About this project

The candler blog is an independent film criticism and theory website. What does that mean? While the films aren't always independent (we have a sweet tooth for popcorn blockbusters), our writing and podcasts certainly are. This year I, Jonathan Poritsky, founder and editor of the candler blog, am going to the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Conference & Festival in Austin, Texas to bring you all the news and reviews from the front line of American cinema. With your help that is.

Last year, I covered the Deadcenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City only three months after the candler blog's inaugural post. You can check out the full coverage of that festival on the candler blog. The experience was exciting and new on many levels. Besides meeting all kinds of wonderful filmmakers from around the country (and world), I had the pleasure of finally going head to head with makers on the subject of their work. When I review films on the internet, especially Hollywood films, the reviews are going straight to readers and audience members, but rarely to the makers themselves. At a film festival, my words get taken to task by the impassioned artists whose work I am critiquing. This face to face experience, I believe, is one of the hallmarks of independent film criticism.

I am asking for your help in getting to SXSW 2010. The candler blog has secured a press pass at the fest, which means that I will be able to bring you all of the biggest (and smallest) news at the festival. Expect to see movie reviews, interviews, panel recaps, and posts explaining the personal experience of being at such a huge film festival. It's not free to get in (or get around) Austin, so I have started this Kickstarter project to offset some of the major costs of the trip. Namely, if this project is successful it will cover the cost of airfare and local transportation during the festival. This represents roughly half of what the full trip will cost. (You're paying for it, so I thought you should know where the money is going).

It is a fitting coincidence that SXSW will wrap up on the eve of the candler blog's one year anniversary. What started out as a film review repository for one guy (me) has expanded into a site with an extremely wide readership and a few writers (okay, I still post the bulk of the articles, but we have had some great guests and contributors over the year). The Candlercast, the podcast of the candler blog, is off to a great start since we started it in September. I'm always looking to take the site into new and exciting directions.

I would like to explain the backer rewards at the right. I am offering different levels of links and ads on my site at different levels of giving. I realize that this may only seem valuable for bloggers or companies with an internet footprint. If you are an individual with no use for a link or ad but would still like to give at a certain level, consider a link to a charity of your choice.

Also, this is an opportunity to own CD quality versions of all of the recorded Candlercasts so far (Episodes 1-8). You will get interviews with filmmakers, discussions about technology, and our epic Bests of the Decade podcast, which we had to cut up to fit on the site. The Best of the Decade recording features audio that was not on the original podcasts. I will send you 2 DVDs with the high quality files.

Disclaimer PLEASE READ: The links and ads that you supply will be posted wholly at the discretion of the candler blog (Jonathan Poritsky). No pornography, spam, hate speech or otherwise unseemly content will be posted to the candler blog's website. Again, this will be decided at the candler blog's discretion. If you are unsure whether or not your content will qualify, please e-mail editor [at] candlerblog [dot] com. Thank you.