On Oct 1, 2011 a few award-winning filmmakers in NY teamed up to make a collaborative film about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. They called and wrote to their filmmaker friends, and they to theirs. Within a couple weeks people were joining in Denver, Portland, LA, Boston, Seattle, Philly, DC, Kansas City, Miami, Pittsburgh, Austin, Dallas, Rhode Island, Nashville, Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, in short: it took off all over the country. Skilled editors got onboard, PR people, producers, post production supervisors, a supervising editor signed on, post production services were donated by Metropolis Post, Duotone contributed library music, and everyone started pitching in what they could. As more and more people joined the project, people started helping each other with their shoots, with equipment and contacts. This film had taken off; the experimental process was working!
![golden flag]()
We now have 99 filmmakers making "99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film". We all share a desire to make a compelling, cohesive and honest film; a film that documents the movement from many perspectives, from many angles, from many cities and towns, and that joins these many voices into a singular and unique portrait. Guided by award-winning filmmakers and editors, this exciting, independent collaborative film needs your help to make it a reality. With a feature documentary film, there would normally be many months of pre-production and fundraising. Because of the spontaneity and urgency of this movement, we did not have that. We jumped into this because we felt a need to do so, have run two successful fundraising campaigns on Kickstarter to get us this far, and now, in addition to all the people volunteering their time and skills, we need a little more community funding to get us to the next phase.
![Occupy LA outside Bank Of America]()
$7,500 is our immediate goal... We have already been given so much, and now we need the last push. We've already got post-production services donated by Metropolis Post (guaranteeing that this film will be completed), library music donated by Duotone, and close to 100 people around the country are donating skills and service, work, time and maybe even a little bit of love.
Please support this collaborative film about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. We have a variety of rewards, including artworks by many amazing artists, so please donate as much as you can and choose a reward! Maybe one is the perfect gift for that passionate person in your life.
ARTWORK OF REWARDS:
"Slavoj Žižek" Print
![]()
Perfume & Custom Art Bottle
![]()
Peter Eide - "Devil's Tower"
![]()
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
Is this propaganda?
No. Footage will be coming in from all over the country, from people with all different backgrounds and ideas. There will be footage representing many ideologies and opinions, 1% - 99%, we intend to tell 100% of the story. We are not directly affiliated with the organizers of Occupy Wall Street.
Will the feature film be a mish-mash of footage?
No. The feature will be shaped by experienced, award-winning filmmakers into a cohesive and thorough documentary about the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
How will people find out about this film?
We know how to get our films seen and talked about.
Here's a sampling of recent press:
WIRED: http://bit.ly/uJo1Cm
Film School Rejects: http://dld.bz/a9WHJ
NY Times: http://nyti.ms/mWYRAF
Huffington Post: http://tinyurl.com/6nrzz7l
The Atlantic: http://tinyurl.com/74ftenw
We've also been asked to give a presentation at the upcoming Documentary Film Symposium at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When will be able to start seeing this in action?
We already have Twitter and Facebook pages up:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/99_film
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/99percentfilm
Website: http://www.99percentfilm.com
We will update this page and backers on all progress.
What will the money I contribute go toward? We have an extremely talented team of editors, and we need somewhere for them to work. We need more hard drives to hold all the amazing footage we've gathered, and secure offsite storage. We have licensing expenses, audio work, and more portable hard drives that need to be replaced regularly as they travel around the country.
I don't have any money, but I want to be involved. What can I do?
Tweet about us, tell your friends online, or contribute your skills in some way. Write to contact@99percentfilm.com and tell us what you'd like to do.
Who is doing this?
Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites are the filmmakers who founded this project. They are also the award-winning director/producers of the internationally theatrically distributed documentary film UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US and are currently working on a narrative thriller, DARK PLACES.
Other contributors include:
Maria Breaux is an award-winning San Francisco filmmaker and owner/operator of Mbreauxsia Films. Her recent feature MOTHER COUNTRY premiered at the American Black Film Festival and won a Silver Remi at WorldFest Houston.
Tyler Brodie is the Executive Producer of ANOTHER EARTH, TERRI, UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US and many other award winning films. He lives in New York City.
Jeni Chua and Traver Rains are artists based in Los Angeles, CA. They are long-time collaborators, and this is their latest project together.
Williams Cole produced the feature documentaries GUN FIGHT (with Barbara Kopple for HBO Films) and GIULIANI TIME. Additionally, Williams co-founded THE BROOKLYN RAIL.
Jason Crump, a partner and colorist at Metropolis Post in NYC, has come onboard with post production services.
Stephen Willis Dotson is a writer/commentator, social and multi-media activist, and faith-community organizer in Philadelphia, PA. He currently works for the people-powered news website, Waging Nonviolence, which scooped the initial organizing of Occupy Wall Street.
![money glasses by H. Paul Moon]()
Ava DuVernay is the founder of the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, better known as AFFRM. DuVernay is the director and producer of MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, for which she received the Best Director award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Alex Jablonski is the Los Angeles-based filmmaker responsible for films such as SPARROW SONGS. Jablonski also edited the narrative feature CALIFORNIA SOLO, premiering at Sundance 2012, and he’s currently editing and producing the doc feature LOW AND CLEAR, premiering at SXSW.
Jeremy King is a website creator in Brooklyn.
Nine Krstic is the award-winning filmmaker, cinematographer involved in films such as GRANNIES AGAINST THE WAR, “FORGIVENESS: A TIME TO LOVE, AND A TIME TO HATE and AFGHANISTAN: DEFYING SILENCE, and THE AMERICAN SIDE – (now in production with One Horse Shy Productions).
Ginger Liu is an award winning photographer, filmmaker and writer based in Los Angeles and London.
Kyp Malone is a member of TV On The Radio.
Billy Miller is a New York based filmmaker, publisher, artist and curator.
Bob Ray is an Austin-based filmmaker and founder of CrashCam Films. His critically acclaimed films include TOTAL BADASS, HELL ON WHEELS, ROCK OPERA, SLACKER 2011 as well as various shorts, music videos, and animated cartoons (CrashToons).
![occupy Jon]()
Lucian Read is a Texas-born, New York-based photographer who has shot on almost every continent and been published internationally in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, US News & World Report, Paris Match NYTimes, and many more. As a video producer, his video work appears regularly on Dan Rather Reports.
James Salkind is a post-production supervisor in NYC.
Casey Scalf is a photographer in Bellingham, Washington.
Anoosh Tertzakian has worked as an Assistant Editor on several documentaries by Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney, including MY TRIP TO AL-QAEDA and CLIENT 9: THE RISE AND FALL OF ELIOT SPITZER. Anoosh’s editing work can be seen on the HBO film REAGAN and THE HOUSE I LIVE IN, which premiered at Sundance 2012.
Jason Tschantre is a documentary film editor; he edited STRINGS ON THE REZ, a PBS documentary, and he assistant edited THE GATES, a Maysles film.
Tyler H. Walk has worked on projects for VH1, ESPN and Martin Scorsese, and collaborated with documentary film legend Albert Maysles and director/editor/producer Max Nova. Tyler’s most recent work includes David France’s HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE, which premiered this year at Sundance.
Melissa Webster is a screenwriter and freelance journalist from Foley, AL.
Aaron Yanes has edited many award-winning features and documentaries, from Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner PADRE NUESTRO, to James Toback's Cannes prize-winning TYSON.
And many more!
