Jonah Stands Up is a documentary by Hannah Engelson. Jonah was born with muscular dystrophy. At nineteen he learned he had cardiomyopathy, a life-threatening heart complication that would require a heart transplant.

Jonah Stands Up is a character-driven short documentary centering on Jonah Bascle. Jonah, a standup comedian, visual artist, and former New Orleans mayoral candidate, was born with muscular dystrophy and later learned he had cardiomyopathy, a life-threatening heart complication that would require a heart transplant. The film combines handmade animation, observational footage, stand-up comedy and Jonah’s archival sketch comedy videos to tell his story.

Jonah Stands Up - Kickstarter Rewards. The mechanical heart drawing is a nod to Jonah's pacemaker, and the handmade animations in the film. The heart was drawn by hand, and then silkscreened on to paper, tee shirts, and notebooks as rewards for backers of the film's Kickstarter campaign.
-Emily Engelson

Make friends with designers that are better than you. They will push you to do your best work.
-Emily Engelson

About Emily Engelson

Emily is a designer from Detroit. Since finishing her undergraduate degree, she has lived in Tel Aviv, New York, and Toronto, working at small startups and freelancing, and most recently finishing an MFA in Design at the School of Visual Arts. You can see more of her work at Behance or her website.