A few Hill Buzzes ago, I mentioned an interview about director of photography Alex Yellen, and how he’d grown up on Capitol Hill. Alex and his wife Kelli saw the mention and they reached out to me because they wanted to share their upcoming project, called Daruma. I chatted with Alex about what’s changed and what hasn’t since he grew up on the Hill. He mentioned being cared for by Ms. Frances Slaughter –who at the time worked at Wee Care. (Later I caught up with Ms. Frances, who remembered Alex and his sister, who is now a writer). Alex recalled developing a passion for photography along Capitol Hill’s beautiful streets. He even mentioned a minor scare when attempting to photograph the Capitol Hill power plant on 2nd and E Streets SE.
But back to Daruma: The story was born out of Kelli’s need to process family trauma. Her brother suffered an injury that paralyzed him. As he relearned how to be a whole person again, Kelli realized that a traumatic injury, though life-altering, doesn’t define the core of a person’s being. With this in mind, she wrote “Daruma,” a story about a friendship, and about two characters who just happen to have disabilities. She didn’t share this story for a long time, until she did so with Alex. Now, they are crowdfunding to bring this great piece of storytelling to life, with Alex as director, and they’d love the support of the neighborhood.
To learn more about Daruma, you can click here.
To donate to the crowdfunding effort, you can click here.