Kickstarter

"Before Us" has met it's initial goal of 12k.  Thank you to all that have donated & reposted!

The goal was set lower than the actual cost of the film so please keep donating and spreading the word!  All money goes directly towards the making of "Before Us."

There are still 21 hours to go and plenty of amazing rewards left! 

--------------------------------------

Thank you for visiting the Kickstarter page of "Before Us."

"Before Us" is a feature length documentary about adoption, 1960's communal living and my family. This is a personal story but one I hope translates to other people's lives. The goal of my documentary is to facilitate conversation around a rarely discussed topic and to explore the intricacies of familial relationships.

STORY-

During the late 1960's my mom, a 19 year old Bostonian from a prominent Jewish family, hitchhiked out west to start a new life. She settled on a small commune in the mountains of Santa Cruz, CA where she had two daughters.

She placed them both for adoption, moved back to Boston and seldom spoke of her daughters again. A few years later she met my dad and they had my two older brothers and me.

My brothers and I grew up not knowing that our two older sisters even existed.

Julianne, the oldest daughter, found my mom 23 years later. This was a shock to the whole family. The realization that my mom had a life before us that included other children was very hard to grasp.

Though I was so very happy to meet Julianne and was instantly intrigued by the fact that Julianne is also a lesbian. She now lives with her amazing partner and their two beautiful kids. Julianne gave birth to both children and Susan has legally adopted them in a 2nd parent adoption that is only allowed in 9 states. I am intrigued that Julianne's life has been layered with different facets of adoption and by the fact that we are both lesbians.

My mom did not mention her second daughter.

17 years later Kari found my mom, this was even more of a shock. Stranger still is the fact that Kari grew up in Santa Cruz, which is also my hometown.

This is a story of adoption, told from the perspective of a child who wasn't given up for adoption. It is also a story of families and what defines them, from the openness of communal living, to blood relations and adoptive families; for me the idea of family is constantly evolving.

PRODUCTION & FUNDING-

I am in the early stages of production on this feature length documentary - I've shot about three days this past Thanksgiving when I visited my family in CA and one day with my oldest sister Julianne, and her kids in Philadelphia, PA.

I have a lot more to shoot and I need your help to make this possible.

This spring I'm hoping to bring together my mom and my two sisters for the first time in NYC. My mom and Kari have never met and I want to be there with my camera when they do.

I need to raise money for travel expenses and for hiring an additional camera person to help me shoot. I still need to film interviews with my mom, my two sisters and other family members, all scattered across the country.

I also need to find and license stock footage of California communes during the 1960's. (If you have any archival materials please send me a message!)

If I don't meet my goal of $12,000 on Kickstarter, I won't get any of the funding. However if funding goes over, any extra money would be put to good use in post-production and distribution. (Please note, your donation will not be charged until March 10th after fundraising has ended, and your card will only be charged if my fundraising is successful. This is an all or nothing situation.)

Please donate and help spread the word!

Thank you!

-Hedia