production, our film used public-access-style kids' show tropes to expose these systemic and emotional realities through a whimsical but personal lens; our goal is NOT to retraumatize our key audience.
OUR STORY
BTS from Phase I of filming, which got us 25% of the way through production. Writer-Director Bev Chukwu and our young child actors engage with the fictional THELMA™ kids' program set, hand-constructed by our production design team, that will serve as a psychological enactment of Maya’s stalled childhood and inner thoughts during postpartum.
PHASE II ~ ADDRESSING THE EFFECTS OF MAYA’S MOTHERHOOD JOURNEY
In Summer of 2026, we jump-started our impact journey by sending out a survey to our Texas community, asking Black women at any stage of motherhood to share their postpartum experiences. Their responses are directly driving our team’s impact goals and helping us hone in on Maya’s journey, which is the focus of the remainder of our film.
OUR PLAN
We are raising $50,000 to bring this unflinchingly personal—yet ultimately joyful—film across the finish line and into the world.
$40,000 will directly fund the completion of the remaining 75% of our short film, ensuring we have the funds to bring on necessary healthcare professionals, such as an on-site behavior therapist for our autistic child actor, professional sound design, color grading, visual effects, global festival distribution, and so much more.
The remaining $10,000 will immediately launch our impact initiative: sponsoring comprehensive, multi-month therapeutic services (Texas resources, clinic fees, in-person and virtual therapy visits, doctor-recommended equipment, etc), for select Black mothers in need. Awardees will be selected from our pool of survey responders upon completion of our film.
We are actively taking survey responses LINKED HERE throughout the remainder of 2026 with the goal of being able to enact our impact initiative in Spring 2027.
WHY US?
We have a history of connecting the arts through action.
As part of our Impact Initiative, we will also be using discretionary funds to host educational community screenings of our film in tandem with panel activations.
The first community activation for THELMA™ SAVED MY LIFE will take place in April 2027 with the AFS Cinema (Travis County’s only nonprofit arthouse film hub in Austin) as the proposed venue. The evening will comprise of a 15-minute screening of our film, a community panel on the intersection of mental health advocacy and film adaptation across the Black diaspora, and a post-screening filmmaker mixer.
Sold-out community screening of Loretta (2026) at the AFS Cinema
Sold-out community screening of Princess (2024) at the AFS Cinema
Educational Screening of Princess (2024) at UT Tyler, hosted by the 1 in 3 Foundation. Featuring healthcare professional panelist Samantha Megaw & Markita Lane with SocialWorx Advocacy Group
Author Maya Golden Bethany and Writer-Director Bev Chukwu discuss environmental racism at Book People for the launch of Bethany’s latest novel, The Senator (2025).
GIVING TIERS
The Executive Producer & Impact Warrior ($10,000)
Fully funds one mother’s multi-month therapy continuum ($3,333) AND provides the final finishing funds for Round II of production, including funds for production medics, an intimacy coordinator, onsite behavior therapists, and more. Includes Executive Producer credit, invitation to WIP screening, logo visibility, & advanced screening link.
The Production Catalyst ($5,000)
Directs $1,000 toward the direct care fund (covering 1 month of therapy) and $4,000 to clear final licensing, VFX composition, and original score. Includes Co-Producer credit, logo visibility, & advanced screening link.
The Healing Hearts Advocate ($2,500)
Covers a mother's comprehensive psychological intake and initial resource assessment/careplan, while funding film editing and sound mixing. Includes Associate Producer credit, & advanced screening link.
The Finish Line Sponsor ($1,000)
Splits funds to cover one week of therapy for a mother and covers the DCP (Digital Cinema Package) creation for festival screenings. Includes Special Thanks credit.
The Guardian ($250)
Directly finances a mother's specialized mental health session and helps cover film festival submission fees. Includes donor shoutout on the Ayagozie site.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
BEV CHUKWU
Beverly “Bev” Chukwu is a Nigerian American writer, director, script consultant, and the Executive Director of Ayagozie Productions. Her projects have screened at the African Film Festival Atlanta, Women in Horror Film Festival, Cine Las Americas, AGLIFF, and more. Along with her achievements as a filmmaker, including a “Best First-Time Director” award at the Portland New Alternative Voices Festival, Bev’s screenplay PRINCE OF LAVENDALE STREET was the feature winner in the 2021 BlueCat Screenplay Competition, and her video essay “Sometimes Black” is now used as educational material at the University of Texas at Austin. Before transitioning into film, Bev spent over four years in various mental health arenas, including providing behavioral therapy for children and adults on the autism spectrum.
Bev has received fellowships from the Black List x WIF Episodic Lab; Google’s YouTube Originals Black Voices Creator Program, who also provided financial support for her award-winning narrative short film “Princess”; and the James A. Michener Center for Writers, where she received an MFA in screenwriting and fiction. In early 2026, she served as a television story consultant for the in-progress prestige drama DALLAS: REBORN, and she is currently in development on an off-kilter fantasy-drama film adaptation of The Return Trip by Emmy-nominated journalist Maya Golden Bethany.
THANKS TO OUR LEAD SUPPORTERS
Marliza Mendez
Maryan Nagy Captan
Amado Gabriel DeHoyos
Jacob Burch
Elena Eitrheim
Aliza Khan
Bita Ghassemi
Jordan Smith
Breven Angaelica Warren
Shannon Johnson
Cole Gibson
Lauren Osborne
Kayla Lane Freeman
Alejandro Puyana
IKECHUKWU U EZEM
Roxana Ghaderi
Tara Bordbar
Nick Nielson
Michael Blizzard
JA Allen
Emery Jones
Rakeda Ervin
Sam Boyer
Neha Aziz
OUR PARTNERS
BECOME AN IMPACT PARTNER
We are actively seeking postpartum resources and funding support from organizations and individuals with a desire to move the needle on Black maternal care.
Our fundraising fiscal sponsor and recurring film partner is ANGAELICA.
All donations made through their designated fiscal sponsor platform, Zeffy, will be 100% tax deductible and autogenerate a tax receipt.
This project is supported in part by a Nexus Grant of Austin Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment.