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Coffee Beans and Love is a faith based feature film about a passionate mother who risks everything to save her immigrant parent’s cafe, provide for her daughter’s future and keep her own dreams alive.
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IG: @dijarenuka
My name is Dija Renuka Henry and I’m an actress and filmmaker living in the midwest with my family. I have been telling stories for non-profits for the past several years with my production company Blue House Entertainment and I’m excited to produce my 9th film which is a faith based feature film called Coffee Beans and Love! It’s about A passionate mother who fights to save her immigrant family’s business from the clutches of a powerful real estate mogul.
We are excited to have a first look distribution deal with an international sales agent who has access to major streaming platforms…so basically this film has a way to get out to the people. We just need your help to get it made!
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15 years ago the idea for Coffee Beans and Love came to me as I was thinking about what it meant to reconcile my identity as a Jamaican Indian American woman. I wanted to tell a story inspired by my experience growing up in a home with immigrant parents from two very different cultures. At the time making a movie like this was only a dream. At the time, I had never made a film and I was newly married to my Ethiopian-American husband and our three kids were all under 5 years old. As I grew as a mother and a filmmaker I revisited the idea after several years and adapted the script to tell the story of what it was like raising a multicultural family. This script is extremely important to me to tell because I’ve never seen a story that reflected a mixed culture experience. I want to help others to not feel alone and to be seen. This story is for my children and others dealing with the layers both beautiful and difficult of living between cultures.
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For those of you who’s heart skipped a happy beat at the thought of increasing representation in faith based films, thank you in advance for believing in this project. It means so much! By helping me to produce Coffee Beans and Love you will help to bring a story to life that can encourage and inspire other multicultural families as well. In addition you will help to fill a gap in the faith based genre. There is a lack of faith based stories with individuals of color and stories about the immigrant experience. This population is yearning to see themselves represented on screen.
FUN FACT: A study done by CAA (Creative Artists Agency) revealed diverse films draw diverse audiences while also outperforming less-diverse films at the box office. (Slate 2017). - Like how I threw in some research in there for you data minded people? :)
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Contributing to the production of Coffee Beans and Love will allow us to efficiently fund the project while keeping the cast and crew safe on set. Filmmaking takes a lot of planning and hard work, and it is no secret that producing a quality film takes a strong investment.
We are trying to raise $50,000 on top of our initial investment. This money will be allocated to various areas of production. We have to rent equipment, secure locations, pay crew members, pay actors, design costumes and create fantastic art direction.
This is an independent production being built from the ground up. As a team, we are dedicating every dollar to making the project look amazing on screen.
We are giving away TONS of cool stuff to donors to the production.
Even if we don't reach our goal, we are still making this movie. Part of independent filmmaking is having a backup plan, and having a backup plan for that backup plan. We have multiple paths to get this film on screen. Here is a break down of our budget as well as our STRETCH GOALS to make this vision come to life.
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Coffee Beans and Love is going to be a filmed with a vibrant color palette that reflects the cultures that we are representing in the film. The colors are pulled from the flags of each culture and brought to the forefront to build the world of the film.
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The Coffee Beans and Love team is expecting a long and healthy run on the film festival circuit as well as being used as a tool for education and mental health awareness. Not only will it be a quality and entertaining film, but the subject matter is also something that impacts millions of people in our country.
In addition to receiving perks, we hope that this project will provide an opportunity for our contributors to make an impact, and help bring some awareness to the mental health issues facing our youth today.
Some of the Coffee Beans and Love team have experienced these issues first-hand and believe it’s vital to our youth that we raise awareness around these issues that affect families around our multi-cultural country.
There is a built in faith based audience of over 2.2 billion people worldwide looking for more diverse stories they can watch with the family.
There is a lack of faith based stories with individuals of color and stories about the immigrant experience. This population is yearning to see themselves represented on screen.
Movies are routinely criticized for overlooking the values of audiences looking for movies they can watch with the family. Faith-based films target this vacuum, appealing to the hearts of believers and non-believers. And as believers it’s important for us to share God’s love with others.
I’m passionate about this subject matter so much so that my Master’s Thesis project surrounds the topic of processing identity with film in the immigrant youth of color demographic. In addition to my academic work, I’ve made several award winning short films that have played in film festivals around the country and in Canada winning Best North American Short Film including The Heartland Film Indy shorts Festival which is an academy award qualifying film festival. My films have been able to make an impact to sold out audiences, create national conversations and bring together diverse audiences to talk about important issues.
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At its core this film is about the importance of family and faith in overcoming life’s challenges that can stem from the struggles that immigrant families face. But it’s also a celebration of our cultures and the fact that staying rooted in our identity is a powerful asset to thriving in our purpose.
This is a family affair on and off the screen. The main characters will be played myself (my background is acting) and my daughter (who is also a talented actress.) Over the years of motherhood I had to realize that being “super mom” was “super silly.” I had to get over the lie that I had to do everything myself and learn to accept the love of people who cared about me. I see that play out a lot with moms from all different backgrounds. I want to make sure that I cast the actors who play my parents very carefully. I want to make them proud! After all, I’m the eldest daughter! Lol!
Although the film deals with heavy themes like racism and gentrification, it also shows forgiveness and redemption. The style of the film will be bright and colorful just like my multi-cultural family.
My goal is for people to walk out of the theater feeling better and more educated than when they went in. I hope you will come along with us on this journey to bring this story to life!
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Some people just can't contribute, but that doesn't mean they can't help:
Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about your campaign.
If you can’t contribute other ways you can help is by sharing this campaign with 2 other people.
Remind them to use the Indiegogo share tools!
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