Taking place January 19th-29th, the fest marks some key milestones for us. We’re thrilled that Beasts of the Southern Wild, the first Cinereach Production to hit Park City, will premiere in competition. We’ll also be celebrating the achievements of the Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute, a fruitful three-year partnership that has provided $1.5 million to complement Sundance Institutes’ invaluable support of fiction and nonfiction works-in-progress.

We look forward to watching these films on the big screen with you, at Sundance and beyond!

From Cinereach Productions:

Beasts of the Southern Wild U.S. Dramatic Director: Benh Zeitlin Written by: Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn EP: Philipp Engelhorn, Paul Mezey, Michael Raisler Cast: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under, in this tale of a six year old named Hushpuppy, who lives with her daddy at the edge of the world. Sundance Screening Times

Films Supported by the Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute:

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry U.S. Documentary Director: Alison Klayman Producers: Alison Klayman, Adam Schlesinger The inside story of a dissident for the digital age who inspires global audiences and blurs the boundaries of art and politics. Sundance Screening Times

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty New Frontier Director: Terence Nance Producers: Andrew Corkin, James Bartlett, Terence Nance A quixotic young man humorously courses live action and various animated landscapes as he reaches for self-awareness after a mystery girl stands him up. Sundance Screening Times Compliance NEXT<=> Director: Craig Zobel Producers: Sophia Lin, Lisa Muskat, Tyler Davidson, Theo Sena, Craig Zobel When a caller posing as a police officer convinces a fast food restaurant manager to interrogate an innocent young employee, no one is left unscathed. Based on true events. Sundance Screening Times

I Am Not A Hipster NEXT<=> Director: Destin Daniel Cretton Producers: Ron Najor, Destin Daniel Cretton, Trevor Fernando A young singer-songwriter with a growing local following wanders through his apathetic life in San Diego. When his dad and three sisters show up to spread his mother’s ashes, he’s reminded of the part of himself he left back in Ohio and is forced to deal with the person he’s become. Sundance Screening Times

Keep the Lights On U.S. Dramatic Director: Ira Sachs Producers: Marie Therese Guirgis, Lucas Joaquin, Ira Sachs The story of a tumultuous, decade-long relationship between two men in New York City, chronicling the bonds that keep them together and the addictions that tear them apart. Sundance Screening Times

The Queen of Versailles U.S. Documentary Director: Lauren Greenfield Producers: Lauren Greenfield, Danielle Renfrew Behrens A character-driven documentary about a billionaire family and their financial challenges in the wake of the economic crisis. Sundance Screening Times

Written and directed by Dee Rees and produced by Nekisa Cooper, Cinereach grantee Pariah opens in theaters on December 28th.

Pariah draws you into the life of a Brooklyn teen who juggles conflicting identities while searching for an authentic expression of self and sexuality that doesn’t place her at odds with family, friends or lovers. Its story is painted through the acclaimed cinematography of Bradford Young, and embodied by a stellar ensemble that includes Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, Charles Parnell and Pernell Walker.  A dynamic soundtrack featuring Brooklyn musician Tamar-kali intensifies the film’s pulse.  Dee Rees’ ability to helm all of these talents landed her  Breakthrough Director at this year’s Gotham Awards, and the film has been recognized with two nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards.

Pariah arrives in theaters almost a year after its premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, but its story truly began several years ago when Rees set out to make a short that could be expanded into a feature version.  The challenges and triumphs of the film’s journey are well described in Film Independent’s interview with Rees and producer Nekisa Cooper.  Cinereach is proud to have been one of many organizations along the way to have supported the film.

VIBE’s interviews with Rees and star Adepero Oduye offer you a chance to spend more time with these breakthrough talents, before seeing their outstanding work.  And Nelson George’s recent New York Times article contextualizes Pariah in a range of independent film made by African-Americans from the late 70s to now (including fellow Cinereach grantee Kinyarwanda).  Even better than reading about the film is watching it.

Pariah opens on Wednesday, December 28th in select theaters in NYC and California, and expands further nationwide on January 6th. Visit the Focus Features website for information on where to see Pariah.

Dear Friends of Cinereach,

We’re excited to announce $350,000 in grants to 17 feature-length film projects, completing our second grant cycle of 2011. Over 1000 applications were submitted this cycle, from filmmakers based in more than 70 countries. 10 of the selected films will receive Cinereach support for the first time, while 7 are past grantees being awarded additional support.

This grant cycle includes our 100th supported film and continues our five-year tradition of funding films that confound expectations and resonate with audiences around the world. We remain committed to our belief in film as a significant force in shaping global culture, and to creating space for manifold aesthetics, stories and voices.

For the latest information on upcoming Cinereach program deadlines, visit Cinereach.org, and keep an eye out via this email list. We also invite you to explore our revamped Grant Recipients page, where you can navigate through Cinereach films by type, phase of production, or theme. You can also read our blog to keep track of what’s happening throughout the Cinereach community.

Our Summer 2011 Grantees are:

Call Me Kuchu (Nonfiction) Dir. Katherine Fairfax Wright & Malika Zouhali-Worrall | Uganda | In Post-Production As state-sanctioned homophobia reaches new heights in Uganda, David Kato, the country’s first openly gay man, will stop at nothing to liberate the LGBT community. » More

= Citizen Corp (Nonfiction) Dir. Tia Lessin & Carl Deal | USA | In ProductionA story about money, power and democracy in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s recent decision to treat corporations as citizens. » More

City of the Caesars (Nonfiction) Dir. Francisco Hervé | Chile | In DevelopmentWith Patagonia under grave threat from the forces of a new global colonialism, two men from radically different backgrounds and driven by radically different motivations mount separate offensives to preserve their treasured way of life. » More

Cutie and the Boxer (Nonfiction) Dir. Zachary Heinzerling | USA | In Post-Production A meditation on companionship, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this love story explores the chaotic forty-year marriage of two New York-based, Japanese artists. » More

Gabriel (Fiction) Dir. Lou Howe | USA | In DevelopmentAs a teenager’s obsessive quest to find the first girl he ever kissed becomes increasingly frantic, his grip on reality starts to slip, putting himself and everyone around him in danger. » More

God Loves Uganda (Nonfiction) Dir. Roger Ross Williams | Uganda/USA | In ProductionA journey into the heart of East Africa, where Ugandan pastors and their American counterparts spread God’s word and evangelical values to millions desperate for a better life. » More

Informant (Nonfiction) Dir. Jamie Meltzer | USA | In Post-ProductionAn investigation into the turbulent life and journey of a prominent radical activist turned FBI informant. » More

Inside Out (Nonfiction) Dir. Alastair Siddons | USA, France, Tunisia, Japan, Portugal | In ProductionA look at the journey charted by the artist JR as he leads a global participatory art project that empowers people to not just see art but to make it. » More

Kuichisan (Hybrid) Dir. Maiko Endo | Japan | In Post-ProductionIn a forgotten, cross-cultured town in Okinawa, a 10 year-old boy drifts amidst his own beliefs. » More

Leviathan (Hybrid) Dir. Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel | USA | In ProductionA portrait of contemporary New England fishing. » More

Marmato (Nonfiction) Dir. Mark Grieco | Colombia | In Post-ProductionIn a historic Colombian gold-mining town, the miners’ way of life is threatened as a multinational mining company plans a total takeover. » More

Montana Medical Marijuana Film (Nonfiction) Dir. Rebecca Richman Cohen | USA | In Post-ProductionReflecting the controversies enveloping the marijuana industry throughout the United States, Montana braces itself to become the first state to repeal a medical marijuana law. » More

Our Nixon (Nonfiction) Dir. Penny Lane & Brian L. Frye | USA | In Post-ProductionThe forgotten Super 8 home movies of Nixon’s White House aides – and convicted Watergate conspirators – offer an intimate and surprising new glimpse into his presidency. » More

Powerless (Nonfiction) Dir. Fahad Mustafa & Deepti Kakkar | India | In ProductionIn Kanpur, India, hundreds of people risk their lives to climb up electricity poles to steal electricity. As police vehicles roll in to stop the theft, the lines are drawn for a battle over electricity. » More

Tchoupitoulas (Nonfiction) Dir. Bill Ross & Turner Ross | USA | In Post-ProductionThree young brothers explore the New Orleans night. » More

The Mosuo Sisters (Nonfiction) Dir. Marlo Poras | China | In Post-ProductionTwo spirited daughters from China’s last remaining matriarchal society are thrust into the worldwide economic downturn when they lose the only jobs they’ve ever known. » More

White Elephants, a Congo Trilogy (Nonfiction) Dir. Kristof Bilsen | Democratic Republic of the Congo | In ProductionA poetic look into a former colony in decay, as seen through the microcosm of three state-owned institutions. » More

Thanks for keeping in touch. More soon! Best regards, Adella Ladjevardi Grants Manager

Laura
Director: Fellipe Barbosa
Nonfiction | Winter 2010 Grantee
Festival Screening Information | World Premiere – Golden Starfish Award Documentary Competition

Imagine if Grey Gardens’ Little Edie had actually realized her dream of moving into a studio apartment on 10th Avenue: her life might have resembled that of Laura’s, a Brazilian expat in New York City who lives two contradictory lives. (synopsis by the Hamptons Intl. Film Festival)

Ok, Enough, Goodbye
Director: Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia
Nonfiction | Summer 2010 Grantee
Festival Screening Information | US Premiere – World Cinema: Narrative

A 40-year-old man still living with his elderly mother has given up on the idea of becoming independent – until she suddenly leaves him.

The Bully Project
Director: Lee Hirsch
Nonfiction | Winter 2009 Grantee
Festival Screening Information | Films of Conflict & Resolution

A year in the life of America’s bullying crisis that offers an intimate look at how bullying has touched the lives of five kids and their families.

The Forgiveness of Blood
Director: Joshua Marston
Fiction | Supported through Cinereach Productions & Winter 2009 Grantee
Festival Screening Information | Films of Conflict & Resolution

In The Forgiveness of Blood, the lives of a teenage boy and his younger sister are thrown into turmoil after a killing in a dispute over land draws their northern Albanian family into a blood feud.

You Have the Right to an Attorney
Director: Matt Bockelman
Nonfiction | Supported through the Reach Film Fellowship 2011
Festival Screening Information | Short Films

You Have the Right to an Attorney enters the daily grind of two young public defenders in the South Bronx.

a post by Nancy Schwartzman

Back in September 2010, I was selected to participate in Cinereach’s Reach Film Fellowship, a program for emerging filmmakers making short films. I wanted to explore technology and its impact on our intimate relationships, so I developed xoxosms, a documentary about two awkward, introverted teenagers from two different worlds. The subjects of the film, Gus and Jiyun, found each other and fell in love on the Internet (see prior Cinereach guest post for how I navigated my delicate access to their love life). The film is about to premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival this coming weekend, but as I reflect back on the early days of the project, I think one of the most valuable things I can share is what I learned from my experience crowd-funding to raise a significant portion of my film’s budget.

The Reach Film Fellowship provided mentorship and a grant towards making the film, but we needed more money for post-production because we shot in multiple  formats and needed motion graphics sequences to illustrate Skype and chat scenes. I chose to do a crowd-funding campaign to bridge the financial gap for a few reasons. First, I wanted to try online fundraising, which requires a new kind of trailer and telling the story of my film outside the immediate film and film-granting community. I felt that the topic of love and the Internet would catch peoples’ attention and help generate energy, excitement, and perhaps a community around the film.

Before production, we started a Tumblr blog called, “Without the Internet, we never would have met…” which drew inspiration from stories of long distance relationships (“ldr”) and Internet love that we found in online communities. The blog was not intended as a marketing site for the film, but as a place to highlight and explore relationships like Gus and Jiyun’s. We hoped people with a natural interest in the topic would find us.

I made a list of friends, family, and colleagues to see if I felt comfortable asking them for money—I did. I assessed the community around The Line Campaign (the multi-platform outreach component of my first film, The Line) to see if I could possibly migrate the community to support this new film. The Line Campaign includes an active blog and a crew of bloggers, 2600 twitter followers, a Tumblr blog, 2 Facebook pages with about 3,000 fans, and a newsletter with 3,000 subscribers. I had interns who could help spread the word about xoxosms, and a community of friends and colleagues in the sex-positive, youth media, new tech and feminist blogosphere that I hoped would be interested in the film. So, with a decent size network, plus a healthy dose of shamelessness, I was hoping to get the money needed to finish the film.

I chose Kickstarter as my crowd-funding platform because I knew it would be a good tool to rally potential supporters that were already in my network, but I was also drawn to the sense of community on the Kickstarter website. I spoke to Justin, who handles PR at Kickstarter about the “stumble upon” factor of their website and learned that over 100,000 new backers to Kickstarter campaigns return to support other projects. Additionally, 44% of all projects launched through Kickstarter reach full funding. There is also a weekly newsletter and snappy blog that highlights projects, and helps them stand out.

There have been some stunning success stories for documentaries and independent films on Kickstarter. For smaller projects like mine, these heights can seem insurmountable—the bar is so high. Don’t be intimidated! There is room for you, and you don’t need a full-time team or thousands of followers to get it done.

Below I’ll present some tips based on how I navigated my Kickstarter campaign as a case-study. If it captures your imagination, I invite you to comment and ask questions about how I did it, or share tips from your own experience.

1. Study Kickstarter!
How did the successful projects conduct their campaigns? What is the language and tone of the site? How do people structure their rewards? What kind of video do they use?

While I was studying the site, I looked at a diverse bunch of projects – books, theater, art, film, and tried to gauge what attracted me to them. I was trying to find the right balance between intimate, aesthetically pleasing, descriptive and urgent. The breezy and familiar tone of Coming and Crying, the “Awkward Erotica” anthology, impressed me. The writing spoke to the reader like a friend, or a diary, and you felt invited to participate in the making of the anthology. The community of writers and supporters were sure to follow, too. Disclosure: I know the gals who created Coming & Crying, but with their 785% funding rate, you didn’t have to know them to feel like you wanted to, or already did.

2. Get Ready for Your Close-up: why you have to be in your Kickstarter video
Because your passion for the project is a critical selling point, you need to put yourself in the video. Every successful Kickstarter campaign for a film (and pretty much any project) had a video featuring the person heading up the project talking about why they were passionate about making the film. The word passion comes up a lot on the site, including here in the FAQ. It was clear to me that successful Kickstarters knew a good video was an opportunity to engage with site visitors directly about why they were making the film, show some beautiful and compelling footage, and explain why they needed the Kickstarter audience to help them complete their visions.

I scoured the site for documentary videos, and decided to merge the Angela Tucker and Jacob Krupnick approaches. In her (A)sexual pitch, Angela Tucker intros the piece and then lets the footage from the film speak for itself too. In Girl Walk // All Day, Jacob gives a brief intro, and then narrates throughout (over footage from the film, explaining what the film will do, who the character will meet along the way, and what the audience will see). Both filmmakers come off as direct and honest, with compelling film subjects. My take-away: be real, speak the truth, and keep it short.

3. Start The Presses: how/why you can get some
For xoxosms, a 21st century love story about teens, the Internet, and relationships, I targeted my existing list of sex bloggers, tech lovers and teen-culture folks, hoping they’d take interest in the story, and direct traffic to our Kickstarter page once we launched. For an extra hook for the media, I launched the project on Valentine’s Day. I sent a general press release about the film with a link to the video on our launch day to a large list of journalists who write about tech issues and young people. I also sent personal letters to folks that I know, either because they wrote about The Line in the past, or through other professional channels.

Within a week of our launch, we were profiled on IndieWire, Social Times, Break-up Girl, Kickstarter Blog, and About.com. We were also project of the day on Kickstarter (but see #8 on how we may not have maximized that opportunity). The press attention lent credibility to the project and attracted some donors that were not already part of my circle of contacts.

4. Three Touches: timing, and roll out
30 days is the average time it takes to get a Kickstarter project funded. It’s also a long-enough-but-not-too-long period that gives you enough time to email blast and pester friends, family and lists about three times (do you know that creepy marketing term “3 touches”?) without overwhelming them. I recommend personal emails first, then group emails.

30 days is also short enough to provide your potential supporters with a sense of urgency about making their donation. A 90-day campaign would just be torturous. You’d have to pester people for a longer amount of time, and wait with your stomach in knots for that much longer.

The 3 touches is very important. Be prepared to ask everyone you know and love AT LEAST THREE TIMES THROUGHOUT THE MONTH. We are busy, flakey, cheap, procrastinators.  Most of us need to be kicked and nudged. In the FAQ of the Kickstarter site, it talks about average time and duration of campaigns. Notice, in the chart below, how large numbers of backers kicked in towards the end:

Here’s what I did during my 30 days to make the most of the time:

Day #1
I begged my close friends/family first so when I launched the counter wouldn’t be at zero.

Week #1
Facebook blasts – driving friends to my Kickstarter from my personal page and xoxosms page
Twitter blasts – direct messaged everyone, asked explicitly for RTs.
Rolled out the ask on our Tumblr blog
Emailed friends w/blogs or podcasts an abridged version of the press release with the critical details, video and link.

Week #2
I recruited a friend who had offered to donate a generous sum to the project to set up a funding challenge to inspire others to give. I gave her a key list of friends, close ones, and she emailed them offering to match their contributions. She nudged and pinged and kept them engaged in funding, and got them to ask their friends.

Week #3
I blasted The Line Campaign newsletter, a group mostly focused on healthy relationships and preventing violence, about my newest project and how the film relates to their work. I was concerned that the topics were too far apart, but we received a great response from the list.

Week #4
I begged my crew to reach out to their networks as we approached the home stretch. I got an awesome intern to re-email everyone on Facebook and round out the final asks. Late in the game the Documentary Doctor (Fernanda Rossi) offered a consulting session as a gift for a $150 donation and another friend donated a photograph for $250. Both got snatched up immediately, fetching high prices.

During all of these new pushes, I continued to reach out to friends, family and networks. I sent personal emails three times, Facebook emails three times, and twitter blasts three times, at the beginning, middle and end of the Kickstarter campaign. I made sure to use multiple platforms because everyone uses these platforms differently. Putting it everywhere (three times!) makes it hard to ignore. I promise, the self-loathing does subside! Remember to give yourself time to make the asks and do the pushing, and don’t get mad at people that don’t give. They are just overworked and/or broke, like you are.

5. Backer Updates: how to say thanks, ask for more, and keep backers engaged

People who back a project get backer updates from the filmmaker through Kickstarter. These are little messages about the project they supported, its status, screenings, and events. I kept mine short and snappy. I included comments from new backers, about how the story reminded them of their lives, and also frame grabs from the video footage of the film as we were editing. I tried to give a blow-by-blow of where we were in the editing process, and how the money coming in was actively helping. My goal in crafting these updates was to keep an authentic connection with them alive. I wanted them to continue to feel invested and proud of the thing they were helping to make as it built momentum. I wanted to make it fun and rewarding.

6. Attitude and Mental Health: how to be pushy and zen
Be prepared to go under for those 30 days while your Kickstarter campaign is active. You don’t roll out a Kickstarter campaign while your’re in the middle of tons of other stuff or really burned out. Kickstarter is not easy. I did not follow my own advice (I was editing my film while Kickstarting), and it was exhausting.

Warn friends and colleagues that you are about to be the most annoying person they know – but it will be worth it. Get excited and people will get excited. Be “that” person – the one always asking for posts, re-posts, tweets, re-tweets, and money. It will be over soon, and you can throw your backers a fun thank you party.

7. What Worked, What Didn’t and Metrics
What worked: Our trailer. Everyone loved it and got excited. Invest time and energy in pitching your project well.

What didn’t work: Image choice. My initial thumbnail photo for Kickstarter was way too dark to pop off a busy Internet page. When we were project of the day on Kickstarter, the image was too murky and had a sad vibe, I think we got lost:

I swapped out my initial shot for something bright that would leap of the digital page. Red was a better choice:

Overall Backer Metrics:
188 backers donated. We surpassed our goal of $8,000 and hit $8,538
132 of the backers were friends, family, and colleagues from The Line Campaign, twitter friends, and friends of my partner, Isaac Mathes.
56 were friendly strangers; 54 of them were backing several other projects.

Status Update:
We wrapped, locked and onlined xoxosms, in the months following our campaign. As I mentioned above, we’re excited for this weekend, when we’ll screen at the New Orleans Film Festival (opening for Angela Tucker’s feature doc (A)sexual). We can’t wait to share our Internet love story with a larger audience, and see what kind of conversation gets sparked. We plan to gather responses using Storify.

We are crafting our Internet outreach strategy with live events and festival screenings to make sure xoxosms reaches a broad audience. Check out our new website, and please to join the discussion: Can online love work IRL? Send us your thoughts about “digital intimacy,” online dating versus in the flesh, and whether technology connects us, isolates us, or both. Use the #xoxosms hashtag so we can find you on twitter.  As I learn from my adventures, I’ll be sure to check back in with Cinereach and share more tips with you.

Nancy Schwartzman made xoxosms as a Reach Film Fellow at Cinereach, working with mentor Francisco Bello. Recently named one of the “10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2011” by Independent Magazine, Nancy makes work that explores the intersection of sexuality, new media, and navigates the complexities of modern relationships. In addition to xoxosms, she is the director and producer of the documentary film The Line (Media Education Foundation, 2009). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Daily News, Gawker, Jezebel, Alternet, MTV and more. The Line Campaign, an interactive, multi-platform audience engagement campaign, has been highlighted by the Center for Social Media in Designing for Impact and by the Fledgling Fund in From Distribution to Audience Engagement. In addition to Cinereach, Nancy’s work has received funding from the Fledgling Fund and the Playboy Foundation. She is currently developing a feature documentary about young women in Kabul, Afghanistan, among other projects. Nancy lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn with her partner, Isaac Mathes.

The Forgiveness of Blood
Director: Joshua Marston
Fiction | Supported through Cinereach Productions & Winter 2009 Grantee
Festival Screening Information – Contemporary World Cinema

In The Forgiveness of Blood, the lives of a teenage boy and his younger sister are thrown into turmoil after a killing in a dispute over land draws their northern Albanian family into a blood feud.

Girl Model
Directors: David Redmon & Ashley Sabin
Nonfiction | Summer 2009 & Summer 2010 Grantee
Festival Screening Information – Real to Reel – World Premiere

Girl Model follows U.S. and Russian model scouts who travel through remote Siberian villages looking for thirteen to fifteen year old girls suitable for modeling jobs in Japan. This poetic film brings viewers into a modeling industry rife with mirrors, images, facades, and uncertainty. It is difficult to know who these young girls can trust and where the industry takes them when their eyes are covered.

Habibi
Director: Susan Youssef
Fiction |Winter 2009 Grantee
Festival Screening Information – Discovery – International & North American Premiere

Habibi, a story of forbidden love, is the first fiction feature set in Gaza in over 15 years. Two students in the West Bank are forced to return home to Gaza, where their love defies tradition. To reach his lover, Qays grafittis poetry across town.

The Patron Saints
Directors: Brian M. Cassidy & Melanie Shatzky
Nonfiction | Winter 2009 & Winter 2011 Grantee
Festival Screening Information – Canada First – World Premiere

The Patron Saints is a disquieting and hyperrealistic glimpse into life at a nursing home. Bound by the candid confessions of a recently disabled resident, the film weaves haunting images, scenes and stories from within the institution walls. Sidestepping conventional documentary methods for a heightened cinematic approach to storytelling, the film employs lyrical realism and black humor in its charged portrait of fading bodies and minds.

Pariah
Director: Dee Rees
Fiction | Winter 2009 & Winter 2010 Grantee
Festival Screening Information – Discovery

When forced to choose between losing her best friend or destroying her family, a Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and endures heartbreak in a desperate search for sexual expression.

Porfirio
Director: Alejandro Landes
Fiction | Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute 2011
Festival Screening Information – Visions – International & North American Premiere

Confined to a universe that stretches only from bed to wheelchair, Porfirio – a man in diapers who sells call time on his cell phone in a faraway city on the outskirts of the Colombian Amazon – dreams that he can fly.

A post by Karin Chien

Circumstance, a film about teenage rebellion and love in an oppressive Iranian society, could not have been made without nonprofit support. This is a subtitled film spoken in Farsi, performed by an unknown cast, shot in an undercover production in Beirut by first-time writer/director Maryam Keshavarz, with minimal distribution potential in the region where the story was set. Who was going to invest in this project? Even amongst indie films, it was a risky proposition.

The film was too provocative and too lesbian for Middle Eastern investors, too non-commercial for film investors. But while equity investors were turning us down left and right, something extraordinary happened – the film received over $300,000 in non-profit support – 14 grants and in-kind donations in all.

Circumstance is the fortunate beneficiary of a few extraordinary individuals and organizations who believe in meaningful filmmaking. Cinereach, not least amongst them, came along five years ago and took notice that indies with socially relevant themes were struggling to survive in a commercially driven marketplace. San Francisco Film Society revitalized itself under Graham Legatt and found several million dollars to give away to narrative films. Sundance Institute kept doing its thing and has attracted more grant money than ever. It’s the start of what I hope is a permanent trend.

Grants are a godsend for any indie film. Not only do they not need to be paid back, but they don’t dilute investor profit participation. With grant money, investors receive more profit participation than if the film were fully capitalized with equity, thus making it more attractive to equity investors. Grants also come with virtually never-ending support – amazingly, these organizations gave us money and they kept giving: referrals, introductions, publicity, and advice. No resource went unused.

This is a breakdown of our non-profit support, and a snapshot of how Circumstance got made:

1. Sundance Institute: Circumstance participated in the Sundance Screenwriter & Filmmaker Labs (note of caution: it’s harder to become a Lab Fellow than to get into the Festival.) Maryam met our cinematographer and composer at the Labs. And once you’re a Lab Fellow, you’re eligible for Sundance grant funding from sources like the $5,000 Adrienne Shelly Women Filmmakers grant Maryam received and the $15,000 Zygmunt and Audrey Wilf Foundation Award the film received. Sundance has done an incredible job of bringing in money and partners to ensure their Lab projects get made and seen. Sundance grants enabled us to cast around the world, scout in the Middle East (Middle East Filmmaker Grant), shoot on 16mm film (in-kind Kodak donation), continue editing when we ran out of money (Annenberg grant), and finish with a 35mm negative (in-kind eFilm lab donation). In addition to grants, Sundance gave us notes on our rough cuts, wrote letters to the Jordanian Royal Film Commission when we were scouting, and introduced us to vendors and crew. The value of their support cannot be overstated.

2. Cinereach: This relationship actually started unexpectedly. Cinereach turned down our first grant application. But like all persistent indie filmmakers, we tried again. The second time, we were funded, and at exactly the most crucial moment. Following the massive post-election protests in Iran in 2009, we decided to fast-track the production in Beirut. We were worried the situation would worsen in Iran, and that our window to shoot this film in the Middle East would disappear. Before the protests, we planned to bring art department crew from Iran. In the end, only the Iranian props that a Western journalist brought back from Tehran participated in the film; it was too risky for Iranian-based crew or actors. We wanted to do our part by telling a story about Iranian teens, thousands of whom were killed or disappeared in the protests. When Maryam and fellow producer Melissa Lee started pre-production in Lebanon, we hadn’t raised even half the budget. The $25,000 Cinereach grant came through right before I left for Beirut. It was not only much needed money, but an incredible validation of our decision. In a way, it told me that everything would be ok, though it was still hard as hell. During the final stretch, Cinereach contributed another $20,000 post-production grant, which paid for sound and music costs.

3. San Francisco Film Society (SFFS): We were in the midst of editing the film in LA when we received an email from Josh Welsh, Director of Artist Development at Film Independent (see below), that SFFS had created a film fund and the deadline for applications was the next day. We quickly pulled together an application that included 10 minutes of footage. Incredibly, SFFS granted us $50,000 based on that 10 minutes and our written application. They knew and they believed. We found out about the grant after having paused post-production due to lack of funding, and it gave us a huge push towards the finish line. SFFS told us that Circumstance is the first of their grantees to have finished and the first to have theatrical distribution, and we couldn’t be more proud.

4. Film Independent (FIND): Maryam participated in the FIND Producer’s Lab in LA, which was taught by producer Gina Kwon. Gina brought the project to me. Though my plate was full at the time, I never forgot Maryam’s script. It was one of the smartest and most engaging scripts I had read in a long time, and it spoke to my desire as a producer to work on films about women and about politically relevant stories. Six months later, when my schedule freed up, I made a call to Maryam to see if she still needed a producer. Melissa Lee had just joined the project, and I joined the team right around Obama’s election. I remember that great post-election sense of change and empowerment. In addition to connecting me and Maryam, FIND granted us an in-kind Kodak film stock donation. They also recently hosted a screening for their members to help generate word-of-mouth for the theatrical release. Josh Welsh continues to look out for us for any and all opportunities (see SFFS grant).

5. Women In Film: We received a $10,000 grant from WIF and Netflix that kicked in right when we were completing the post-production for Sundance. It couldn’t have come at a better time. WIF also featured us on a panel at the Sundance Film Festival and will be including the film in their “Fearless” screening series in LA.

6. Fonds Sud:  Thanks to our tireless French co-producer Antonin Dedet we received two grants from France. The first was a $4,000 development grant from Antonin’s home province. The second was a sizeable $40,000 Fonds Sud grant to cover post-production expenses. We had originally applied for development and production grants from the Fonds Sud but we were turned down, so it was a huge relief to receive the post funding. The grant has a very restricted spend – only in France and only for certain post-production items – so we had to factor in travel to France, overseas shipping, and exchange rate increases. But the Fonds Sud grant allowed us to make the 35mm festival print, create laser subtitles on the print, and deliver an interpositive.

7. Hubert Bals Development Fund: A Dutch producer helped the film apply for a $12,000 development grant that was critical to allowing Maryam to hold auditions around the world. We found our principal cast in Canada, France, Sweden, and the US. Without this grant, our casting process would have been severely limited. We applied later for the Hubert Bals Plus fund, which funds production, but were turned down.

The financing of Circumstance often felt like The Amazing Race – Maryam, Melissa and I in last place, and the production budget in first place. We were constantly raising money to catch up to our spend. For the first time, I broke a major producing rule of mine – never go into production without all the money raised  – but we knew we had to. With the massive social and political change about to rock the Middle East, this was the time to tell this story. Even two weeks before our Sundance premiere, we were still locking in another equity investor. It wasn’t until we sold the film to Participant Media 48 hours after that premiere that the producers finally pulled ahead of the budget, after 18 months of breakneck sprinting.

As you can tell from the partial list above, Circumstance was incredibly lucky. Organizations like Tribeca Film Institute and New York University also provided valuable resources and support. But we were also rejected by more organizations than I can remember. More than once we were turned away because of the US embargo with Iran (ironic since Iran would later denounce our film). But we tried every avenue because we felt this film had to be made. In the end, we raised little more than half of the budget in private equity, mostly from friends and family who believed in us, and the rest in grants, in-kind donations and deferrals.

At our Sundance premiere, after the standing ovation and before the Q&A, I read a long list thanking every organization that gave us funding. And, not surprisingly, someone from almost every organization that funded us was in the audience, cheering us on at the premiere. It felt incredible to finally say in public, thank you to the funders who believed in us from the beginning. Their belief was the greatest support of all.

A Scene from Cirumstance

Circumstance begins its theatrical run this weekend in NYC and LA. Click here for theaters, screening times, and the official trailer.

Karin Chien is an independent film producer based in New York City, and the 2010 recipient of the Independent Spirit Producers Award. Karin has produced eight feature-length films, including Circumstance (2011), The Exploding Girl (2009), The Motel (2005), and Robot Stories (2002) which have won over 100 film festival awards, premiered at Sundance and Berlin, and received international distribution. Karin is in production on Untitled (Structures), an installation by Leslie Hewitt in collaboration with Bradford Young, and in post-production on P. Benoit’s Stones in the Sun about exile from Haiti, and Bradley Rust Gray’s Jack & Diane starring Juno Temple and Riley Keough. Karin is the president and founder of dGenerate Films, the leading distributor of independent Chinese cinema. Karin is also the director of the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Fellowship and the curator of the Chinatown Film Project, an inaugural film exhibition for the Museum of Chinese in America.

Kaz during an RFF workshop at Cinereach

Rolling with the Punches
a guest post by Kaz Phillips Safer

One of the defining moments for me in my relationship with my mentor Karin Chien, was a somewhat frantic meeting during the final weeks of pre-production for my Reach Film Fellowship short, Jolly Friends Forever More. I was in the middle of a fairly typical and yet typically terrifying pre-pro crisis. Jolly Friend’s lone location was a public park, and I had a location in Prospect Park in Brooklyn that I really wanted to use.

Having shot in Prospect Park before, I knew that permitting could be tricky, and that due to our low-budget, fee-waivered status we’d be pretty low-priority (read: if the only motivation the parks folks have to process your paperwork is that you handed it on time and properly filled it out, it may well not happen). You have to bug them and bug them, and show up in person and pester and plead until someone signs or stamps or does whatever it is you need them to do. I am not hating on the parks, this is just what my experience has been.

As a preventative measure, and to give us both peace of mind, my producer Christina King and I had reached out to the Parks Department literally months before with our shoot dates and desired location. We were told we should be fine, and that we didn’t need to actually submit the paper work until a few weeks before. A week and a half out, while making what seemed like a routine call to check on something in our permit form, we were unceremoniously informed that our location was absolutely not available for the dates we needed it, as there was a parade through the park that weekend. They weren’t sure why anyone had ever told us it would be fine to shoot that weekend, but it certainly wasn’t, and there was nothing they could do for us.

A week and a half out we had no location, and the very stomach-sinking situation I had been working for months to avoid was suddenly all up in my face.  However, it was made even worse by the fact that, literally the day before, Christina had gotten a call for a short paid producing gig, working on a commercial. Being a multi-tasking freelancer type myself, and knowing that as much as you love any project you’re working on for free, when a paid gig comes around sometimes something has to give, I gave her my blessing to go MIA for a few days. After all, everything for the shoot was pretty much in place.

So suddenly I found myself with no location AND no producer in those critical final days when we needed to re-scout, re-lock, re-shot list, etc. a brand new location. Suffice to say, we did, which is a testimony to Christy’s stellar, nay, near-supernatural producing skills, but in that moment, trying to keep myself together as I enjoyed a nerve-jangling coffee with Karin, I was feeling the weight of working on a low-budget project where the Parks people give you the run around, and your producer has no choice but to say yes when a conflicting paying gig comes up because you don’t have enough money to pay her.

Producer Karin Chien on set with Kaz

And I said to Karin, you know, I know it’ll be fine, but oh man, do I long for the day when I’m working on a project that everyone involved can be 100% focused on, and I don’t have to worry about folks having too much other stuff on their plate.  And Karin just kind of looked at me and was like, Kaz, that’s never the case.  People always have too much on their plate, always have three other projects going on the side, nineteen other places they ought to be, regardless of the size of the project. And I immediately knew she was completely right.  I had been looking at Karin as someone who was blissfully free of this kind of pitfall, and in that moment she reminded me, you’re an indie filmmaker.  It’s always like this.  Success means the MIA producer comes back, not that they never leave in the first place.

And in a weird way, it kind of gave me a bit of a thrill.  To be reminded, yes, you, for whatever combination of reasons, have chosen a career—an entire lifestyle—that is actually sort of designed for disaster.  Built to spill, as it were. And that actually, if you consider the way industries and art forms work as having a sort of evolutionary existence—having the shapes, patterns and tendencies they have for a specific reason—then it’s reasonable to say that the volatile nature of indie film production is actually quite adaptive. It can actually make for better projects, not worse ones.

Jolly Friends Forever More set in Owl's Head Park

Case in point, my location disaster did in fact require my team to shift into location hunting overdrive, but the park we ended up finding, Owl’s Head Park in Bayridge, Brooklyn, was a vastly superior location than the spot in Prospect Park that we’d initially settled on. The upheavals may not be fun in the moment, but ultimately, they make you think harder, look further, and consider more possibilities.

And I guess it’s a good thing, because as Karin reminded me, there’s no end of the tunnel where it suddenly gets easy. Thank goodness, right?  Where would be the fun in that?

Kaz Phillips Safer is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker & video designer. She studied writing at Princeton University while also taking select filmmaking courses at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.  She is the video artist in residence for internationally acclaimed NYC-based dance theater company Witness Relocation. Her video work has been presented in France, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Australia and across the United States. In 2009 she was accepted into the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women where she developed and directed original HD short, Megafauna. The film went on to win AFI’s Jean Picker Firstenberg Award for Excellence and was released by IndiePix in October 2010. Kaz is currently developing several feature scripts, one of which is the recipient of a 2010 Jerome Foundation Development Grant.

Karin Chien, Kaz’s RFF mentor, has produced eight feature-length films, including Circumstance (2011), The Exploding Girl (2009), and The Motel (2005), which have won over 75 festival awards, premiered at Sundance and Berlin, and have been distributed internationally.

Sheffield Doc/Fest
Sheffield, United Kingdom
June 8th – 12th

Sheffield Doc/Fest brings the international documentary family together to celebrate the art and business of documentary making. In addition to a wealth of inspirational documentary films, Doc/Fest offers pitching opportunities, controversial discussion panels and in-depth filmmaker masterclasses.  Cinereach is excited to have several grantee projects involved in this year’s Doc/Fest, in various ways including a world premiere for one!

Just Do It: A Tale of Modern Day Outlaws
Winter 2011 Grantee
Director: Emily James
Producer: Lauren Simpson

For a year the filmmaker submerged herself in documenting the secret activities of environmental direct action activists in the UK. The result is a behind the scenes portrait of a community of actively engaged citizens who aren’t prepared to sit back and allow the destruction of the world’s ecosystems and climate.

Just Do It Screening Information – World Premiere!

Sheffield Doc/Fest will also screen If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (screening information).  See the Human Rights Watch Film Festival section below for more information about the film.

Several Cinereach-supported projects are also participating in the MeetMarket. Look for Gardens of Paradise, Teenage, When Two Worlds Collide and Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute grantee God Loves Uganda.

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Human Rights Watch Film Festival
New York, NY
June 16th – 30th

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival brings to life human rights abuses through storytelling in a way that challenges each individual to empathize and demand justice for all people. In presenting this work, the festival creates a forum for courageous individuals on both sides of the lens to empower audiences with the knowledge that personal commitment can make a difference.

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Directors/Producers: Marshall Curry & Sam Cullman

Daniel McGowan was arrested for being part of the Earth Liberation Front, a group responsible for arsons against timber companies and SUV dealerships. Through his story the film sheds light on two of our most important and timely issues–terrorism and environmentalism.

If a Tree Falls screening information.  Discussions with filmmaker Marshall Curry will follow both screenings.

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Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles, CA
June 16th – 26th

The Los Angeles Film Festival is produced by Film Independent, an organization dedicated to promoting and supporting independent films and filmmakers. In the heart of downtown Los Angeles, the festival connects the movie-loving public to emerging talent, through FREE screenings of films.  Included in the festival:

On the Ice
Winter 2010 Grantee & Supported through The Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute
Writer/Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Producer: Cara Marcous

On the snow-covered Arctic tundra, two teenagers try to get away with murder.

On the Ice screening information

The Bully Project
Summer 2009 Grantee
Director: Lee Hirsch
Producer: Cynthia Lowen

“A year in the life” of America’s bullying crisis that offers an intimate look at how bullying has touched the lives of five kids and their families.

The Bully Project screening information

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BAMcinemaFest
Brooklyn, NY
June 16th – 26th

Now in its third year, BAMcinemaFest collects dynamic and innovative new work from recent festivals.  It has been called New York’s “best independent-film showcase” by Richard Brody of The New Yorker.  Four films supported by Cinereach will be included in this year’s lineup, including a short nurtured through the Reach Film Fellowship.

Love Lockdown
2010 Reach Film Fellowship Project
Director: Nadia Hallgren

A young mother from the Bronx reaches out to the incarcerated father of her children, via Lockdown Love, a popular late-night radio show.

Love Lockdown screening information

Dragonslayer
Winter 2010 & Summer 2010 Grantee
Director: Tristan Patterson
Producer: John Baker

The transmissions of a lost kid, falling in love, in the suburbs of Fullerton, California. Featuring skateboarding, the usual drugs, and stray glimpses of unusual beauty.

Dragonslayer screening information

BAMcinemaFest will also screen On the Ice (screening information) and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (screening information). Please see previous festival sections for more information about those films.

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Silverdocs
Silver Spring, Maryland
June 20th – 26th

The AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival has been called “Non-Fiction Nirvana” by Variety, the “Pre-eminent documentary Festival in the US” by Screen International and the “premiere showcase for documentary film” by Hollywood Reporter. Silverdocs is a festival and conference that promotes documentary film as a leading art form, supports the work of independent filmmakers and fosters an atmosphere for public dialogue and civic engagement around the issues and ideas explored in the films. Included in this year’s Silverdocs are:

Donor Unknown
Winter 2010 Grantee
Director: Jerry Rothwell
Producers: Hilary Durman & Al Morrow

A twenty-first century tale of identity and genetic inheritance, and perhaps the family of the future.

Donor Unknown screening information

Silverdocs will also screen Dragonslayer (screening information), The Bully Project (screening information) and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (screening information). Please see previous sections for more on these three films.

We’re so proud of the stunning finished films, and of how the fellows navigated the intense seven-month program, taking their films from concept to completion. For an overview of the 2011 Reach Film Fellowship, check out the behind-the-scenes video here. Our first album of photos from the event is up on Facebook (more to come).

Pictured above are the 2011 Reach Film Fellows with their mentors (from left to right) Marshall Curry, Matt Bockelman, Nancy Schwartzman, Nick Paley, Francisco Bello, Jay Van Hoy, Kaz Phillips Safer, and Karin Chien.

The four 2011 Reach Film Fellows and Films are:

Matt Bockelman, You Have the Right to an Attorney (nonfiction)

You Have the Right to an Attorney enters the daily grind of two young public defenders in the South Bronx as they strive to resolve hundreds of client cases in a system they consider fundamentally broken. » More

Nick Paley, Open House (fiction)

In Open House a  young man visits his grandparents and is the first in his family to realize the  pair of them should no longer be living on their own.» More

Kaz Phillips Safer, Jolly Friends Forever More (fiction)

Jolly Friends Forever More tells the story of a homeless man who is befriended by a mysterious little girl that seems to appear and disappear at will. »  More

Nancy Schwartzman, xoxosms (nonfiction)

xoxosms follows the courtship of a young  couple that falls in love via Skype, chat and Facebook and relocates to be  together. » More

The four fellows were selected through an open application process and, once accepted, given a grant, production resources, access to the Cinereach staff, and help from a community of highly invested colleagues. The  mentors met one-on-one with the fellows at critical points throughout the program. Advisors led workshops on topics such as crowd funding, social media, festival strategy, post-production workflow and pitching, and consulting producers were on call to help throughout.

We look forward to seeing what the future holds for these talented filmmakers and sharing it with all of you.

Congratulations to Nick, Kaz, Nancy and Matt!