For a little over a year I have been co-writing a series called Shallow Water. This spark of inspiration came into full force just as the world became aware of Covid-19. I’ve been chasing my dreams to become a filmmaker since I was nine. With limited Indigenous screen funding, and a worldwide halt on filmmaking, I’ve been looking back on the year, and its impact on Indigenous and non-Indigenous creatives as a whole.

We had to adjust to a new way of life. There are so many hardships people have faced in the past year, regarding health, security, mental health, politics and countless other factors. Something that did not cross my mind, until I came face-to-face with it, was the impact Covid would have on the creative community. Having a creative outlet is a coping mechanism for many when it comes to managing your mental health. In the early months, I disappeared into the internet, trying to numb the sense of stillness and ignoring the truth of how our world had changed. As each Groundhog Day came and went, I could feel myself slipping back into unhealthy mindsets, and an unmotivated, uncreative state.

My personal battle with depression and anxiety during the pandemic has been difficult, just as it has been for many others, I’m sure. Living in Melbourne, while my whole family is located in the Northern Territory was the longest time I have gone without returning home. For many Indigenous people, returning home is an integral part of centering and grounding yourself. Without this, my sense of self becomes strained.

From a distance I could see many other Indigenous creatives battling to overcome their own struggles, whether they were mental health ones or those impacting the community as a whole. Art and activism didn’t halt in the face of quarantine. Their drive and willingness to keep fighting and to keep creating inspired me to do the same. Or at least, to get up and do something with the seemingly endless free time I had. To combat the sense of loneliness and stagnation, I used my creativity as an outlet for my wandering mind. I decided to wake up every day and take at least one significant step in the direction of making my dreams a reality. Before long, a fully completed first episode script was made. I felt triumphant, as if I had sewn gold out of the hay. Before long a group of my filmmaking friends agreed to help bring this vision to life, and the possibility of a silver lining to this year became real.

I was channeling all my feelings into an Indigenous protagonist, who has to battle with something bigger than herself. Something that is out of her control. Although our story has our protagonist Jackie battle literal monsters, I was able to imprint my personal experience of battling inner monsters into her character. My co-writer and I wanted to make her a hero in her own right, without needing to come across as emotionless. Our story explores her sense of self, her connection to culture and her environment.

Despite the story of Shallow Water being told across multiple scripts, my co-writer and I have decided to produce the first one as a short film. The story begins with Jackie and Ted, two friends (and part time couriers) who have been tasked to deliver a truck-load of mysterious cargo from Melbourne to Adelaide. Together they debate what this cargo could be and if the job was worth agreeing to in the first place. The weather worsens and they decide to take their chances, plunging deeper into the night. The story combines genres, leaning more into reality and taking a hard abstract, sci-fi, cosmic-horror turn.

There is no real way to summarise this past year. The endless array of differing experiences makes it hard to wrap up in a tidy sentence. However, together we are all working hard to get our old way of life back. And hopefully, like myself, you have found a silver lining to the grey cloud of Covid-19. Hopefully, we can bring about some beautiful art inspired by the hard look inside we’ve all had to do. Good luck to you all, and I hope to show you my story on the bigger screen.

• K’Tahni Pridham is a 23 year old aspiring Indigenous filmmaker from the Yanyuwa and Marra nations in NT. Originally from Darwin, she is currently based in Naarm (Melbourne) Victoria. You can visit her GoFundMe page “Shallow Water Project” if you would like to help bring her story to life