Hello!
We are a team of journalists and filmmakers based in the United States and South Africa. This July, we received a service grant and sponsorship by the Creative Visions Foundation to make a film about skin bleaching in South Africa. We couldn't be more excited to finish this film and bring it to audiences across the world. However, we still need to raise more funds to make it a reality. And for that, we need your help.
Story
Following the end of apartheid, South Africa was set to become the “Rainbow Nation” - a country where all backgrounds, beliefs and skin types were celebrated. In some ways, however, the opposite has occurred. Following a steep drop-off in the 1980s to early 2000s, use of skin-bleaching products has jumped to more than 35 percent of the female South African population as of 2016. What is behind the skin-lightening surge in South Africa -- and, for that matter, the world? A Gentle Magic investigates these questions by weaving together the stories of individuals with history, psychology and anthropology; ultimately, it will dig all the way down to the practice’s roots, which extend deep into our shared history - much deeper than they first appear.
Why we are making this film
- By 2020, the global market for skin lighteners is projected to reach $23 billion USD.
- Skin lightening affects tens of millions of women and men, in dozens of countries, on every habitable continent.
- In South Africa, an estimated 9,300,000 women use skin lighteners. Thousands of men are starting to use them too.
- These are big numbers. Dangerously big.
- When people see big numbers of people, particularly when they're used to describe people, our brains fail to grasp their weight. That's why we think "wow, what a shame," and then forget about them the next day.
- This is especially true for how Americans (particularly white Americans) compartmentalize "African" issues. In the majority of mainstream Western media, black African women and their daily triumphs, challenges and hopes are, at best, portrayed in a reductive way - at worst, they aren't portrayed at all.
- These women (and men, and non-binary people) are not numbers. They are not statistics. They are not victims. They are not triggers. They deserve to tell their own stories. This story is as multifaceted as human nature, and yet up until now it's been cast in terms of light and shadow, black and white.
What We Need & What You Get
Note: all amounts in USD.
Plane travel to and from South Africa......$4,200
Living expenses while filming & editing (food, housing, bus tickets)......$7,200
Camera equipment......$1,200
Sound mixing and animation......$1,000
Salary for our local co-director......$3,600
DVD production......$75
Distribution (in particular, to areas of South Africa and the U.S. that aren’t normally on the festival circuit)......$200
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Mastering a Digital Cinema Package (needed for theater screenings)......$650
**All donations over $500 can be made tax-deductible. If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation, email info@yellowbonethefilm.com. If you would prefer to donate to us directly, let us know. We also accept PayPal, Venmo, personal checks and wire transfers.**
If you’d like to know more about the Creative Visions Foundation, click here.
If you’d like to reach out to us directly for another reason, email info@yellowbonethefilm.com.
Why Us?
- We are a team of five young people who have lived and worked on four continents. We are poets, activists, journalists, filmmakers, scholars and communicators.
- We've written and shot for a number of major television networks and news outlets, including Vice, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, the Oprah Television Network, and The Star, South Africa's widest-circulated newspaper.
- As contributors to the new media generation, we seek to create informed, balanced, high-quality nonfiction stories that spark global conversations.
Risks & Challenges
Documentary filmmaking is a risky endeavor - in part because the story forms as we go, and in part because this story may pose a threat to some establishments, including multibillion dollar cosmetics companies, legislative bodies and broader social hierarchies. We take on these challenges with eyes wide open, but we have also put some measures into place, including:
- Legal advice and counseling from the Creative Visions Foundation.
- Partnerships with local South Africans, who have put us in touch with many of our sources already.
- An ongoing relationship with the Redox Laboratory at the University of Cape Town, which is currently completing the S(kin) project, the largest and most multidisclinary research project on skin lightening ever conducted.
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can't contribute financially today, you can still help us by:
- Spreading the word about this campaign to your friends and others who might be interested, through word-of-mouth, email, Twitter, Facebook, Insta, Snapchat :) 20-something friends, we're looking at you.
- In a more general sense, we've noticed that many people have no idea that skin bleaching as a practice even exists, so please discuss it with your friends, colleagues and parents. The more awareness, the better.
- If you're reading this, it means you've already contributed to the film in some way - whether that's through a personal connection with one of us, or by demonstrating interest. So thank you, thank you, thank you.
