A New York City-based film-maker and Emmaus High School Class of 2004 graduate is using Kickstarter to fund completion of her next film.

Stephanie Gardner, who needs to raise $6,000 by Oct. 17 for "If I Had a Piano (I'd Play You The Blues)," is using Kickstarter, a social media web site for funding-raising, for the first time.

"It's a little scary because it's all or nothing. But for the backers, it's risk-free. If I don't raise the full $6,000, I don't get any of the money," says Gardner. "We can exceed the goal."

According to the Lehigh Valley native, successful funding will allow her to complete principal photography in the Emmaus area and editing of the short film. Money raised will also go to final stipends for cast and crew and equipment for two days of filming.

While she has made about 14 films, Gardner's first professionally-produced 14-minute film, "And If I Stay," recently played at the Anthology Film Archives through the NewFilmmakers New York series, and is an official selection of the International Film Festival of Cinematic Arts Los Angeles 2014, which stated the film "deserves special recognition and was one among the very best of submissions we received from all over the world."

Prior films include "Ten to One Films," whereby she made one film a month for 10 months. "It was a way to take myself to film school," says Gardner, who received an MFA in Screenwriting from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and a B.A. in Dramatic Literature, Music and Creative Writing from The George Washington University.

She is a daughter of Linda Kay Gardner and James Knoll Gardner of Upper Milford Township.

Gardner directed an original full-length musical comedy, "The Not So Average Joe," presented at Emmaus High School when she was a junior there. During her undergraduate college years, she wanted to pursue theater. "In grad school, I got seduced by film," she says.

"If I Had a Piano (I'd Play You The Blues)," based on a poem Gardner wrote, stars Portuguese actor Pedro Carmo and his wife Ana Maria. The dialogue will be in Portuguese. Approximately half of the film has already been shot in Queens, N.Y.

Gardner describes the film thusly: "The film inter-cuts between their characters' reality and desires, represented by an aesthetically pleasing alternate world. The film seeks to sweep the audience away from everyday reality to create an artistic, sublime experience of love and romance."

Gardner sees "If I Had a Piano" as pivotal to her film-making career:

"The important thing to me is that this ['If I Had a Piano'] is a launching pad for my first feature film. It's a calling card to show off my aesthetic vision as a film-maker and the work of my team, which I believe in very strongly, and to show off the location of Emmaus and the Lehigh Valley where I eventually want to shoot my first feature film.

"I think Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley and Emmaus is rich and diverse. It's a landscape that you don't see a lot in cinema. Being from here, I feel very attached to my roots."

Those interested in contributing to Gardner's film project, may go to the Kickstarter web site and search for "If I Had A Piano," where there is a pitch video, which is also on her web site. thestephaniegardner.com