New Project Goal: $13,400

This new goal will allow production to purchase Errors and Omissions insurance, necessary for broadcast in the United States.

Hello!  My name is Hanna Sawka and I recently completed a film on the remarkable personality and great photographer, Dennis Stock.  He captured important people, cultural movements and images that have shaped and defined the United States. Dennis Stock was personal friends with people like James Dean and Louis Armstrong, now known as "icons."  In fact, some have argued that his brilliant photos helped to create icons. 

This movie is complete, however, it needs an extra boost to get distributed.  The bonus is that you will get the film before anyone else does (and you'll not have to wait long for it!) and you will get the original, 75' director's cut that was shown at festivals in late 2011. This may be the only opportunity anyone will have to obtain that original, full cut that festival audiences have enjoyed, because the film is heading toward distribution in a broadcast-friendly 52-minute format. 

"Beyond Iconic" is about Dennis Stock and his work, but it also looks at broader questions relating to life and art.  Michael Trent of the Dances with Films Festival called it a "Portrait of a life fully realized." The film includes interviews, footage from Dennis Stock's home and a class he taught and hundreds of his perfect images. 

The film appeared at film festivals and at an academic conference.  It was one of ten audience-selected finalists at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival in October 2011.  Considered to be one of the most important curators for documentary films, Thom Powers selected "Beyond Iconic" for DOC NYC at the IFC Center in NY in November 2011.  The film was also invited to the Starz Denver Film Festival and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.  The film and footage from it participated in the annual NW regional conference of the Society for Photographic Education in November 2011.

Project Status

After the initial festival release, the challenge for "Beyond Iconic" is to reach broader audiences through distribution avenues. The film has a sales agent (hurray!), who is currently marketing the 52-minute television-cut of the film to broadcast networks. The catch is that, to deliver the film to distributors, this production will incur more costs. Your support of this campaign will help this film reach many more people.

What needs to be funded:

The immediate needs are the following:

1.  Biggest expense: the 52' cut of the film needs a new audio mix (new audio post in sound studio).  No sound mix, no distribution!

2.  Creation of HD-CAM tapes at a post-production house for delivery to broadcasters.

3.  Professional pressing of DVDs, so that I can deliver your rewards!

Additional funds broaden possibilities for further distribution and project archiving.  Funds raised over the project goal will be spent on:

4.  Creation of HD-CAM tape for long-term archiving of the film. (Hard drives are under no circumstances a safe and reliable way to archive all the data that comprises a movie).

5.  Purchase of E&O insurance to broaden prospective distribution opportunities (insurance runs from $10,000 - some broadcasters will not take a production without this insurance policy in place).

6.  Legal fees to help ensure that all licenses of the film will be in this production's best interest.

7.  Pursuing further promotional opportunities for the film.

What you get:

Supporting this campaign will allow you to see the film online or to get yourself a copy all your own, or other nice things like access to bonus footage that was not included in either cut of the film.  The film's soundtrack is of special interest, because it was created by accomplished jazz composers and musicians Teri Roiger and John Menegon, who have received accolades throughout the jazz press.  Teri's song "Still Life" that so meaningfully closes the film was awarded in one of the most important songwriting competitions in the world.  The film's artwork is a beautiful poster that uses the artwork and hand-created fonts of acclaimed artist, designer and architect Jan Sawka (yes, they are related - this is the director's Dad!)  Jan Sawka's work as a poster designer has, within his lifetime, entered the canon of art and design. His posters belong to the permanent collections of major museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art in NY and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. More information on the artist is here: http://www.jansawka.com.

Here is an image of the "Beyond Iconic" poster, as seen in a vitrine at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival:

You can get this beautiful image as a full-size poster, small poster, and on a t-shirt, depending on what level you'd like to support this production.  A version of this artwork is the cover image for the DVD, that you can have for your own. One reward category allows you to own the original, hand-made elements of the poster, including the fonts, which will be artfully arranged to look beautiful on your wall (and signed by Jan Sawka).

Remember, this production will only move forward with your support!  Please tell your friends about this, re-post this everywhere and anywhere!

What people have said about "Beyond Iconic:"

“Hanna Sawka’s Beyond Iconic is a portrait of the Magnum photographer Dennis Stock, an octogenarian rebel who seems far younger than the white affluent students he teaches at the Omega Institute in upstate New York. Hamaguchi smartly cuts from Stock’s master class to direct interviews with the no-nonsense product of The Bronx (“The more you rationalize bad pictures the further you get from taking good pictures,” he advises his students), juxtaposed with Stock narrating the stories behind many of his legendary stills, including the shot of a pre-iconic James Dean navigating Times Square in the rain. Stock comes off as a brilliant teacher – both brutally honest and sensitive, and able to clearly articulate what works in a photo, what doesn’t, and why. The man who calls Photoshop “dangerous” because it can change the original observation would have made a great art critic. When Stock died last year after the film was completed the world lost not just a genius photographer but also a phenomenal mind.”

- “Previewing DOC NYC” by Lauren Wissot for Filmmaker: The Magazine of Independent Film, November 2nd, 2011.

"I have done many interviews, and... there are always so many materials to write. The 35th festival has proportionally as many beautiful encounters. With Frances, the widow of Elia Kazan; Jan Harlan, the brother-in-law of Stanley Kubric, and with Atom Egoyan and Anna [sic] Sawka. She directed a documentary that I enjoyed so very much, "Beyond Iconic." The celebrated photo that Dennis Stock took of James Dean - the star in an overcoat, wrapped up and advancing, cigarette in the mouth, on the wet asphalt - is the point of departure for a discussion about the art of photography and more. About art, tout court. About the manipulation of images. About aesthetics. "Beyond Iconic" is obligatory viewing for photographers, and not just for them. Will this film be selected by the public for the competition for the Sao Paulo Flag trophy? "

  - “Beyond Iconic,” by Luiz Carlos Merten for O Estado de Sao Paulo, October      29, 2011.

“Stock’s artistic philosophy, his commitment to integrity of purpose and his ability to see the story in a picture are expertly depicted in this unnarrated treatment.”

 - “Taking Stock,” by Ann Hutton for Ulster Publishing’s Almanac, November      5, 2011.