We live in a world bombarded by social, political, and religious messages about LGBT communities. Many of these messages are divisive. At Level Ground, we believe art is a vehicle for conversation among otherwise divided people. Our vision is to use art in creating safe space for dialogue about faith, gender, and sexuality.

Yes, this is a big and lofty undertaking - for both LGBT people and people of faith! But we believe art allows us to experience the stories of people who are different from us. And as we encounter different stories we believe it’s possible to cultivate a better way of speaking with one another across those differences. We believe level ground is possible. 

In short, art + dialogue = a more civil world. We need your help to create this level ground!

Film expands and challenges our imaginations, our faith, and our worldview. We see film as fertile ground and sacred space for telling stories that foster relationships.

We’ve seen the power of film to cultivate dialogue. 

During our inaugural 2013 festival, we:

• Screened 5 films on a small budget
• Hosted Academy Award winners Dustin Lance Black (of Milk and J.Edgar) and Roger Ross Williams (of God Loves Uganda) as speakers
• Welcomed theologians, pastors, and filmmakers as panelists
• Facilitated meaningful conversation between people from different backgrounds and with divergent beliefs

For our second year, with your help, we will:

• Screen 16 full-length films and 20 short films 
• Invite 20 prominent leaders, writers, artists, scientists, and theologians from across the country to join the festival as speakers 
• Fund 20 filmmakers to come to the festival and speak about their films
• Have several different screening venues with limited capacity so that genuine dialogue is possible 
• Invest in catalytic art by giving prize money to filmmakers who are committed to furthering dialogue about faith, gender, and sexuality
• Rent an artistic venue for our festival headquarters
• Commission an Opening Night Gala performance piece and mount other art exhibits throughout the festival
• Provide volunteer and online infrastructure to advertise and welcome attendees from across the country 

How will we make this happen? 

Turns out film festivals are expensive so we think that we = you + us. We need your financial support to make this big and lofty undertaking a reality! 

The budget for the best version of the film festival is $100,000 and we’d love to raise all of this through Indiegogo. However, we can create the festival by raising at least $50,000 from all of you and supplementing your contribution with sponsorships and ticket sales. 

BUT, with more than $50,000 we can:

1. Show more films. We’ll pay for more filmmakers to attend and secure the facilities for more screenings. 
   
2. Invite more speakers. We’ll be able to add the voices of more top thinkers and artists, bringing them to L.A. to participate in the festival.
   
3. Give more money to award-winning filmmakers. We’ll better support the independent filmmakers who tell daring stories, giving these artists a much-needed boost while also attracting a higher caliber of films to the Level Ground Film Festival.
   
4. Include more art around the films. By 2015 we hope to be a full-fledged film and arts festival. The more funds we raise this year, the more we can incorporate art (dance, the culinary arts, music, the visual arts, writing) into the 2014 festival.
   
5. Pay people fairly. We believe good work should be well compensated. We want to support artists, not tax them by asking them to work for free! We need your help to pay the people who will be working hard to make this an innovative, successful festival.