About this project

THE FILM
A tiny Serbian town explodes with brass cacophony as half a million fans descend upon the world's biggest trumpet festival. The story of an unlikely American brass band's journey across the Atlantic interweaves with the host villagers' struggles in a war-scarred land. Brasslands explores a moment when music becomes the universal language across political boundaries.

Guča began half a century ago as an illegal gathering of trumpet players in a churchyard, and has gone on to survive the splintering of the nation itself and years of genocide and civil war that followed. This year's 50th festival anniversary promises to be an event of epic proportions, showcasing the musical pride of a region still recovering from decades of political upheaval. At stake is a singular moment in history when people from opposite sides of the globe are forced to confront the origins of their cultural identities in very different ways. This is a movie about music, but just below the surface lie the human stories that play to this Balkan soundtrack.

Brasslands main characters are members of Zlatne Uste, the foremost presenters of Balkan folk music and dance from America. They are four-time guest performers at Guča trumpet competition and, in August, will be going back to compete for the first time in an international competition.

For a longer trailer and synopsis please visit: www.brasslands.com

Trailer footage of Guča courtesy of Milivoj Ilic, from the documentary "Guča"

THE MUSIC
Music featured in Brasslands includes American bands: Zlatne Uste Brass Band, Slavic Soul Party!, Ansambl Mastika, Veveritse Brass Band, Raya Brass Band, What Cheer Brigade, Kavala Brass Band, and more. Featured Balkan bands include: Kal, Shantel & Bucovina Club Orkestar, Dejan Petrovic, and Magnifico.

WHAT'S AT STAKE
If Brasslands exceeds the $10,000 Kickstarter fundraising goal the money will begin by reimbursing production team for travel expenses. HOWEVER, if Brasslands falls short of meeting its $10,000 goal it will not receive any pledge money from Kickstarter whatsoever! Brasslands has already received support from Serbian Consul Generals in New York and Chicago, with a commitment to meet the Serbian Ministry of Culture, in Belgrade, after raising seed funding (Kickstarter campaign). This is a potentially vital source of support.

Six members of the production team have already booked homestays in Guča and will be filming in Serbia for most of August.

YOUR PLEDGES WILL FUND
$19,000 - Travel and related expenses (plane tickets, homestays in Guča, food)
$11,000 - Equipment (hard drives, batteries, memory cards, sound gear)
$30,000 - Editing
$20,000 - Post-production (rights, sound mixing, color correction, festival submissions, marketing materials, DVD printing, etc.)

Total Film Budget: $75,000