THE PROJECT

Introduction

This journey is part of a bigger story and perhaps you are, just like us, in search for something fresh and daring. As you follow us through this venture you will discover that we are not emulating anyone or mimicking any specific style. This project has been organic from its roots  and grows with the contribution of cast and crew from all over the globe, to mould this narrative into an attempt to grasp the essence of being INDEPENDENT.

Become involved and guide Ping through his voyage of transformation. 

The executives

Producer/Writer Michael Kruse, worked for over one and a half years on an original script that unfortunately didn't find the budget that was needed to realize the feature film. This triggered us to take matters into our own hands and labor started on this insane spin-off of a still to be made film. 

Teaming with Producer/Director Niels de Vries, they sacrificed their free time and poured the funding in the production, and voila, the project was born. Niels, who always had the gravitas to attract creative professionals from all over the planet, really lured the dragon out of its den.

Director of Photography, Joao Rodrigues teaches cinematography at the New York Film Academy and is Managing Director of Shortcutz Amsterdam. His energetic fixation on The Magic Shot got him hanging from ledges, climbing slot machines, gliding on dollies, all to capture the human inside our fantasy and beautifully visualize the essence of our characters.

Art director, Giorgi Rossi brilliantly transformed nothing into beauty. From the ashes he would erect works of art, surreal representations of his fantastic mind. With a heavy heart we pulled down the sets after shooting.

And for post-production, our highly talented Visual Effects producer in Asia, Emerald Santos will unleash her magic on this `big little` film. She and her team will create the visual effects to conjure Ping`s fantasies and mimic the origin of our Asian immigrant and his intergalactic search for glory.

CAMPAIGN FUNDING

In order to be realistic about these expenses we will have to take into consideration the fees for Indiegogo and the perks for you, our backers.

Perks approx 15%

Indiegogo 5%

Totaling our initial funding @ 19.743 EUR *

* Additional information can be found at RISK & CHALLENGES.

THE PRODUCTION

About the story and characters

Young and confused Chinese immigrant Ping diligently works in a laundry room to achieve the Western Dream of becoming wealthy and independent. A dream that doesn't seem to come any closer.

With news of his father’s demise comes a mysterious package containing a 6 step guide to independence. A book titled "CHINESE ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR DUMMIES". With this Ping embarks on a wild adventure, joined by his friends Maria, a cheerful hyperactive roller skating gal, who is always offering a dubious helping hand towards achieving independence, and Simon a perverted Texan who just loves trouble.

Ping's journey is undermined on every occasion by Tony, an Irish gangster, who runs a fabulous dining facility and can make anything happen, for a price. As long as it doesn't interfere with his interests. And in the midst of all this is Ping`s boss, the grounded Mr. Spivey, who desperately tries to keep business on track.

Location

An abandoned rehab clinic, due for demolition, in the heart of Amsterdam would become the set of the entire film. The location was chosen with the intention of drawing out Ping’s psychotic imagination. We built it from what we could gather in the desolate environment of what used to be a vibrant clinic. What could not be built was gathered in a massive prop hunt throughout the city of Amsterdam. Surrounded by this uncanny environment, we were able to draw out the subtle nuances of Ping’s escape from reality.

Cast

Jason Gwen as Ping (VN/CA/NL)

Nastassia Firestone as Maria (US/NL)

William Sutton as Tony (UK)

Marc Staljanssens as Mr. Spivey (BE)

Stephen Hardy as Simon (BR/IE)

Other Crew

Assistant Directors - Anne-Marie Schmitz (DE/IT) &  Eeke Beuger (NL)

Assistant Camera & Lights - Magda Lepczyńska (PL)

Sound - Milo Cremer Eindhoven (NL)

Concept Design - Dennis de Bruin (NL)

Still Photographer - Benjamin Haselberger (DE)

Original Music - John Lundemo (US)

Sound mix - Esteban Zabata (CO)

Makeup & Hair - Claire Caulfield (IE)

Set construction - Thomas Karlend (NO)

Runners - Eva Sitompul (ID/NL) & Lennart van Stipdonk (NL)

Catering - Maria Derey (WP/NL)

And where would we be without the helping hands of the guys of the Free West Papua Campaign? They transformed rubble into Ping`s playground and are, just like him, looking to be independent. 

RISK & CHALLENGES

This is our second crowdfund campaign

In 2014 we had a successful crowdfunding campaign for our award winning short film “Bulb”. This campaign raised 50% more funding than budgeted, we soon found out that even those funds weren't sufficient to finish the film as we wanted. This resulted in a production where there was little budget left for the perks and having one person doing all the post-production. This is why we are now aiming for a realistic budget in order to weapon this campaign for success.

This is an independent production

With people flying in from all over the world and with an initial investment of 18.000 EUR and 1560 unpaid man hours, the risk for the team is that many of the work and effort will not shine as it is supposed to if we do not succeed with this campaign. We were lucky to find people to give up their fees and believe in a project. Having learned from previous projects we are now better prepared in case of change within the team. Nonetheless, we are always aware of the fact that situations can occur and we try to be ready for this in the best way possible.

Why IndieGogo?

IndieGogo is the major crowdfund platform for independent film productions and offers the best service for our current and prospected projects. We chose a flexible campaign as editing and post-production has started and we are generating costs continuing this production. We are confident that you will help us to finish it!

Besides donating to this project, you can help us tremendously by exposing this production. So share, share and share some more! The more people we can reach, the more funding we can find and the more funding we get, the higher quality we can deliver. If you want to write about our project on your website, blog, or in any other form of media, or you want to get in touch with the producers, please write us at: cefd@radicle.eu. Please keep an eye on our updates and don't forget to check out our website at www.radicle.eu.

Thank you for taking the time to read through our project and for supporting us.