About this project

UPDATE: We've hit our Kickstarter mark! Thanks to everyone whose generosity helped us get here. I will never forget each and every one of you. Since we have 8 days left and we have nothing to lose, we're raising the goal to an ambitious $15,000. As I wrote below, Kickstarter is only a starting point in our fundraising journey, and we need a lot more than $10,000 to be able to begin filming (we need to reach approx. $35K). To get us through this last week in these dog days of August, I've added a new reward: a short comic book drawn and written by me, featuring the crazy antics of Juanita, the white alligator. For an example of this cartoon, you can visit our website, www.whitealligatorthemovie.com.  

THE GOAL: To shine a light on "acceptable" racism

THE STORY: Juanita Perez has won a year-long, expense-paid stay in NYC to pursue acting, courtesy of a Puerto Rican reality show. She is initially surprised at the hilarious stereotypes people assume about her; however, when the experience starts to endanger her identity, it's suddenly not so funny anymore. Juanita is Hispanic, so people assume that she should be dark-skinned, that she had a difficult upbringing, that she has no education, that she is angry all the time, that she is addicted to drugs, etc. You get the picture.  Written by Viviana Leo and Directed by Raquel Almazan.

THE ISSUE: Glad you asked.... White Alligator is a narrative film about modern racism. It is not about the overt racism that we all know is wrong.  It's about the assumptions and judgments we make when we swallow stereotypes without questioning them. This racism is just as harmful; but because we are unaware of it, it can be more insidious. White Alligator shines a light on this thinking and asks us to take another look at the way we live.

THE GATOR: What's up with this alligator? White alligators actually exist: there are green alligators and white alligators. They are not albinos (they have blue eyes, not red): white alligators are simply white. The white alligator has become Juanita's totem. As a white Hispanic in New York, she encounters person after person who believes that all Hispanics are dark-skinned, just as many people believe that all alligators are green. However, just as this alligator occurs in nature, so does Juanita, green eyes and all. This beautiful creature is now linked to my film's message. The alligator pictured above is in residence at the New Orleans Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. Donate enough money, and maybe Juanita will take you to see it....

THE BRASS TACKS: If you're new to Kickstarter, here's how it works.... This is the minimum amount of money needed to make this film happen. Kickstarter allows us to set a fixed amount of time (in our case, 60 days) to raise this money. If you pledge, your credit card is not charged until the last day of the contest IF AND ONLY IF we've managed to raise our entire target amount. If we're a penny short, no dice. Which is certainly exciting for everyone watching the process, but is likely to keep the filmmakers (me & co.) on Xanax for the duration of the month.  So, please, do pass the word so I can be mentally and emotionally healthy for the actual shoot....

THE FIGURE: You may ask, 'how did you get this number?'  The answer is 'very carefully.'  Film making is an expensive habit. Thankfully, we have the invention of digital film (much cheaper than the old stuff) and a donated camera (thanks to Creative Artists Agency). What we do still need are things like microphones, lights, crew, makeup, catering, editing, admission fees for festivals...the list is long. Our producers have carefully budgeted to come up with this bare-bones figure. If (and when) we hit our goal, we'll keep raising money for enhanced post-production, distribution, and (god forbid) compensation for the actors. Hell, maybe we can even get George Clooney involved.