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ALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO SWEET OLD WORLD ARE MADE TO PANGEA PRODUCTIONS, A 501(C)3 ORGANIZATION, AND ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE

Sweet Old World is in production! We have jumped off the cliff, now I hope you will hand us a parachute! Join with the Guggenheim Foundation to help make this "Impossible Dream" come to life with your tax-deductible contribution, and come back to our Kickstarter page often to get updates on Sweet Old World's progress.

As we begin this campaign on Kickstarter, we have also begun filming Sweet Old World. Shooting began July 12, and for four intense weeks we will be creating the narrative portions of the film. Then, for the next three months, we will be filming in and with the South Pasadena High School Marching Band.

As you will see when you watch the above video, Sweet Old World is a whole new way of filmmaking, combining a dramatic story with the real life drama of the high school world it is set in.

Sweet Old World tells the story of sixteen-year-old Ethan Hinkle, who is living in the cloud of grief that has enveloped his family since the tragic death of his brother eight years earlier. When his brother's best friend returns after disappearing in the wake of that tragedy, hidden secrets and unhealed wounds are dragged to the surface, with surprising results.

Ethan's story will be told in the midst of the real world of the South Pasadena High School Marching Band, near Los Angeles. As I have done with my previous high school films, I am finding the drama and joy in everyday life, but in a whole new way.

I NEED YOUR HELP. We are making this film on a shoestring, and your support will make all the difference. This year I received a Guggenheim Fellowship of $50,000 to support Sweet Old World, which gave us 1/3 of our $150,000 budget and got us started. This campaign will give us what we need to finish shooting and move to the next level.

THANK YOU!

Photo by Michael Newman

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$1 Minimum Pledge

Pledge $10 or more

A heartfelt thank you.

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Pledge $25 or more

A heartfelt thank you and an early-release DVD of Sweet Old World.

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Pledge $50 or more

All of the above, plus a DVD of David Zeiger’s personal documentary about his son, The Band, that is the basis for this film. The Band was broadcast on the PBS series P.O.V. in 1998, but has never before been on DVD. "A Quixotic cinematic quest by turns poignant, candid, and comic, a This is Spinal Tap of the soul." –Creative Loafing, Atlanta

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Pledge $100 or more

All of the above, plus a DVD set of David Zeiger’s path-breaking PBS series, Senior Year, that followed fifteen kids through their senior year at L.A.’s most diverse high school. Also never before seen on DVD. “Others have tried to document high school life, but this 13-part series succeeds where those drier efforts failed. High school is a time for experimentation, and finally, a truly experimental filmmaker (David Zeiger) is there.”–Entertainment Weekly

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Pledge $500 or more

A complete set of the films and series of David Zeiger on DVD, including the multi-award winning Sir! No Sir!, a film that revealed the suppressed history of the thousands of soldiers who resisted the Vietnam War. “Two Thumbs Up” from Ebert and Roeper. Manohla Dargis called it “Smart and timely” in the New York Times, and the New York Daily News wrote “This is powerful stuff, offering us not only a new look at the past, but unavoidably relevant insights into the present.”

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Pledge $1,000 or more

The complete set of DVDs, a special Thank You in the film’s credits, and a chance to be an extra in the film and have lunch with David Zeiger (on us!) if you are in the L.A. area.

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David Zeiger has produced several projects for PBS, HBO, and theatrical release, including The Band (P.O.V. 1998), Senior Year (13-part series, 2002), and This Is Where We Take Our Stand (In post-production, ITVS). Entertainment Weekly hailed Senior Year, saying, "Others have tried to document high school life, but this series succeeds where those drier efforts failed...High school is a time for experimentation, and finally, a truly experimental filmmaker is there." His feature documentary, Sir! No Sir! won numerous festival awards and ran theatrically in sixty cities in the U.S. in 2006.