Hello! Welcome to the Kickstarter fundraising page for In a Special Place, a new short film written by Madison, Wisconsin-based filmmaker Sachin Dharwadker. With your help, Sachin and his creative partner—the incredible Chris Herr—will be able to shoot the film in the summer of 2012.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

In a Special Place follows a young filmmaker named Michael who takes a break from the movie business to spend time with his girlfriend in Madison, Wisconsin. When he unexpectedly runs into someone from his past, Michael must quickly deal with a potentially heartbreaking situation. As he proceeds with level-headed caution, we learn that deciding to do the right thing is often difficult. We also learn that “the right thing” doesn’t always make everyone happy.

WHO ARE THE FILMMAKERS?

Sachin and Chris are two young men with passion, skill, and experience in the art of filmmaking.

Sachin (writer/director) is a junior at James Madison Memorial High School in Madison. His first directorial effort, That Obscure Object of Desire, won him the award for Best Narrative at Memorial’s April 2011 film festival. His second narrative short film, Uncommon Sense, is a tragic, multithreaded portrait of teenage life. In a Special Place will have the highest production value and the most fully-realized vision of all Sachin’s projects to date.

Chris (assistant director/director of photography) is a senior at James Madison Memorial High School in Madison. He’s been making movies since he was 10, and since then he has fashioned quite a reputation for himself, shooting countless music videos and experimental shorts. Hip hop artists in Atlanta have asked him to shoot videos for them after seeing his work on YouTube. Chris is also skilled with high-tech video equipment, a fact that shows in his videos. He plans to study film next year at Columbia College in Chicago.

Sachin and Chris recently collaborated on a school promotional video titled I AM JMM. The video won the high school category as well as the grand prize at the 2011 Wisconsin Association of School Boards Student Video Contest. I AM JMM screened for hundreds of Wisconsin school board representatives at their annual state conference in Milwaukee, where celebrity mountain climber Alison Levine—the event’s guest speaker—called it “moving and inspiring.”

WHO ARE THE ACTORS?

Stuart Mott begins his Senior year at UW-Madison this fall where he studies Theatre & Drama as an acting specialist and Integrated Liberal Studies. Recent Madison credits include The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Bat Boy, [title of show], and You Can’t Take It With You. Stuart’s motion capture work appears in Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This August Stuart will be performing in the New York International Fringe Festival with the Madison area production of Love Death Brains.

Molly Kunz is a successful film actress from Madison. She most recently starred in Stephen Cone’s award-winning independent drama The Wise Kids, earning her praise from some of the biggest film critics in the world. The New York Times gave The Wise Kids a coveted “Critics Pick” designation. In addition to acting in movies, Molly attends UW-Madison.

Ashley McHose is a senior French and Acting Specialist major at UW-Madison. Her University Theater credits include The Yum Yum Room, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Revolt of the Beavers. She has also been in The Vagina Monologues at the Wisconsin Union Theater and most recently starred in University Theater Association’s The Female Odd Couple. This will be her second film project.

WHY DO WE NEED MONEY?

Because of the high production values associated with professional actors and public shooting locations (like Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art), “In a Special Place” demands a cinema-quality look and feel. We want all the great stuff that’ll be in front of the camera to look and sound perfect. In order to acheive this at a reasonable price, we need to RENT the following items:

1. Canon 5D Mark III (body only)
2. Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 85mm/T2.1 EF Canon Mount
3. Sennheiser MKH-416 Short Shotgun Microphone
4. K-Tek Aluminum Boompole with Internal Coiled XLR Cable

The above items, rented for a period of one week through BorrowLenses.com, will cost about $600 (including all tax, shipping, and handling fees).

In combination with equipment we already have access to—which includes dollies, tracks, GlideCams, audio recorders, and various Canon L-series lenses—the rented gear will help In a Special Place look and feel like a real movie (the 5D, the Zeiss lens, and the Sennheiser mic have been used extensively in Hollywood). These are the tools that will make this thing sparkle.

WE HOPE YOU CAN HELP

Given our relatively small budget, every dollar counts. Remember, if we don’t reach our goal by the deadline, we get nothing; that’s how Kickstarter ensures that only deserving projects get funded. If you think In a Special Place is one of those deserving projects, the best way you can express that is by making a contribution, big or small. As you can see, a lot of yummy prizes are up for grabs!

We plan to submit the finished film to the 2013 Wisconsin Film Festival.