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This upcoming feature documentary will follow Austin-based, internationally-known, collage artist Lance Letscher as he makes a major transition from his intricately designed paper collage work to the medium of metal for a large public art piece.
Following Lance into his studio and environs around Texas--gathering metal, cutting, contemplating--the journey seeks to unveil this intense and quirky character, whose passion for collecting, and seeing potential in the seemingly antiquated, is as fascinating as his densely layered pieces that are shown in galleries and museums worldwide.
Letscher has been commissioned to create a large metal mural for the side of South Congress Books, in the trendy area for Austin arts and tourism. Lance will tackle the challenge much like he does his paper pieces, by gathering materials from unlikely sources to create a familiar palette in an unfamiliar medium. Lance hopes to create a metal collage that speaks to the old as well as the new and which reflects the spirit of Austin.
“Lance is one of the greatest contemporary artists in Texas, and I am proud to show his work in my store as well as call him a friend. I am so excited that his public artwork will be enjoyed by Austinites and visitors from all over the world.” – Sheri Tornatore
While our team has already expended many hours filming Lance's studio and past works, to truly do this documentary justice we need to be able to follow Lance through his entire creative process as he undertakes the construction of a massive display on South Congress Avenue, the infamous hotspot in Austin, TX. We want to film him as he’s picking through antique and junk sites, all the way through to the unveiling of this important labor of love.
And that's where YOU come in! We are turning to you, via Kickstarter, to raise $50,000 for this project. With arts funding at an all-time low, this documentary simply cannot be made without your help.
We are foregoing producer salaries and calling in favors from our filmmaking colleagues in order to pull this off as low-budget, and exquisitely, as possible. With that said, we still need to pay our production and post-production crew something. Along with the expenses of production, we will also need funds for editorial, graphics, archival, music, sound mix and a myriad of other post-related expenses.
Sandra Adair, award winning feature film editor, may be making her directorial debut on The Secret Life of Lance Letscher but has enjoyed an ongoing artistic collaboration with film director Richard Linklater, having edited 18 films for him over the past 22 years, some of which include the cult classic Dazed and Confused, the 2012 comedy Bernie and the critically acclaimed Before trilogy, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, and Boyhood.
In 2014, Linklater’s Boyhood premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews and has since won numerous awards, including 3 Golden Globes including that for Best Picture, Drama, and 3 BAFTAs. Boyhood also earned 6 Academy Award nominations, including Best Editing for Sandra Adair. Adair won the American Cinema Editor’s prestigious Eddie Award for best edited dramatic feature in 2015 for Boyhood.
Additionally, Adair was nominated for an Eddie Award for Best Editing of a Musical or Comedy by the American Cinema Editors in 2003 for School of Rock, and won the Best Edited Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2012 for the feature documentary Shepard and Dark, for director Treva Wurmfeld. Some of Adair’s other credits with other directors include Everything Must Go, starring Will Ferrell, and the award winning documentary Sushi: The Global Catch. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and American Cinema Editors and enjoys supporting and mentoring new filmmakers in the Austin area.
Adair just completed editing Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! due out Spring 2016.
In her role as a series producer for American Masters and producer of Ella Fitzgerald – Something To Live For (1999), Karen Bernstein received a national Emmy award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series. For producing Lou Reed – Rock and Roll Heart (1998), she received a Grammy award. In 2000 she co-produced American Masters/Juilliard (2002) and American Masters/Clint Eastwood. Her work has been screened at over 100 international film festivals including Sundance and Berlin. Body of War was produced with Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, toured film festivals around the world, and was shortlisted for an Academy award in 2008. The ITVS funded film, Troop 1500, did an extensive tour around film festivals both in this country and abroad and was broadcast on Independent Lens in 2006. With Galán Inc., Karen Bernstein produced Children of Giant, exploring the remarkable intersection between life and art in the West Texas city of Marfa, in the 1950s when the legendary filmmaker George Stevens came to town. transFIGURATION, a documentary program for PBS on a collaboration between the photographer, Rino Pizzi, and 12 Austin- based artists, was broadcast in May, 2014, and exists as a permanent KLRU web link (http://www.klru.org/episode/arts-in-context/transfiguration/).
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We will interview some characters that have known Lance and his work from the very beginning, including:
Sheri Tornatore, owner of South Congress Books, carries used, collectible, vintage, and unique books and works on paper and has known Letscher since he began searching for paper in the dumpsters of Half Price Books when he was a student at UT. The two became fast friends, sharing a love for old books and paper. Now, having an innate understanding of Letscher’s work, Sheri is a primary resource for the artist to find book covers, album covers and paper.
Steve Wiman, owner of Uncommon Objects also located on South Congress Avenue, went to art school at the University of Texas at Austin where he met fellow art student Lance Letscher. Wiman is an antique collector and dealer, and his shop Uncommon Objects reflects his talent and artistry and love of history and patina. Wiman has remained a friend and mentor of Letscher’s, and according to Lance, Wiman has had a great deal of influence on Letscher’s use of color.
Nancy Whitenack, founded Conduit Gallery, the premier contemporary art gallery in Dallas in March 1984. Whitenack has been deeply involved in the Dallas community through numerous groups, including previous association as a board member of the MAC, the Dallas Art Dealers Association, an organizing member of EASL (Emergency Artists Support League), and on the board of DIFFA,. She was an organizing and is a current member of CADD, Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas.The interviews with Letscher, Wiman and Tornatore will include questions about growing up in Austin, the Austin art scene, past and present, and specifically what they remember of other murals in Austin. Whitenack will discuss the work from a gallery's perspective and offer insight into Letscher's artistic vision and importance in the contemporary art world.
WATCH OUT AUSTIN Your unattended metal is in danger!
Once there was a boy whose head was filled with ideas. He loved to draw and think. -The Perfect Machine by Lance Letscher
HOW YOU CAN HELP Kickstarter is ALL or NOTHING! We are confident we can make this happen. However, if we don’t reach our goal, we won’t get anything at all.
YOUR CARD IS CHARGED ONLY WHEN WE REACH OUR GOAL -- if we reach our goal by the deadline (listed in the top right corner), your card is charged when the deadline expires. If we don't reach our goal by the deadline, your card is not charged, your pledge is discarded, and no rewards are distributed.
SO PLEASE PLEDGE EARLY -- by pledging early, you'll encourage other backers to pledge early. AND SHARE OFTEN!
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Online excitement and awareness is crucial. If you can’t make a pledge, please join us anyway in making Lance's world come alive--support by posting this campaign, and spreading the word. Share on Facebook Tweet or post on Instagram Please spread our Kickstarter link near and far! Share us on Facebook, e-mail it to friends, tweet it, follow us on Twitter, then share on Facebook again, wash-rinse-repeat. A successful crowdfunding campaign requires creative and persistent outreach support!
Risks and challenges
As seasoned filmmaking professionals, we can assure you that everything that can go wrong, probably will. With that said, we can also assure you that our team is adept at handling crisis. This film will be made, and we are willing and able to do what it takes to bring this story to life. Artists who work in the public art sector fear their projects will be destroyed, forgotten or just plain halted. There is also the dramatic tension inherent with urban growth--will the open space and massive piece be kept in place when planned development starts? Those contingencies only add to the story's tension.
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Funding period
- (30 days)