About this campaign
Help Me Get Assia's Benefit of the Doubt Made
I don't ask for things like this often. I'm asking now because I've watched Assia Lau'ren pour everything she has into this project, and I believe in it enough to ask for everyone to help support.
You may already know her work. Assia was part of My Dead Friend Zoe — the film that won the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at SXSW. She's the real deal: an artist who makes work that actually says something, not work made just to sell.
I love Assia, she is literally a hero of mine and somone with an incredible film project that is powerful, personal, and will be profitable. It is so rare for projects check all three boxes and it takes someone like Assia to get it done.
Her new film is Benefit of the Doubt, "Spanning three decades, the 1960s through the early 90s, two people from fractured families dare to believe in love and loyalty even as doubt threatens to tear them apart. Based on a true story.”
Benefit of the Doubt — the project itself
A feature based on the true love story of her parents, Faith and Albert, spanning the 1960s through the early 90s, following them from childhood to finding each other through military service. She started writing in January 2022, took four years on the screenplay, intends to direct, and intends to play her mom.
https://www.assialauren.com/benefitofthedoubt
PLEASE DONATE EVERY DOLLAR GOES SUCH A LONG WAY!
The package she's assembling: a line producer with credits including Moonlight and The Florida Project has agreed to build the budget and schedule; an editor and cinematographer she trusts are already attached (the editor has worked unpaid for nearly a year); and she's connected with an entertainment law firm specializing in packaging and sales for independent films.
Fundraising status (live):
She's raising $25,000 by July 1 for the development phase. As of 6/14/2026, $7,900 was raised — 28.4% of goal. Tiers are $100 ("I See You"), $500 ("I Got You"), $1,000 ("I'm All In"), and a custom amount, with funds going to line producer, legal, editor, and cinematographer prep/storyboarding costs.
So as of the page's last update she's roughly $17,100 short with about two weeks to the deadline — useful to know if part of your goal is a final push. And let me be completely clear about the money: every single dollar raised here goes directly to Assia and this project. Not a cent stays with me.' I will cover all costs and fees.
Here's something Assia taught me: support isn't only money. It's the village. If you can give $10 or $1,000 — thank you, it matters more than you know. And if you can't give right now, you can still move the needle: share this, send it to one person who'd care, or just tell Assia you see what she's building. That counts too.
This is a story worth telling, made by someone worth betting on. Let's get it made.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11569352
https://www.assialauren.com/benefitofthedoubt