LATEST: Invited to the Berlin International Film Festival!
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We are proud to announce that GOLDEN KINGDOM has been selected in competition at the 2015 Berlinale in the Generation section! World Premiere in February. Press release here: Berlinale First Films from the Programme
The Hollywood Reporter has already called "the debut film by U.S. director Brian Perkins" one of the "initial standouts"!
We are premiering in less than two months and we need your support more than ever!
What is Golden Kingdom?
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GOLDEN KINGDOM is a narrative feature film about four boy monks in a remote monastery who, alone after their master is called away, must fend for themselves. Shot entirely on location in newly opened Myanmar (also known as Burma), it is a spiritual, moving view into a previously unseen world.
The film has been shot and edited, and we are now at the critical post-production finishing stage. Exciting, but we have exhausted all of our financial resources!
This is why we are asking for your help. We need additional funding to get this story out to the world and also to enable us to continue to help those in need!
It has been an unbelievably challenging journey so far; bringing our world-class film team into Myanmar and creating this vision. What a privilege to work with these kids and the community and to also be able to help in whatever way we can.
The Story
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With their monastery nestled in the jungle mountains of Myanmar, life cycles peacefully for four young Buddhist monks. One day the head abbot, Sayadaw, learns he must depart on a journey through the mountain pass – a journey that may never see his return. Alone and exposed, the four young boys, led by the courageous ‘Witazara’, must now fend for themselves.
Strange days filled with ghostly phenomena and jarring events shake the boys to the core and dramatically influence their understanding of this world and beyond, as Witazara must choose whether to follow the master into the pass.
With a cast of non-actors, it is a film infused with both Burmese folk storytelling and Buddhist tradition.
Why We Need Your Help
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1) FINISHING COSTS
GOLDEN KINGDOM has been shot and edited, but we still need funds to finish the final stages of postproduction. After allowing a market sneak peek of the unfinished film at Cannes earlier this year, we were rewarded with some guaranteed distributors, reaching from Asia to Europe, but we need to bridge the financial gap in post-production to ensure that audiences have an opportunity to be introduced to these kids and the story of GOLDEN KINGDOM!
2) FESTIVAL AND PUBLICITY
We want people to know about this amazing project! For the world premiere, we would love to be able to bring our star Shine Htet Zaw and, hopefully, one or two of the other boys from Myanmar to introduce them to audiences--their first time out of the country--as well as have the resources to make sure people hear about GOLDEN KINGDOM!
3) SERVICE
Perhaps most importantly, we are committed to helping the local community and the monks who so graciously allowed us to capture this film. A portion of any funding and proceeds from GOLDEN KINGDOM has gone, and will continue to go to, the boys, monastery, and local village.
We have already provided an emergency generator and battery system for electricity as well as built a concrete toilet house to help improve sanitation. We would also love to provide funding for ongoing basic dental care and medical supplies for the children.
With your help we can finish the film while simultaneously continuing to provide the support needed to continue these good works!
In addition, by helping us finish the film you ensure an additional boon: a financial legacy for the children and monastery when GOLDEN KINGDOM succeeds!
Our Goal
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Our initial goal is $25,000 just to keep the film moving forward!
But it does not need to stop there! We have flex goals, and every dollar received above our initial goal will ensure that the film is finished, that we have the funding necessary to generate needed publicity to make sure people hear about the film, and that we can keep our commitment to helping the boys, the monastery, and the community in Myanmar.
If you would like to help but are unable to contribute financially, just sharing this campaign and story with friends and loved ones would help. The movement of this story through our individual communities will help us achieve awareness in addition to raising funds!
Why Indie Go Go?
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We have been fortunate to have been able to finance the majority of this film on our own to this point, but we now need your help so that we might put the finishing touches on the project and get it to market. Two years of working on this project have exhausted our financial resources, but we are almost at the finish line!
This is why we are turning to you the audience: non-Buddhists, Buddhists, and spiritual seekers alike. We are appealing to your generosity with the hope that, with your support, we will be able to move this vision of the children from our work shop to audiences around the globe.
The Team
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WRITER AND DIRECTOR - BRIAN PERKINS
American filmmaker Brian Perkins has traveled extensively
through the remote parts of Asia and India. After creating a
network of relationships in the monasteries and villages of Burma
-- picking up conversational Burmese along the way -- he was in a unique position to bring GOLDEN KINGDOM to audiences.
While a graduate student at UC-Berkeley, Brian received the
Eisner Prize in Film and Video, and was recipient of numerous
acknowledgments during his studies at New York University. Golden Kingdom is Brian’s debut feature film.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY – BELLA HALBEN
Bella Halben is a feature film director of photography living in Hamburg, Germany, often working with such directors as Oscar-winner Caroline Link and award-winning filmmaker Hans Steinbichler. Some selected feature films as DoP include: BAADER (2001), HIERANKL (2002), IM WINTER EIN JAHR (2007), DAS BLAUE VOM HIMMEL (2011) and EXIT MARRAKESH (2013).
PRODUCER / 1ST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR - MATT O’CONNOR
Matt O’Connor’s credits range from Kelly Reichardt’s award-winning MEEK’S CUTOFF (2010), to David Sedaris’ C.O.G. (2013) as 1st Assistant Director, as well as producer on many projects.
SOUND DESIGN AND EDITORIAL and MUSIC - DAVID C. HUGHES
Veteran sound designer David C. Hughes has worked on dozens of projects, and is a longtime collaborator of David Fincher. Some credits include: GONE GIRL (2014), HER (2014), MINORITY REPORT (2002), and FIGHT CLUB (1999). David’s work has gained numerous Academy Award nominations and MPSE Golden Reel Sound Effects wins along the way.
EDITOR – SEBASTIAN BONDE
German editor Sebastian Bonde has cut numerous films, including collaborating with director Christian Alvart on PANDORUM (2008) and the feature film BANKLADY (2014). Sebastian also has served as editing mentor for Tom Tykwer’s training initiative in Nairobi, Kenya, One Fine Day Films.
PRODUCTION SOUND MIXER - ALEX ALTMAN
Washington native Alex Altman has worked as a production sound mixer with acclaimed director Harmony Korine on his last two films, SPRING BREAKERS (2013) and TRASH HUMPERS (2009), and has also toured around the world for projects as varied as National Geographic and Taylor Swift’s tour documentary.
VFX SUPERVISOR - MILES LAURIDSEN
Currently residing in Vancouver, BC, Miles works as a Senior Compositor for such companies as Image Engine and MPC. With credits ranging from TRON: LEGACY to the forthcoming Neill Blompkamp film CHAPPIE, Miles helps create the magical world that the young boys inhabit in GOLDEN KINGDOM.
Photo and Video Credits:
Behind-the-Scenes Video: Tom Oliver and Alex Altman