About this project

Check out our completed "People's Short" now to get a feel for this film!

Learn more about us at www.tierraunidafilms.org 

Brief Summary:

America Street, one of the oldest and most historied streets in Charleston, SC, is now the heart of a typically impoverished American neighborhood.  Over the past seven months, we have been filming a documentary on the lack of access to fresh, locally produced food and what affect that has had on the America St. community: loss of health, political power, traditional knowledge, and a general sense of community.  Our mission is to empower the people by assisting them in telling their story.  By working on film production out of a community center in the neighborhood, we will be attempting to truly give voice to the people.  We need support to finish film production and distribute the film nation wide.

Why:

We seek out those who never seem to be heard on a higher level and have so much truth to offer.  In working on this project in a marginalized neighborhood in downtown Charleston, SC, it has become apparent that those voices that need to be listened to now more than ever belong to the elders of the community who remember the old ways, the healthier, happier days, and the youngsters who hold the future in their hands and understand more than many give them credit for.  We want to foster a renewal of communication between the elder and the younger generation by including them in the filmmaking process of AMERICA STREET; after all, it is their community.  By letting their voices, opinions, and feedback on completed work drive the filming and editing process that we are in the middle of, we have and continue to adhere to their suggestions and experiences.    

What We Have Completed:

Since January of 2011 we have been conducting filmed interviews with many of the elders in the Charleston area who have commented more or less on the following issues related to the lack of food access: loss of health, traditional knowledge, political power and a general sense of community.  By discussing the context of the interview questions and the filming locations we hope to have succeeded in making this phase a collaborative project between the people, and our filmmaking organization.  We then completed a 17 min short film based on those interviews in order to get feedback on our progress and direction from the very same elders that we interviewed.  We have since shared the completed 17 min film with nearly every person that we interviewed, as well as holding a screening at the East Side Community Development Corp. on America Street.  The community showing led to an hour long discussion about the issues and was a true victory in the context of a peaceful, democratic, non-academia setting.  

Where We Are Now:

Now we are taking filming to America Street where we are working with three kids from the community involved at the local Boys & Girls Club who are conducting their own "mini-documentary" project in which we are teaching them how to use cameras, write about their stills, and conduct interviews. When ready, they will each interview one long standing member of the America Street community on the relevant issues of food access and how the community has changed.  We love their enthusiasm and unique angel they bring to the project!

The Future and Beyond:

Once finished with the AMERICA STREET project we plan on sending copies to community centers and food banks across the United States so the film can be used as a tool for starting discussion about these issues which are so prevalent in every community in our country.  Our outlook is that this is not about making a film, this is about trying to make positive social change through collaborative documentary film.  

Why We Need Your Support!

Making and distributing films unfortunately costs a lot of money... The production however has all been payed for out of the shallow pockets of our dedicated, passionate team of recent college graduates.  Now we need your support to cover the remaining production costs (small things like disposable cameras, and big things like our interactive website which we use to coordinate the project) as well as post production costs which include DVD production for many, many copies of the completed product, shipping fees to mail copies to community centers, website construction and maintenance, promotional materials, film festival submissions and more.  Even a small donation is tremendously appreciated and we thank you so much just for considering ours a worthy cause, and please share our efforts on your favorite social networking site!

How Kickstarter Works:

Funding on Kickstarter is always all or nothing.  If our project doesn't reach its funding goal, we won't receive any funds.  However, if we raise more money than our stated goal, we can use those funds to further our objectives.  That means we can make more copies of the film to reach more community centers across the U.S. and elsewhere!  Help to make our project a success!

Note To Our Donors

We have been steadily and patiently working on the AMERICA STREET project for 8 months now, some of that time having been spent finishing university and working part time jobs to make this project happen.  We project that it will take another 9 months or so until we have the best product possible to show for our work.  It also must be understood that in order to truly give voice to the people of this community we have been working on everyone else's time in order to guarantee that we give people ample opportunity to be a part of this project.  The topic of food access and what effect it has on communities is also very complicated and getting to the roots of the issue also requires time and energy in research, travel, and conversations, none of which happen over night.  

The money that you pledge will guarantee that production can continue and that once the film is completed, it can be distributed nation wide.  The peace of mind in knowing that those funds are secured will help us to confidently move forward to completing this project.

So we appreciate your patience and your respect that we want to make sure that we can offer the most honest and beautiful representation of this issue and the America Street community.  We will keep everyone updated on progress, even through the endless hours of logging footage and color correcting!  Again, we truly appreciate your support and we hope that you can feel that you are contributing to a worthy cause.

Sincerely, Tom Laffay and the Tierra Unida Films team