About this project

Philadelphia is a culturally-rich town, but the cultural love is not spread evenly—any cinephile can tell you that pickins’ in Philly can get rather slim, with limited true art houses and Film Festivals only two or three weeks of the year.

That’s why The Awesome Fest is programming a summer’s worth of free independent cinema in one of Philly’s unique alternative venues, The Piazza at Schmidt’s. In partnership with NYC’s Rooftop Films, The Awesome Fest will bring films direct from top Festivals like SXSW, Tribeca & Sundance, often times accompanied by the filmmakers & talent. These are films that will likely not get a chance to play Philly otherwise, and filmmakers that will likely not get to engage their audience face-to-face.

With your support:

-The Awesome Fest will fly Dutch kinetic sculpture artist Christiaan Zwaniiken and his robo-creations round-trip from Portugal to install a show of his artwork in Jinxed/The Toothless Cat art gallery in the Piazza. Christiaan and filmmaker Jarred Alterman will attend the Sunday, July 31 screening of their documentary Convento;

-Filmmaker Robert Greene & 10 of the featured wrestlers from his documentary Fake it so Real will attend the Saturday, July 30 screening. If this campaign is successful we will have the funds to build a wrestling ring for the wrestlers to give a post-film performance. Funds will also be put toward hotel rooms for the wrestlers;

-Director Jay Cheel will be flown in from Canada for a screening of the documentary Beauty Day;

-Director Ian Cheney will lead a discussion about his documentary The City Dark, which looks at man’s relationship to the stars and night sky within the context of city living…while watching the film outdoors in a major city;

-The successful completion of this campaign will provide us with the funds necessary to cover venue & film rentals for the entirety of the series, including films like: Super, These Amazing Shadows, Despicable Dick & Righteous Richard, Reindeerspotting, Orbit, Senna, and a very special Closing Night film we’re not quite ready to announce yet…

There will be games, contests and giveaways (think about it—you could win free stuff just by showing up to a free event!); there will be Q&A’s with the filmmakers and players (over half of the programs so far have confirmed talent attending). These won’t just be screenings, they’ll be events.

We already have a few partners signed on for the Series, our outreach will be huge, and the line-up of films and guests is set (check out www.theawesomefest.com to see what we have planned). Currently, this series is being funded entirely out-of-pocket, and the series WILL go forward regardless if this campaign succeeds. Simply put, your donations will help us put the “awesome” in The Awesome Fest.