Dear Kickstarter friends,

We are delighted to let you know that your Kickstarter rewards have been shipped. You should be receiving them within this week. One of the rewards, the full-size poster of the film, will arrive in a couple of weeks in a poster tube. We really hope you will like them!

We are now in the promotional stage of the film and we are pleased to let you know that it has already received various awards and recognitions in film festivals in the U.S., Europe, and Asia (see the film poster below and check our trailer video in the film's website: www.transnationalfiesta.com). If you know of any venues where you think the film might or should be shown, any individuals or institutions who may want to see or purchase the film, or any journal or magazine that may want to review our film, please let us know.

If you are a teacher or professor and if you plan to use our film in your classroom, please have your institution purchase an institutional copy. At this point we are selling it directly until we decide on a distributor. They can contact us at: info@transnationalfiesta.com 

Again, we could not have made this film without you and we deeply appreciate your invaluable support in completing this project. Thanks also for you patience.

We will keep you posted on new developments.

Gracias y abrazo!

Wilton & Paul

Dear Kickstarter friends and backers,

We are very pleased to share with you our film’s official trailer. As you will notice, the very first image in the trailer shows the three laurels the film has already received:

1. Official Selection from the Society for Visual Anthropology’s Film and Media Festival.

2. Gold Award from the Documentary and Short International Movie Award Festival.

3. Award of Merit from the International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Comedy.

We are so thrilled with these recognitions, which have been received even before the film’s world premiere, scheduled for December 5!! We will send you details about this first screening shortly.

Once again, thank you! All of this is becoming real thanks to your generous support. Please share the trailer with your friends and don’t forget to visit our Facebook page.

Abrazo,

Wilton & Paul

Dear friends and supporters of the project,

We are delighted to let you know that our ethnographic film is now completed and will soon be released. For now we would like to share with you the film poster of Transnational Fiesta: Twenty Years Later. In the coming days we will release the official trailer and more promo stuff.

In December, just on time for the holidays, we will be sending you the promised rewards for your invaluable help. Without you, this project would have not been possible and we thank you so much for your patience. 

Please visit our Facebook page and help us spread the word!

Gratefully,

Wilton Martinez & Paul Gelles

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are happy to announce that our film, “Transnational Fiesta: Twenty Years Later,” is almost completed! After a lot of hard work and going well over budget, Director and Editor Wilton Martínez is now working on the very last stages of postproduction. We are also developing the film packaging, promotion and release campaign. This is all very exciting and we can’t wait to share the finished film with you!

Of course you will come before the rest of the world, so we are planning to have your rewards delivered to you as soon as possible and will be sending you more details in the coming weeks. We will also be releasing teasers and video clips through this Kickstarter channel as well as on the project’s website and Facebook page, so look out for them.

More exciting news! We are pleased to let you know that the film has been made an official selection for the 2014 Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival that will take place this December in Washington D.C. You are all invited! All this has been possible thanks to your generous material and moral support, for which we are most grateful. We also thank you for your patience.

All our best, 

Wilton Martínez & Paul Gelles

Producers

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Queridos amigos y aliados del proyecto,

Estamos muy contentos de informarles que nuestra producción, “Fiesta Transnacional: 20 Años Después,” ya está casi terminada! Luego de mucha dedicación, trabajo y de gastos adicionales, el Director y Editor Wilton Martínez está ahora completando la fase final de post-producción. También estamos desarrollando el producto y la campaña de promoción y lanzamiento. Es un momento muy emocionante y estamos muy ansiosos por compartir la producción final con ustedes!

Por supuesto que ustedes vendrán antes que el resto del mundo. Por eso tenemos planeado hacerles llegar sus merecidas recompensas lo más pronto posible y les estaremos dando mayores detalles en las próximas semanas. También estaremos lanzando trailers y promo clips por esta vía así como en nuestro website y página Facebook. Estén atentos.

También nos complace mucho contarles que la producción ya ha sido seleccionada oficialmente para participar en el 2014 Society for Visual Anthropology Film & Media Festival que tendrá lugar en Diciembre, en Washington D.C. Están todos invitados!

Todo esto ha sido posible gracias a su generoso apoyo material y moral, y a su paciencia. Estamos tremendamente agradecidos por todo ello. 

Con nuestros mejores deseos, 

Wilton Martínez & Paul Gelles

Productores

Dear friends and supporters, 

We hope this finds you well. We are writing to let you know that the editing of our film, Transnational Fiesta: Twenty Years Later, is coming along nicely. Thus far we have over fifty minutes edited of what will be a 90-minute film--the 60 minutes we planned initially will not be enough to present the richness an diversity of the recorded material. We have also edited twenty “visual footnotes,” each one of 5 to 10 minutes duration, which will accompany the film. Although it is taking additional time to put together what will be over three hours of edited material, the wait will have been worth it! 

The finished film will offer a rich visual ethnography that moves back and forth in space between Cabanaconde and Maryland, and between the fiesta today and twenty years ago. Indeed, what we have edited thus far have already condensed a great deal of material that includes: establishing the key individuals in the film, making connections between twenty years ago and today, the Virgin of Carmen celebrations in Maryland, traveling to Peru, and the celebration of the fiesta in Cabanaconde. 

The visual footnotes that we have edited will provide a wealth of resources for researchers, teachers, and students, both in and out of the classroom. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that this innovative technique has been used and it will clearly enhance the finished product. Please see the picture below. 

We are extremely excited with what we have accomplished so far and with the way the film is shaping up. We are working hard to complete the production this fall.  Thank you very much for your patience. We will let you know as we get closer to the finished product. 

All the best, 

Wilton Martinez and Paul Gelles 

Queridos amigos y aliados del proyecto, 

Reciban un saludo muy afectuoso. Les escribimos para contarles que la edición de nuestra producción, Fiesta Transnacional: 20 Años Después, está avanzando a paso acelerado. Hasta el momento, tenemos editados 50 minutos de lo que será una producción de 90 minutos--los 60 minutos calculados inicialmente no son suficientes para presentar la gran riqueza y diversidad del material grabado. Además, tenemos editadas veinte "notas visuales a pie de pantalla" con una duración de 5 a 10 minutos cada una. Aunque nos está tomando tiempo adicional completar lo que serán más de tres horas de material editado, la espera definitivamente valdrá la pena! 

La producción ofrecerá una valiosa etnografía visual que se desplaza espacialmente entre Cabanaconde y Maryland, y temporalmente, entre la fiesta contemporánea y la fiesta de hace 20 años atrás. De hecho, el corte ya editado condensa una buena parte del material grabado e incluye: presentación de los personajes principales, celebraciones de la Virgen del Carmen en Maryland, viaje a Perú, y una buena parte de la celebración de la fiesta en Cabanaconde. Las notas visuales a pie de pantalla ofrecerán una plétora de recursos para investigadores, profesores y estudiantes, dentro y fuera del salón de clases. Esta es la primera vez, hasta donde sabemos, que se implementa esta innovadora técnica que enriquecerá aún más el producto final. Ver foto debajo. 

Estamos muy entusiasmados con lo logrado hasta la fecha y con la forma que está cobrando la producción. Estamos trabajando fuerte para completar todo el trabajo antes de fin de año. 

Muchas gracias por su paciencia y gracias una vez más por su valioso apoyo. Les avisaremos a medida que nos acercamos al producto final. 

Saludos cordiales,


Wilton Martinez y Paul Gelles