Blake Derksen

 The Other Space

The Other Space is a stop motion short film about a child, Otis, using his imagination to courageously face his battle with cancer.

In 2012 I was diagnosed with stage four osteosarcoma (bone cancer). High dose chemo was required to penetrate the bone and kill the tumor. This meant I spent a little over 100 days in the hospital over the course of 9 months, which gave me plenty of time to fold origami and create art. Creativity was very therapeutic for me throughout treatment and helped prepare me for art school.

Inspired by my experience, I set out to create a film that could help other young cancer patients face their situations with courage. The result was my CalArts thesis film, The Other Space. My hope is for the film to be used in hospitals as a resource to encourage and entertain patients battling cancer. As a strong confident patient, the story of Otis will help humanize and empower kids on similar journeys.

Originally, the film was meant to be seven minutes long, but due to time constraints a large portion of the film got left on the cutting room floor. My goal before releasing it is to finish the original seven minute version. To accomplish this I’ve launched a Kickstarter which you can find here: Kickstarter.com

Please consider donating or sharing to help finish the film, any help is deeply appreciated.