ABOUT THE PROJECT:
La Carnada is a prequel to a feature film I wrote called "Smuggler". It will both inform the feature and also live on its own as a singular story, one we have very, very big plans for.
The film follows a 13 year old boy from Tijuana (Manny) as he embarks on his first drug smuggle across the "Devil's Highway," a notoriously fatal stretch of desert on the Arizona/Mexico border. Manny's mother is diabetic and they have run out of money. Her life depends on him and everything is riding on this transport. In his way: a slick cartel recruiter, a treacherous desert, and a dwindling supply of food and water.
Ultimately this short does what we think every good short film should do: it sucks you in with great characters and a tight, compelling plot and then it punches you in the chest with a twist you weren't expecting.
WHY WE NEED YOU:
We are at an interesting place with this film. We've raised around half the money needed and we've shot one out of 7 days, but we need the remaining 15k in order to finish this film! Principle photography begins in July and without your help we simply can't do it. This money will hire our crew, pay for travel and location in Yuma and Tijuana as well as afford us the ability to get the necessary production gear, wardrobe and set design elements needed to pull off a story like this. This is the truly the most ambitious (and also the most exciting) thing I've ever attempted to do, but it absolutely can not be done with community, without people like you, giving something-- anything-- in support of an independent film and a dream.
ART FOR ART:
I think the kickstarter video really gets at everything we are doing, but for me the coolest thing about this project is 1) it has the ability to make my career and 2) we are utilizing art as prizes to, in effect, make more art.
My photography is special to me and I'm sharing it with you at various sizes depending on what you donate. Below are some of the images we are offering. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have and/or if you'd like to see the script. MUCH LOVE. Josh
Hotel Pool
Beach Ride
Surf Fire
Alysha Smoking
The Bathers
Devil's Highway
Longboard Leak
Tijuana Barber Shop
Brooke 2
Tiny Surfer (violet)
Marlboro Man
Abandonado
Venice Handplant
Alysha 1
Lone Surfer
Washington Pier
Bajamobile
Alysha at Window
Risks and challenges
Oh man. Challenges. This is undoubtedly the most challenge ridden project of my life, but it's also the most committed to anything I've ever been in my life. Short of physical death I will stop at nothing to make this film. And I think that attitude will carry our entire through the peaks and valleys we are sure to encounter. We are shooting in one of the most physically challenging places in the planet, the Devils Highway in Yuma, AZ. In the one day we have already shot, we were escorted by the border patrol to a very remote part of the border. Just in that day we got our vehicles stuck in the sand (twice), watched the weather go haywire and I experience my first real bout of heat stroke when I forgot to drink enough water during a particularly immersive part of the shoot. These are the kinds of things which make this film difficult but also very thrilling. As a community, when we pull this off, we will all be very proud.
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Funding period
- (21 days)