Production is now wrapping up on a movie filmed in Henry County. “YOYOS” (You’re On Your Own), focuses on political divisions within families. The project raised $50,130 through crowdfunding.
The masterminds behind the film, Lexi Graboski and Michal Sinnott, worked to bring the vision to life. The drama-comedy follows liberal sisters Dinah and Abigail, who return to their childhood home in rural Virginia after a long estrangement to pay respects to their supposedly dying conservative father—only to be roped into running the survivalist camp for kids that their parents founded after the sisters left.
Inspired by films such as “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Troop Beverly Hills”, “Captain Fantastic”, and “Moonrise Kingdom”, the story aims to show the value of family despite opposing viewpoints.
“In fact, what we’re trying to do is show that we’re stronger together,” said Sinnott, who plays one of the sisters alongside Graboski. Sinnott previously directed “Unpacking”, which won multiple awards.
“This is my second time making an indie film. I shot my first film in Bali, in Indonesia, and it’s called “Unpacking”, and you can see it on Amazon,” she said. “That was a much smaller production, but the end result was really great. We were in 25 festivals and won 17 awards. We screened at the Richmond International Film Festival.”
“While YOYOS is a fictional story, it is inspired by my own relationship with my parents,” Graboski said. “I love my parents deeply, and we have luckily managed to remain close despite some ugly arguments. I still believe that we share a lot of the same values: family, kindness, love, community, and service. So how could our thoughts on how to protect those things differ so much?”
The decision to film in Henry County came after Sinnott moved to the area in 2023. “We moved here and we made Martinsville/Henry County our home. And we’ll continue to make films. It’s exciting to be opening this up to the community and also see the community response,” Sinnott said, promising more movies in the future.
The film also boasts an impressive director. “After interviewing 11 great candidates, we chose Lynda J. Reiss, who we knew we were destined to work with. Lynda has worked in the industry for over 30 years as a property master and art director on projects including “Stranger Things”, “True Detective”, and “American Beauty”,” Graboski wrote on the crowdfunding page Seed&Spark.
Many cast members are Virginia locals. “We kind of actually do a worldwide search, but we have a number of actors from Virginia,” Graboski said. Several hail from the Richmond area. “Four of the seven kids are Virginians… they’ve all become best friends—it’s like getting that “Goonies” or “Sandlot” vibe,” Sinnott said.
The pair plan to send the film to festivals and hope for a local premiere. For now, they are focusing on wrapping production and moving into post-production.
“It’s a miracle to get any film made,” Sinnott said. “Even telling friends that I’m making it—they’re all like, oh, I would like to get coffee with you and see how you pulled that off.”
