My intention for you when you watch this movie is that you will feel inspired and connect in an even deeper way to your inner child, your creativity and imagination. Together we'll amplify creativity in the world. 

MY SECRET COUNTRY is a sweet ode to the power of play, imagination and creativity that journeys into the imagination of three children. The charms of their creativity are revealed when we meet their imaginary friends — brought to life in 2D animation — who soon discover desserts around the world have gone missing. A nefarious creature named Kritik is suspected, and the pretend companions realize — as in all good fairy tales - they must find three magical ingredients to save delectable desserts from imminent extinction. This allegorical tale and feature-length hybrid documentary will spark wonder in children and adults alike.

Max and his imaginary friend Scwigee

Play is as vitally important as breathing

Over the past decades there has been a decline in children’s freedom to play. At the same time we’re learning that play is a biological function hardwired into us that’s as important as eating or sleeping. The bottom line is, we need to play to be healthy and happy human beings. 

Play is critical to creating our sense of self

Worldplay, or imaginary world invention is important because children make their own play, rather than consume the play made for them by others. They grow a sense of self as an independent thinker, an inventor of ideas and things. They learn to posit alternate realities and to construct speculative knowledge of value to the real world. That kind of learning is imagination exercise for adulthood. 

All innovation starts with imagination

And some people may go on to putting their early imaginative workouts towards creative and innovative use, across the arts like movie directors, screenwriters, novelists, painters and so on or in the humanities and sciences like programmers, engineers, conservationists and physicists. Inventing imaginary worlds in childhood helps lay the groundwork for an innovative society. After all, we have to imagine something before we can bring it to life. 

Maxine with her imaginary friends (left to right) Bem, Milou and Devil Man

Dori with her imagined character Vera of Verasigh

Marlo McKenzie recording audio on assignment for KALW-FM radio

The Idea For This Documentary Wouldn't Let Me Go...

Years ago I was struck by contrast between the worlds of children and adults. Just take what is going on in our minds. Many of us adults think about things like our plans, responsibilities, worries about the future, our finances, health matters, our productivity or our achievements, leaving little space for much else. When we engage in fun, it can quickly turn into something we continue to do for our health or a competitive achievement based activity. Room for "fun for funs sake" is minimal.  While we as adults have all of that going on, a young child may be thinking something like this right now: "I’m beautiful and free and I have imaginary castles and a million imaginary friends to have parties with and I can do ANYTHING!"
When we stopped playing and imagining as we did when we were children — did we lose a BIG PIECE OF OUR POWER? Did we disconnect from our creative magic?

I began this documentary on a quest to explore the power and imagination that children
experience day to day — and to reflect on how we adults can start to pull some of this
joy and wonder back into our own lives.

My Background

I've been working on a variety of documentary films for over 15 years! Wow. The projects I've worked on have screened at film festivals, on TV, in art galleries around the world and most famously on the side of Coit Tower on one cold Thanksgiving evening in San Francisco. Our teams have won numerous awards and presented our work at various events like the Society for Professional Journalists, Augmented World Expo and the POV Hackathon where MY SECRET COUNTRY won the Participant's Choice Award.

Producing MY SECRET COUNTRY has changed my life in a variety of ways. 

Spending weekends animating blinks or arm movements (yes did you know I did the majority of the animation for the movie with my imaginary animator friend Youwarkee, who I invented just so I wouldn't be lonely!??) allowed me to read a ton of audio books. LIBRARIES in fact! Yes, there is A LOT of animation in this movie. 

Portrait of Marlo and Youwarkee - MY SECRET COUNTRY lead animators

Begging friends for more pictures of dessert gave me a wonderful excuse to chat to more people than I normally might in my introverted life. The greatest reward has been meeting all of the people connected to the movie. They have impacted me deeply and launched me into a process of self-discovery.

I grew into the person I am now,

the person who has reconnected to my seven-year-old self.

About that seven- year-old me, she was incredibly resilient and creative and went on magical adventures in her imagination that made life fascinating. Regularly, at night, when I couldn't sleep I met with an imaginary unicorn and we flew together to an imaginary planet. On special occasions, Cindy, the most outgoing Barbie in my Barbie crew, would jump in her pink corvette with her besties and fly out to join me. We'd have a grand ole party! Reconnecting with this side of myself has meant a greater feeling of wholeness and a swift connection to the rivers of creativity that floweth for us all, should we choose to dip our toes in or, what the heck, fling our entire bodies in! (Though as many of you know, do this at your own risk! Creative overload ensues.) 

My intention for you when you watch this movie is that you will feel empowered, inspired and connect in an even deeper way to your playfulness and the delight that is born there. 

(L-R) The Goblin King, Vera, Kritik, Devil Man, Milou, Scwigee and Bem all pose for a photo

Sometimes money is tight or you can't figure out how to send the money you'd like to offer because your device isn't working right and or the %$#@!! website is confusing, gosh darn it! There are other ways to contribute. You can support MY SECRET COUNTRY by:

• Following us on our Facebook page to keep up to date on the process of the film:https://www.facebook.com/mysecretcountry/

• If you aren't on Facebook, you can also follow us at Instagram and Twitter. We will post info there too, just not as much. 

• Moral support throughout this also makes a huge difference. Feel free to reach out and let us know you are thinking of us here: [email protected]

We are grateful and appreciative of every form and size of support, thank you!