Kickstarter

Thanks to all of you, we did it! We hit our $35,000 goal and still have two and a half days to go before our deadline. Maybe we will even make a little extra, which we can use of course! :)

For those of you who donated after Update #4, I want to say again how moving and surprising this campaign has been. The response we've gotten has given me deep faith in the project and what it has to say. Especially gratifying has been hearing both from people who lived through those times - sharing their stories (see one below) - and from young dancers today who are still dealing with the issues of masculinity and homophobia depicted in TEST.

Also for those of you who joined later, I've re-attached the dance clip sent out before that was a big hit. I've attached a new treat, too: a music file of one of Ceiri Torjussen's "extra" compositions for the film (as per Werner Herzog's recommendation, which I heard at a lecture at Amherst College, I asked Ceiri to make a "bucket" of music into which I could dip now and then; this extra piece is one of my favorites in the bucket. It's sad and haunting, and a little creepy).

Lastly, I asked Christian Charette, a backer of this project via Kickstarter, if I could use in a blogpost his messages to me, which I found very moving. I'd like to share them here with you as well.

The first message:

I lived in San Francisco from 1982 to 1992 and lost my best friend Alan Renoud to AIDS in 1986 after a 15-month battle. (His name is on one of the original 1,920 AIDS quilt panels first displayed on the Mall in WDC. ) I remember the numerous vigils at the hospital where one had to wear gowns and masks for fear of catching the disease and friends being afraid of touching Alan (and if they did, quickly excusing themselves to go wash their hands); of getting a call in the middle of the night telling me that he had died and when I showed up an hour later seeing all his meager belongings already in an orange garbage bag; of closing his eyes; of telling his folks that their only child had just died; of spreading his ashes from the Neptune Society boat around Angel Island. For all of us who lived while others died...

The second:

Feel free to use my comments any way you want. I am proud to be a gay man. If Alan had not been diagnosed we would have become lovers. Instead we became best friends. Because of him, I joined FrontRunners, the gay running club. When he ran for president while dying of AIDS, I ran for VP and became president when he died.

Good luck with your project. I have never donated to something like this before. You hit a raw nerve. For all the Alans in this world, the story needs to be told. Why he got AIDS and not I, God only knows.

So, I'll be in touch some time after the campaign has ended to check on who wants to have his or her "thank you" be "in memory of" rather than in your own name. It's an option, if you like.

Thanks again to all of you! 

xoxo

Chris

Thank you all so much!

We are almost at 25,000 now with 7 days to go! We are very close!

I thought I'd take this opportunity to bring up something that's been on my mind:

A friend of mine suggested we include an option in the Rewards for the "Thank You" to be in someone else's name other than your own, an "In Memory Of..." option -- for either the film's credits or the website credits, since both places will have a thank you list for our Kickstarter friends. I like this idea and I think the meaning is clear in this context, but I'm not sure exactly how to word it...

If any of you wants to use this option or has suggestions on how to word it, let me know.

xo

Chris

Hello to all 126 of you!  

We’re entering the home stretch with just a week and a half left, and thanks to your support we've now raised over 50% of our $35,000 goal! In honor of crossing the 50% mark, I’ve attached a video: a more extended piece of dance footage from the movie. I hope you enjoy. I think it's pretty exciting stuff (it starts slow and builds to a crescendo).

This Kickstarter campaign has been very moving and surprising, seeing the names of friends and strangers alike, and listening to your comments. This project has touched people, sparked conversations, whetted appetites to see great dancing and hear an untold story that some of you out there lived. Now I know why crowdfunding has taken off; it's not just about money, it's about connecting and having a conversation.

We’re in a good place now and have some momentum, but crossing the finish line is by no means a sure thing. Please share our Kickstarter link, email your friends, talk to your family, post us on Facebook and speak about us on Twitter. Here’s the link once more: http://kck.st/TWM0Wm

And if, after watching the new video, you're moved to increase your donation by even a little bit, that could make a big difference in the end.

Some news: earlier in the week we were a Project of the Day on IndieWire and TEST is now eligible for Project of the Week. (You can vote for us until this Monday, Oct 8, at 11 AM EST by clicking here: http://tiny.cc/ie5rlw.) We have also been featured on GLAAD's Blog (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), in the Wolfe Video newsletter, and on Queerty.com. Word is spreading! If you have ideas for blogs, websites or newspapers you think might be interested in TEST, let us know. Every bit of exposure helps. 

Thank you!

Chris Mason Johnson

Hello TEST Backers on Kickstarter!

We now have over 100 Backers (103) and over 10K in Donations ($11,035). Thank you all so much! To commemorate the milestone, a video treat is attached. It shows a brief dance excerpt from TEST as well as an outtake when things didn't go exactly as planned...

We are now in the most difficult phase of any Kickstarter (according to the experts): the middle. If each of you can send our Kickstarter link to two friends, and ask them to like our Facebook page too, then together we can get over this hump and head toward the finish line. Here are the links again to cut and paste:

Kickstarter: http://kck.st/TWM0Wm

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TestTheFilm

Enjoy the video! The choreography is by Sidra Bell and the fantastic cast of dancer/actors are: Scott Marlowe, Matthew Rische, Rory Hohenstein, Jim Sofranko, Myles Thatcher, Katherine Wells, Norma Fong.

Warm regards,

Chris

Dear TEST supporters, 

Thanks to all of you who’ve joined our campaign in the last few days. We are getting close to one hundred backers. And we're closing in on $10,000 in donations. We still have a ways to go but the momentum keeps building!

If you haven’t already, please like our page on Facebook - click HERE to do it. This will help us broaden our reach. So far over 50% of donations have come in via Facebook. And if you have a moment, please forward our Kickstarter link to your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, or word-of-mouth, and help us get to 10K by the end of the day! Here's the url again for handy cut-and-paste:

http://kck.st/TWM0Wm

Thank you for your support!

Chris