Lonelyleap

Heather

Original

Heather

“It was a beautiful neighborhood. Tree lined block, we lived on. I really loved it. I thought when we moved to the house and everything looked so beautiful that our life was going to be more beautiful.”

Three decades after a family homicide changed her life, Nicole Sharpe reflects on how domestic violence shaped her youth in Flatlands, Brooklyn.

Through the rediscovery of old photos of her mother and replicating her childhood home, this documentary short from Lonelyleap and the NYC Women's Advisory Board guides viewers through Nicole’s past as she recalls memories from her formative years that have lingered into adulthood.

We took a more stylistic approach than usual to tell Nicole’s story. Nicole’s memories all took place in her childhood home, and we decided to make her home its own character in this film. The photos that viewers will see throughout the film were the inspiration to this approach and our basis in finding the most accurate location to recreate her past. While Nicole’s voiceover drives the story, the audience will be taken on a dream-like tour of where it all happened.

“When it comes to children who have experienced domestic violence, who witness it, they feel the abuse, like the victim, because the victim is someone that they love.”

Nicole is now an advocate for domestic abuse awareness and the founder of the Heather Hurley Foundation-- a nonprofit organization named in her mother’s honor. Her mission is to inform young people to see the signs of domestic violence early on, both in their families or in their own relationships.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or if you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, both available 24/7.

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