Kickstarter

"ALL THAT I KNOW SURELY ABOUT MORALITY AND THE OBLIGATIONS OF MAN, I OWE TO FOOTBALL"                        

                                                           Albert Camus (Goalkeeper and Writer)

Minefield is an existential 'buddy movie' centering on the work and adventures of a humanitarian soccer coach, Scotty Lee, and his charity Spirit of Soccer in warzones. Scotty's mine risk education work, using soccer to "enrich and save lives through the beautiful game", has  put a lot of smiles on the faces of traumatised kids across the planet. Kids, who've had a chance to live their football dreams and sweat and forget for a while, amid the wars and hatred that surrounds them. Minefield trailer: http://vimeo.com/25026102

Filmmaker Doug Aubrey has been documenting Scotty Lee’s MRE and conflict resolution work for over 15 years and so far their adventures have resulted in a life-long friendship and  two TV films, Louder than Bombs - Bosnia (1999) and A Different Pitch - Kosova (2001)   You can watch extracts of these films here: http://vimeo.com/channels/95343. Minefield uses archive from these films and crosses time as well as territory to tell the story. In addition to the Balkan conflicts in the early 1990s, Minefield has also been filmed in the ongoing conflicts of the Middle East, in parts of the old Soviet Empire (Moldova and Transdnistria) and in a beautiful country with a heart of darkness (Cambodia). 

After more than 15 years on location around the world and a really intense past 3 years in our Glasgow edit suite, we now have a rough-cut (see FAQ for access), but not a completed film yet. This is where YOU enter the picture!

WHAT'S NEXT?

We are now seeking your hard-earned cash to complete Minefield, ideally for Landmine Awareness Day, April 2012. Before then this extraordinary story about War, Football and Friendship would like to film in the USA in October (where Scotty lives with his family) and go where Scotty is taking Spirit of Soccer next, possibly Basra and Baghdad or Afghanistan. From mid-October 2011 to March 2012, we aim to fine-cut, grade and dub the film for international broadcasters, festivals, cinemas, NGO, specialist and special screening events near you throughout 2012 and beyond. We're also working on trying to get one of Scotland's finest bands - Mogwai -  to score the film..

WHY WE NEED YOU?

We have received development support over the past 3 years from Channel 4 Television, Scottish Screen (now Creative Scotland) and DfiD/ CBA (Worldview), as well as our own significant investment. We have made it stretch a very long way, and we now need this Kickstarter campaign to help us unlock investment from other funders, broadcasters, etc. We believe the more funds we can source via this campaign to complete Minefield, the greater the editorial independence of the film and the greater its grassroots credibility as an authored independent film when complete. Although we're quite skilled at doing it, one cannot make films on love, blood and conviction alone!

HOW IT WORKS?

: You need to only have a fiver (although we will gladly take more!) and access to either a credit card or an Amazon account;

: We have set a goal of $30,000, which we wish to raise before September 17th;

: If we don't raise the full amount, your card won't get charged - and no rewards will be in the post:(

: If Minefield exceeds its pledge, it'll only benefit the project - we can assure you, not a penny will go to waste!!! - and them rewards are guaranteed:) 

HOW WILL WE SPEND YOUR MONEY?

• Further filming costs and camera hires;
• Sound design, sound edit and music composition hopefully by Mogwai or members thereof;
  
• Fine-cut, grading and versioning of the finished film;
• Le look, Design of www.minefieldthemovie.com, posters and DvD cover;
• Marketing and Distribution costs, including your Kickstarter reward;)  

We really need any help and support you can offer - and will totally appreciate you forwarding this to friends, colleagues, family - foes even. 

Minefield pictures on Flickr.

Finally, please follow us on Twitter @minefieldmovie, @autonomitv, Facebook and watch our Vimeo or YouTube channels. See more links below rewards.

                                                                  All pictures by Doug Aubrey (c) Autonomi