UT scholar raises consciousness about consuming issues in upcoming quick movie

Content material warning: Description of consuming issues

Kaylee Johnson began making movies when she was ten years outdated. 

However final 12 months, after sitting down with a good friend from center faculty to brainstorm concepts for a movie, she determined to step out of her consolation zone.  

“I actually need to make tales which can be … relatable and about characters,” Johnson mentioned. “Whereas my different initiatives haven’t actually had that, they’ve been enjoyable, wonderful studying alternatives. ‘Feeding Tube’ was a primary step into reasonable storytelling.”

Johnson’s upcoming quick movie “Feeding Tube” premieres March 29 on YouTube. The movie tells the story of a pair’s battle with an consuming dysfunction, marking the radio-television-film junior’s most private movie up to now. 

Johnson began brainstorming the thought for the movie in December 2021 with Aashish Thakur, a good friend and actor in Los Angeles who Johnson beforehand labored with on quick movies. 

“We knew we wished to put in writing about one thing private that affected us and likewise would impact different individuals,” Thakur mentioned. “I struggled with physique picture and consuming, and (Johnson) additionally struggled with that. So we had been like, ‘That is really one thing that we might ship an excellent message with.’”

Johnson mentioned the script steadily unraveled over the course of about 4 months as Johnson and Thakur opened up to one another about their mutual experiences with consuming issues.

“Quite a lot of (the writing) was Aashish opening as much as me after which me with the ability to relate as a result of I went by means of one thing comparable after which us sort of making characters based mostly off of these experiences,” Johnson mentioned. 

Throughout the movie’s story, Johnson mentioned she and Thakur wished to focus on how consuming issues can manifest in on a regular basis interactions and relationships. 

“We got here up with the thought of incorporating (consuming issues from a) relationship standpoint after which added the stressor of assembly the mother and father in a dinner setting,” Johnson mentioned. “Folks with consuming issues normally have lots of anxiousness round meals, so we wished to include these minute particulars that perhaps, at face worth, wouldn’t be as anxiousness pushed till seen in movie.” 

Radio-television-film sophomore Beau Cormican, who oversaw sound for the movie, mentioned he feels the movie tells an necessary story in an genuine and real method. 

“Consuming issues are one thing that may go hidden, so it’s good to have cathartic media the place somebody with an consuming dysfunction can relate and really feel seen,” Cormican mentioned. “It’s simple … to caricaturize it, and I believe ‘Feeding Tube’ prevented that and made the characters really feel grounded and actual.”

With the movie releasing quickly and being submitted to movie festivals, Johnson mentioned she hopes “Feeding Tube” can present viewers with a glimpse into a private story concerning an emotional and delicate subject. 

“If I had been to place it into phrases, the objective for this movie is to tell individuals and share a narrative,” Johnson mentioned. “This sort of story is one thing that basically sits with the viewers. It’s a very character pushed, very uncooked and really private story.”