Director's Summary
"In Time" is a documentary feature about the musically gifted Delgado Brothers, a tight knit Latino family just one more song from fame for over 50 years since their start in the East L.A. music scene. They're often called up to jam with some of the most respected jazz and blues musicians in the world, despite the fact they've always remained a gig away from fortune of their own.
So why does the best band you've maybe not yet heard do it? And why did I get involved as the director of this thing?
Well... I got involved after Joey Delgado, arguably one of the best lead guitarists I've had the pleasure to see and hear play live in my life and respected widely for that talent, did me the favor of helping me renovate my studio, work he sometimes does as a handyman so he can play gigs nights.
One particular night I was cleaning up because Joey had to leave for a concert at a local festival, coincidentally just up the street. I soon could hear the energetic lyrics of "No Regrets" along with his unmistakable guitar riffs as I swept up the broken drywall he'd just been tearing out. I knew at that moment we'd make a documentary together.
It wouldn't be about the glitz of making music, the limos or the egos. It would be about great, heartfelt music and the wonderful lives who created it, lived in the service of the only thing that matters... love, love in so many forms, even when it's a challenge, especially then.
Whenever I watch the Delgado brothers play, I realize they are not a band waiting for their time. They are ever present in an eternal now each and every time they play. You listen to them and time stands still, for both you and them. It becomes quickly obvious that their music has an inevitablilty that grows on you as much as their personal stories and personalities do. We will convey these things in our documentary, with your help.
Theirs is a story well worth telling and well worth your support and sharing.
We tell their story through the structure of their intensely personal music, already shot with live performances, with every song taking us through another chapter in the Delgado family's history and intercut with the meaning and visual symbolism and personal anecdotes behind that music to create an aural and cinematic experience that actually melts you into the musical moment as much as into the lives of a family of epic talent and proportions.
What begins simply, as a concert in a living room, becomes a moving, personal tale of family and love that spans generations. In the process of the documentary's unfolding, we're asked to re-examine what our notions of success are.
These guys are a living masterclass in success as it should be defined. It's a success that is not a thought or an expectation but more... a feeling.
Their enthusiasm became mine, and hopefully yours too.
They're a living lens into the history of the East L.A. music scene that you haven't seen before and our story becomes about the one universal thing that drives us all... love.
As the lyrics of their song "In Time" says, "In time, love will rule the world."
They believe it, and thanks to this movie, you just may by the end as well.
What We Need
We're looking for $35,000 to do more shooting and post production work. We've committed to show the film as a work in progress at the AOF festival August 17th. That's in 36 days from this writing! If we know we have funds coming in, we have a production company standing by to kick our post production into overdrive to make that deadline. Even after the premiere, we plan to do more shooting, then we'll need to finish the edit and create a sound mix and other deliverables that'll be required for distribution. Everyone has been working on this for free or very little, as a labor of love thus far, and we need to pay folks for work already done so anything we make short of our goal will go to pay for labor already complete.
If we can top our goal there is a lot of shooting left to do. We need to shoot some of the well known musicians that play with the Delgados, get further into the family's history and further capture the cinematic sense of East Los Angeles music. We also need help to promote the film and get it out to festivals and consideration for PBS and theatrical distribution, which requires stuff like a publicist, posters, and travel.
What You Get
The perks for your support we're offering are truly unique. You can attend the special red carpet premiere of the film in progress August 17th at the Action On Film Festival and walk the red carpet with the band. You can get a guitar lesson from Joey Delgado, a drum lesson from singer/songwriter/drummer Steve, or a bass lesson from brother Bob. You can even get the band to show up to your house for a special performance just for you.
The Impact
Hollywood studios aren't going to pay for this film. Being able to crowdfund this documentary is the freedom to make the film that we want to make. This film can go a long way and it will only exist with your help. That's incredibly special to us as filmmakers, to be able to do something that lasts for pure, creative reasons.
Together we can do this. The Delgado Brothers' message is a powerful one. Anything is possible in time as long as we hold onto love. Our ideals are not pipe dreams to be wished from afar, they are here to be embraced daily, in each and every moment. That's the theme of the film and of the Delgados' musical lives. Sharing such a thing can actually transform the way we view the world.
Your participation in this project helps put something positive out there, the idea that success is what we make it, that only we can define ourselves, or for that matter the types of films we will make together, and that art and love have no boundries or separation. You can do all that just by helping us finish this film.
More From Director Lance Mungia
My first feature film, the narrative sci-fi action rock and roll fairy tale "Six String Samurai", was a nationally theatrically released indie cult fave that was just called "one of the top ten gonzo sci fi films of all time" by Io9.com, right between Buckaroo Banzai and Escape From New York. That film, like this one, used music as a central story anchor.
My second film was "The Crow: Wicked Prayer", 4th installment in the popular "Crow" franchise. I directed such folks on that project as Macy Gray, Dennis Hopper, David Boreanez and Danny Trejo.
I've also done some pretty cool music videos that have appeared on MTV's top ten and VH1's Top 50 of the year.
Yet, I haven't made a film in awhile, since 2005. Not that I haven't been working on things, I have. However, the sheer weight of time and energy developing projects in the Hollywood system is heavy and at a certain point I decided I would only seek out projects as a filmmaker that really were unique and could be done in my own way. For me, life is too short to do things you aren't passionate about. This is one of those passion projects and crowdfunding it via indiegogo is a dream come true for me. I set out to be a director because I wanted to control my own destiny, and now, with your help, we can bring to life this project just as we like.
I am more excited by a project like this that can be crowdfunded because it feels more like the way putting together films should feel, sincere, fun and for the love of it.
Other Ways You Can Help
Maybe you can't contribute right now, and we sincerely appreciate you taking the time to check out our campaign no matter what. There is another way you can help besides money. Please, please, please get out and ask some folks to make some noise about this campaign. Share the project with your friends and families and even strangers. We're very grateful.
And you can use the Indiegogo share tools featured on this page!
