After deliberately failing her exams, Kyun thinks her return to Grandma's secluded village is an escape. Instead, to honor a forgotten ancestor, she is made to spend a night alone near the burial.
After deliberately failing her exams, Kyun thinks her return to Grandma's secluded village is an escape. Instead, to honor a forgotten ancestor, she is made to spend a night alone near the burial.
SYNOPSIS
A folk horror fiction where three generations of women face the same darkness - one by fleeing, one by enduring, one by walking straight toward it.
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Some villages aren’t on any map. They sit somewhere between memory and forgetting, where the old rules still apply and the dead are a little too restless to be gone. Kyun’s Grandmother lives in such a place.
Kyun failed her graduation exams (on purpose) and fled the city, aiming to lay low in this long‑forgotten village, chasing the soft, blurry fragments of childhood - the delicious feeling of being small. Her grandmother welcomes her with open arms. But many years have passed, and many things have changed: now her hiding spot comes at a cost - a cost that, to be precise, skipped a generation - a night alone at her family’s burial site.
***
TABOO is childhood nostalgia gone wonderfully, horribly off, and the terrifying intimacy of what one family tried to bury - and what refused to stay buried.
WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE..?
TABOO is for those who find comfort in cemeteries and can’t resist a dark fairy tale. It’s Over the Garden Wall meets Spirited Away with a dash of Nu, Pogodi :)
We aim to pay homage to Soviet-era cartoon textures and the charm of 2010s American animation. This is intimate, inherited feminine horror.
If you wanna feel nostalgia for places you’ve never been - and fear them just as deeply… welcome!!
TABOO is inspired by Eastern European folklore and fairytales we (the creators) grew up listening to! The show aims to pay homage to the aesthetics of Soviet animation and Studio Ghibli films, as well as draw inspiration from the following:
Over the Garden Wall
Spirited Away
Le Collège Noir
Viy (N. Gogol)
Morphology of the Folk Tale (V. Propp)
The Great God Pan (A. Machen)
The world of TABOO is a work of fiction and its lore is an invented mythology, loosely inspired by the atmosphere of the tales we grew up with. It is not intended as an accurate representation of any specific tradition - don’t try to find the mysterious village on a map ;)
Kyun failed her graduation exams on purpose and fled the city - too many eyes on her there - aiming to lay low in her Grandma’s long‑forgotten village. Now, to earn her hiding place, she must spend the night alone at the old burial and honor the dead (joining them is strictly optional).
She’s messy, intense, with a soft spot for things long gone.
Kyun longs to vanish and hungers to be seen - a tension that follows her everywhere. When strange and frightening events begin to fray the line between reality and nightmare, Kyun feels not only fear but a dark, unexpected thrill.
This is GRANDMA.
She never left. After Kyun’s mother fled, she stayed in the village alone, carrying the weight of something ancient, waiting for someone to come back. Now her granddaughter is here. She’s overjoyed (even as her eyesight fails) but her welcome comes with conditions - one of them demands a night alone at the burial ground.
The villagers keep their distance. But she means no harm. Mostly.
The timeline depends largely on whether we meet only the base goal or unlock stretch goals. Achieving stretch goals will greatly affect the scope (and therefore the timeline) of this project. Here’s what the process will look like for our base goal:
Phase 1: Pre-Production This phase is devoted to concept art and finalizing the screenplay. We aim to complete this by September 2026.
Phase 2: Production The most complex phase. Here we tackle animation, final voiceover, and a temporary soundtrack/scratch audio to guide timing and mood.
Phase 3: Post-Production In this phase, we handle final assembly, editing, and our composer creates the original score and final sound design.
Naturally, any dates mentioned are estimates. Animation is a complex and unpredictable process, but we hope to deliver the final product without major setbacks! :)
The pilot episode is expected to be approximately 5 minutes long.
With the baseline goal of €3,000, I’ll be solo-animating. Anything beyond that lets the project grow into something extraordinary - we’ll be able to bring mixed-media artists on board. Help us hit these stretch goals: the more we raise, the more we can push the boundaries of visual expression!!
There are plenty of VERY cool rewards for supporting TABOO!
To ensure every euro goes straight into the animation - and not toward tariffs, taxes, or shipping - this campaign is digital-only, with just one exception: the physical artbook with original art pieces at the €3,000 tier.
You get awesome art & rewards, no hidden costs like shipping fees, and we get to pour everything into the show!
Please note: most items do not yet have finalized designs.
REWARDS DISCLAIMERS
FULFILLMENT PROCESS A few weeks after the conclusion of the campaign, all backers will be sent a backer survey via BackerKit. This is how we will collect shipping addresses, preferred emails, etc., and it will be our system for distributing digital and physical rewards.
FULFILLMENT TIMELINE The estimated schedule for rewards is as follows:
Posters, Mystery Postcard + Thank-you Sketch, Sketch of a Character of YOUR Choice: Fall 2026
The rest of the rewards: Summer 2027
CHARACTER CAMEO For cameos, restrictions apply. All designs must be based on real humans or real animals; no mythological creatures. We reserve the right to reject a design that does not fit our guidelines. Designs will be altered to fit the style of the show. Our team will be in contact to coordinate once we are properly in production.
HANDMADE ARTBOOK (the only physical tier)* A truly special item: a handmade artbook filled with original TABOO art, assembled by our team. Some sketches have been with us for a while, so expect a charming, slightly time-worn feel! ADDITIONAL CHARGES* Backers will be responsible for shipping, taxes, and import duties for this reward. Charges will be applied after the campaign concludes. LIABILITY* We are not responsible for lost, damaged, or stolen packages containing this reward. The package will be sent with a tracking number. OFF-LIMITS TERRITORIES* Unfortunately, we will not be able to ship the Handmade Artbook to the following locations: Afghanistan, Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Cuba, Palestinian Territories, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Myanmar, Niue, North Korea, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Yemen.
Shipping fees collected post-campaign in Pledge Manager!
You believed in us before, and that means the world. Every previous backer who supports this campaign will automatically receive a bundle of extra goodies after the campaign ends - completely free, in addition to your chosen reward tier!
Here’s exactly what’s waiting for you:
✦ Mystery Postcards + Thank-you Sketch ✦ Your Name in the Credits ✦ Sneak Peek Livestream with the Team ✦ Mystery Poster ✦ Sketch of a Character of YOUR Choice
Thank you for believing in us from the beginning :)
Our base goal will ensure the creation of the basic animation for the show, but it would be SO AWESOME to invite mixed media artists and go above and beyond with the visual style... so here are our stretch goals:
Thank you so much for checking out and supporting TABOO! This project is, first and foremost, a labor of love. Even if you can't pledge, sharing our story is a massive help! Tell a friend!
With any animation project - indie or mainstream - there’s never a perfect guarantee on timing, and as we move forward, the story, visuals, and our process will naturally grow and evolve. We know the challenges, we’ve planned for them, and we’re genuinely excited to take them on. We can’t wait to bring our pilot to life!
That said, this is a relaunch and our final attempt to fund TABOO through crowdfunding. If we don’t secure the funding, we’ll either archive the project and move on to other work, or pursue a completely different path to make it happen.
