Mantra

A spoken-word short film about identity, aging and resilience, starring Adria Dawn.

Mantra grew out of a stream-of-consciousness poem Adria Dawn wrote while finishing her memoir, Unpacking. The poem became the spine of the film, a meditation on coming to terms with who she is as a woman in her fifties and on the life she has lived.

The film marks a stylistic shift for Tarleton/Dawn. Rather than a conventional narrative arc, Mantra moves in and out of time, allegorical and non-linear, with younger and present versions of its characters appearing throughout. The film goes to dark places, but it moves through them, turning what it finds there into something joyful and uplifting.

It was shot in 2026 with a crew of about twenty-one that included Syracuse University students. Some of the most important scenes were filmed at a property with a hedge maze, a location that mirrors Adria's character as she searches for clarity. The film is in the edit now, with a release planned for 2026.