Archive for the ‘Crowdfunding’ Category

Fund A Film (FaF) – Ashvin Kumar’s Noor

Posted: January 30, 2016 by moifightclub in Crowdfunding, FAF (Fund A Film), film, Indie, News
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We have always tried to spread the good word about various crowd-funded projects through our blog. Here’s one more film which looks interesting and you can contribute to its making. In today’s Fund A Film (FaF) initiative, we are putting the spotlight on Ashvin Kumar’s Noor.

Noor

Director

Ashvin Kumar is the director of Road to Ladakh (Irrfan Khan), The Little Terrorist (Oscar nominated), Dazed in Doon, Inshallah, Football (banned in India), Inshallah, Kashmir (also banned) and now he is planning his next, Noor.

Film

Noor is a story about a teenage girl from Britain trying to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance in Kashmir. Based on true events, it is a story about hope in the middle of a seventy year long conflict, which has left over 100,000 people dead.

It will be a feature length narrative film about the human impact of the crisis in Kashmir. It’s the story of three generations of women who are trapped in one of the world’s forgotten conflicts. All this may sound very dark and serious, but in fact, Noor is filled with light-heartedness and optimism, hope, and the belief in the goodness of the world that informs those teenage years.

Pitch

Target

The makers have less than 30 days from now to reach the target of £74,000.

Information

To know more about the film, the makers, his roadshow in UK, how you can contribute and make a difference, click here.

FB page is here, Twitter is @Noor_movie.

Fund A Film (FAF) Project : Bollywood’s German Origins – A Collector’s Edition Photobook

Posted: September 20, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema, Crowdfunding, FAF (Fund A Film)
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Never seen before photographs of the early Indian film industry from the late German cinematographer Josef Wirsching are being compiled into a photobook

(This is one of the rarest and earliest images of Himanshu Rai, Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar, the early doyens of the “Bombay Talkies” Film studios, together in one single image. Taken during a lunch break on an outdoor shoot from the filming of “Izzat” in 1937)

 The Wirsching family, who are the only heirs to the late German cinematographer Josef Wirsching, have been in possession of Josef’s extensive personal photographic collection comprising of thousands of photographic negatives and prints from Josef’s years of work in the German and Indian film industries and many hundreds of images specifically depicting the early years of “Bollywood”. They want to compile these into a one of a kind photo book.

The family is crowd funding this project through the Mumbai based crowd funding website “Wishberry” and they are looking to raise funds to publish and print a minimum production run of 500 collector’s edition books which will be launched at a public exhibition in Goa by December 2016. The exhibition will comprise of 100 A1 sized Art prints of the best images which will be included in the book.

“After years of inventorying and archiving the images in the collection; we are now putting together a highly detailed and visually rich collector’s edition picture book which will have never seen before images of publicity and production stills from most of the “Bollywood” related movies that my Grandfather has worked on through his film making career.” Georg Wirsching, Grandson and artist elaborates.

These images span right from Josef’s work in the iconic silent film “The Light of Asia” shot in 1925 continuing on through the start of the talkies era with “Bombay Talkies” Film studios in Bombay during the mid 30’s till the last production he was involved with for “Kamal Amrohi” Film studios’ landmark film “Pakeezha”.

The images in the book will be supported by detailed historically accurate essays being contributed by a trio of writers who are well versed with the history of this genre. These essays will touch upon the personal aspects of Josef’s life as detailed by his only son Wolfgang Peter Wirsching, while the renowned former editor of the Times of India- Dileep Padgaonkar will be detailing the history of Josef’s work, life and times based on his years of extensive research into the genre. Assistant professor of Asian studies at New York’s Columbia University- Debashree Mukherjee will be detailing Josef’s cinematic contributions and how his work decades ago helped influence our present view of “Bollywood”.

– For further details regarding the project please check out the family’s web site www.wirschingarchive.com and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/wirschingarchive Or their twitter account at www.twitter.com/WirschingArch

 – The crowd funding project is currently live until 14th Nov 2015 at this link www.wishberry.in/campaign/bollywoods-german-origins/

(Pic Courtesy – From Wirsching Archive FB page)

WATCH : 2 clips from ‘The World Before Her’ & CONTRIBUTE for its India campaign

Posted: April 6, 2014 by moifightclub in cinema, Clips, Crowdfunding, Director's Note, Documentary, FAF (Fund A Film), Indie, video
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After doing the fest rounds, Nisha Pahuja’s critically acclaimed documentary, ‘The World Before Her’ is all set to release on May 16th, 2014. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is presenting it and PVR Directors Rare is releasing the film. Moving between the worlds of a Durga Vahini training camp and the beauty boot camp of the Miss India Pageant, the film is a powerful story that could not have come at a better time. Some of us managed to watch the film earlier and we have put it in MFC’s Must Watch recco list. Click here to read our recco post on the film.

We are posting two clips from the film – one from the film, and one that did not make the cut. We also got Nisha to write on these two clips.

1. Pooja’s story

Director’s Note – I remember when Pooja told me the story of almost being killed at birth for being a girl..that moment became a turning point for me in terms of the focus of the film. I knew it had to be about the struggles that so many Indian women continue to face. It also changed the way I looked at Miss India–suddenly it was no longer passe or just simply derogatory..it was so much more complex. I had to ask myself “Given the Indian context, can I disregard my Western prejudices and see a beauty pageant as “empowering.” It’s something I still grapple with..

2. Tulsi’s story

Director’s Note – When I began the research in 2008, I was determined to find a young woman from a village who harboured dreams of becoming a Miss India.  Somehow I did. Meet Tulsi – achingly lovely..a symbol of “aspiring India.” Tulsi’s story was incredible, she comes from a village in UP that got electricity in 2009, and that only intermittently. Her grandfather was a freedom fighter and and there was a temple that had been built in his honour. Tulsi’s mother did not want to get married but was forced to.  So in an act of defiance on her wedding night she chopped off all her hair and began to dress like a man. Somehow she was accepted. She decided she would allow her daughter to do as she wished. When Tulsi told her parents she wanted to move to Bombay and pursue her Miss India dream, they sent her off with the money they had been saving for her dowry.  The Miss India team never responded to her application or her pics and when I last saw her in 2010 she was having a hard time and it seemed clear to me that she was being exploited, but didn’t want to talk about it in too much detail. I still get the odd email from her but she never responds when I write her back. I had always wondered how her grandfather, who had fought for India’s freedom would feel about Tulsi’s dream of winning a beauty pageant. Was this the freedom he was prepared to die for?

TRAILER

FUND-A-FILM Project

The makers of the film are also running a kickstarter campaign with the goal of taking the film to a wider audience – schools, colleges, public screenings. Click here to read about their plan and do contribute if you want to support the initiative. The aim is to raise US$ 50,000 out of which they have already got $ 41,000. Now they have just a week left to achieve the target. So if you feel for it, do contribute generously. The film needs your support.

Fund A Film (FAF) Project – Dear Cinema

Posted: September 13, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, Crowdfunding, FAF (Fund A Film), News
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We have always tried to highlight interesting crowdfunding projects on our blog. So far most of the posts have been on films. This one is a film related project. Over to Nandita Dutta (Associate Editor of DC) for more on it.

Dear CinemaDearCinema, India’s leading independent cinema portal, is crowdfunding to become faster, smarter and more resourceful for its readers.

Our crowdfunding campaign started on September 6 and so far we have been supported by 43 contributors from 17 cities, and 61% of the target amount has been raised.

We’re sure you want to know why we are going the crowdfunding way, so here you go-

In its lifespan of seven years, DearCinema has never compromised on its independence. We are sitting on several offers for sponsorship and acquisition but we prefer to be a user-funded website so that we can remain true to the interests of our readers.

With your contributions, we plan to introduce these new features:

India’s first Indie film and project database :

We have been dedicatedly covering all news related to Indian independent films and projects. Now our aim is to go a step ahead and launch India’s first Indie film and project database so that your films get discovered easily by festival programmers and distributors.

Festival and funding guide :

A new service that will guide Indian filmmakers in finding the perfect festivals, labs, markets and funds for their projects.  You will no longer need to hunt for information; it will all be up-to-date and listed for you.

Faster and smarter website :

With time our readership has increased to such an extent that our current server isn’t able to cope with the kind of traffic we attract. We need to upgrade so that you don’t ever have issues accessing our website. Also, to keep pace with technology, we intend to launch DearCinema Apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Rewards :

We appreciate the support of every contributor and so, we have some very cool rewards to offer :

– DearCinema Festival guide, a comprehensive directory of 100 film festivals

– DearCinema Market and Funding Guide

– An exclusive workshop on pitching your film and international funding by industry experts

– Invites for the opening or closing ceremony of the prestigious Mumbai Film Festival 2013

– A thank you video clip from one of our celeb friends in the film fraternity

– Having your name on the masthead of our website for one whole week and a host of other rewards!

So, what are you waiting for? Support the indie film movement by contributing to DearCinema.com. Click here and do your good deed for the day.