RECKONING is the memoir of a survivor of childhood sexual abuse facing incidents of their past in a harrowing chase through time. Memories of abuse are uncovered as home movies become a nightmarish landscape through which our protagonist, Stacy, attempts to protect their childhood self from harm. The ongoing consequences of trauma, triggers and Complex-PTSD are emphasized as an incessant horror as Stacy battles to reclaim her body, heal and love herself.

RECKONING is conceptualized through the abstracted memoir of Stacy Lynn Smith, created and directed by Stacy Lynn Smith and Alex Romania. The film features performances by Smith, Romania, and the legendary Charles Dennis (Einstein on the Beach, founder of PS122), the rising phenom Nia Joseph-Donnelly, as well as several New York based performers such as Meg Fry (De Facto Dance), Blaze Ferrer (Dick Biter), and Hollis Bartlett (Frances Ha). 

As an independent film, the project has been in production since 2019. The film has taken on a responsive process much like a documentary film; the duo have written, staged, and shot several scenes through opportunities to respond to locations, creating through a methodology much like site specific performance. Returning to the editing room to organize this material, planning next shoots, finding next locations - in effect building the arc of their story over time. 

After several years of creation the end of the project is within sight. RECKONING seeks support to make it's way through the final chapters of the project, to cover the expenses for filming some final scenes and to cover the costs for dedicating time to edit, mix, master and color grade the final cut. Additionally the creators seek funds to meet the costs of building a festival and theatrical life for the work. Donations support artist fees for the cast, crew, composer, and postproduction team, while creating financial stability for the lead artists in what is the overtime job of producing any work of art. 

At the advent of an exciting new partnership with the Wexner Center for the Arts Film/Video department who will be providing in-kind resources, Smith and Romania seek support to physically travel to the Wexner Center overt the course of several weeks to work on all aspects of post-production. Over the years, RECKONING has been supported by partnerships with MacDowell, the Queens Council on the Arts, the Brooklyn Arts Council, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Rosekill Art Farm, Glasshouse Art.Life.Lab, Movement Research, Performance Space New York, Governors Island and The Lower Manhattan Cultural Center, Snug Harbor New House Center for Contemporary Art, the South Street Seaport Museum, the African Burial Ground National Museum and most recently the inaugural Artists Supporting Artists Program (ASAP) grant from Sweat Variant (Okwui Okpokwasili + Peter Born) supported by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. RECKONING has raised over $70,000 of support across grants and private donations, and some other $30,000 from in-kind support.

Creating work in 2025 is increasingly fraught with challenges which only increase when a work is socially engaged, experimental and breaking new ground in form and genre. RECKONING seeks to create a better world by uplifting this story of one survivor of childhood sexual abuse. With all of the recent hits that the artistic economy has taken in blows to avenues of funding, RECKONING turns to the general public to see this project to the finish line. 

We thank you for the ways in which you may be able to champion the completion of our debut film RECKONING. This unique and necessary work cannot happen without you.

**All donations through our Give Butter page are tax deductible.**