More Support from 4Culture!
Last month we were proud to announce that 4Culture had sponsored our film and would be funding our efforts to get historical photos for the film (it's more expensive and involved than anyone would hazard to guess.) That was just one component of finishing our film, however: we still needed funds to get sound, music, animation, editing, and color correction for the film (we haven't even touched finding funding for outreach yet. Ask me about that later this fall!)
The last few years have been soul crushing when it comes to grants. It's been a lot of film organizations telling me our film is too educational to seem appealing to the masses, and educational organizations telling me that, since we're doing a film, they expect that we've been mentored by Michael Bay and explain that "something flashy like film isn't what they're interested in funding." Then there are those who've explained that it's too political. Rejection is never easy, and when you're working on an independent film with little funding other than your own, the journey can be discouraging and doubt-fueled.
Our experiences filming have constantly reaffirmed that this film needs to be finished, that the story needs to be told, and though it's been tough, we've held out hope that this film can get finished and this story can be told well. We've just had to wait until that happened.
This last week, 4Culture gave us a big boost to finishing the artistic side of post-production and awarded us an Art Projects grant for the film. Through their generous support and this award, we're able to get begin work on completing the documentary. This has been such a needed vote of confidence this has been. Not only do we now know that we can start the work of finishing this film, but it's just been a weight off of our hearts to have someone come along and support us like this. It's the first time in the last two years that we've seen a light at the end of the tunnel.
Now that we've gotten word that we can begin post-production, Vasant has locked himself in his editing bunker and I am working with artists who are able to come alongside us and help us finish this film. I'll have a HUGE update on that in a few weeks-- we can't wait to tell you who we're working with!
We're still fundraising for the rest of post-production, so the timeline may wobble a bit as we race to get funds in time for festivals, but the plan is that we're aiming to be finished by the end of summer, sending the film off to festivals this fall, and then hopefully, it will be available next spring for the public to watch. As always, keep your eyes on our website and social media for more updates.
Thanks for your support and best wishes! We're working hard to do you all proud!
- Sarah & Vasant