Short Summary
• Hello I’m Toban Nichols, an artist and filmmaker living in Los Angeles but originally from a small town in Kansas where Christmas is a very important yearly event for my family. It all began 15 years ago after my nephew Josh passed away around Christmas time from a long childhood battle with cancer. My family was devastated. My Mom and Sister transformed this tragedy into something the whole family could enjoy and be involved in.
• The competition itself has since taken on a life of it’s own. Not only has it become a healthy competition it's oftentimes cut-throat and slightly obsessive. After years of telling this funny and touching story to friends I felt it was time to immortalize the entire wacky competition as a document of the event and memorial to my nephew.
• As an artist and experimental filmmaker, I’ve most always done everything myself. However, when it comes to making a traditional documentary involving my own family, I definitely found myself at a loss as to how to create and execute this vision. Luckily I have many friends who have helped me along the way so far. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without their advice and collaboration.
• Contributing to this project will provide the necessary means to finish and distribute the film.
What We Need & What You Get
• We have already spent several weeks & several hundred dollars shooting the actual footage in Kansas. Taking a film crew 1400 miles (4 times) and renting equipment has been a bold undertaking.
What we need now are finishing funds. We’re asking for $12,000 to hire a good film editor, get a sound editor, transcribe all the footage, add music, & finish post production, distribution and marketing for the film. There is a lot of time, effort, and money that goes into getting a film of this size done. We hope you’ll want to help.
• Wanna hear about the perks? I think you’ll be excited… First off, anyone who contributes gets a big thank you from me on social media as well as a thank you in the credits of the film.
• Secondly, most levels get an amazing t-shirt designed by my Sister Sandy, one of the stars of the film. It’s a little joke my film partner and I came up with that short-hands the relationship between my Mom and Sis during this time of year. It’s the “Bows before Hoes” shirt.
• Next, most levels get a copy of the film when it’s finished in your format of choice, DVD/Blu-Ray/digital (I can probably even find a VHS around here if you prefer)
• Production credits! Who doesn’t want to have their name in lights and on a bonafide movie?! There are three levels of credit you can receive including giving actual input on the film (making that credit so very deserved). You can be an Editing Consultant, a Big Fancy Producer, or for the upper tier life- an Executive Producer.
• There is one level above Executive Producer called Patron, you get ALL the perks as well as and my eternal thanks and love (all the levels actually get that).
• And finally, what I feel is the most important of the perks only because it involves me making a total fool of myself, JUST. FOR. YOU! Those contributing at Editing Consultant and above will be personally serenaded via social media with a special song thanking you for your contribution. My embarrassment is your hilarity!
The Impact
• This is a project that is obviously very personal to me. It directly involves my own family and puts on display our sometimes wacky lives, but also exposes one of our great tragedies. Both Cancer and Christmas are topics that have affected millions of people’s lives both positively and negatively. I believe this crazy story about a Mother and Daughter who compete each year to put up the most Christmas trees & a family dealing with the loss of a child has the potential to deeply impact everyone who sees the film as well as inspire & enlighten them about their own struggles. Life can be extremely hard but life is also very beautiful.
• In my art career spanning the past 15 years, I’ve created experimental films that have shown around the world in places like Romania, England, and Korea. I am extremely proud of the work I’ve done and the fortitude it’s taken to maintain a self-guided career. I will admit that so far, this film has been the most difficult project I have ever taken on. Not only because I'm new to this type of storytelling, but also because it exposes my family and our past heartaches in a very public way.
• That having been said, those who know me also know that I can’t back down from a challenge, in the last several months while readying this project there have been times I could have thrown in the towel and moved on to something less hard, but I won’t stop until the film is finished. I hope you’ll join me & my team on this journey. Thank you for your help!
Other Ways You Can Help
Christmas lovers, if you can’t contribute at this time, we hope you’ll share our project on your social media platforms and help us get the word out. Every little bit helps.
You can find us on Face Book at: https://www.facebook.com/beyondthetreesfilm/
Or Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthetreesfilm/
