We made it! I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the
89 people on Kickstarter who helped fund the post-production of SOURLANDS, the
103 people who helped fund the production phase earlier in the year, and many
others who have contributed to the project in countless ways. It feels
wonderful this afternoon to know that I can eat, sleep and drink SOURLANDS for
the next several months and not have to worry about fundraising.
One of the most interesting things that happened during this
fundraising campaign is that someone pledged $1. I remember opening up my email
and thinking “Why did someone just give me a dollar?”
I Googled around and soon discovered that the $1 came from a
man who is giving $1 every single day of 2012 to a different Kickstarter project
and, just as importantly, helping promote each of these projects on his
website.
This has inspired me to do the same. Once a week for at
least the next year, I’m going to pledge $5 to a documentary film project on
Kickstarter that looks interesting. I’ll also help promote each of these
projects on the Sourlands blog (http://www.sourlands.com/blog.html)
and the Sourlands Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Sourlands)
For my first donations, I cruised Kickstarter last night and
chose two projects that both look compelling. The first is a film
titled “The End of a Marvelous Era.” A group of San Francisco State University
film school graduates plan to travel across the country and document what’s
left of the Big Band music scene in this country. I especially liked that the
mom of one of the filmmakers left a really nice message for him on the comments
page:
“I'm stirred by your talent and inspired by your commitment.
We simply MUST make this project happen! I love you, Son. Mom”
Here’s the link to the “End of a Marvelous Era" Kickstarter
campaign: http://kck.st/AvNMFA
The second film I donated to is titled “Of Two Minds.” It
documents the highs and lows of people living with bipolar disorder – as over 5
million Americans do. The trailer is intense but very well done.
Here’s the link to the “Of Two Minds” Kickstarter campaign:
http://kck.st/x0EXZx
And finally…
GASLAND director Josh Fox was arrested yesterday while attempting to film a House Science subcommittee hearing on the EPA’s
investigation into groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyo., potentially
caused by hydraulic fracturing:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72326.html
According to the article, Josh had gone through the
proper channels to try to get official credentials to be there to film... and was
denied. Also, there were no other broadcast journalists in the room.
I like this quote in the article from Josh:
“They came to us and said, ‘You’re in violation of House
rules.’ I told them, ‘You’re in violation of the rules of the United States of
America, which is the Constitution.”
