Roller Roots follows Tiana, an Afro-Chicana student, through her life and finding community at the roller rink to her fathers' dismay. This film is for my senior Capstone class at the University of New Mexico. With this campaign, we would love help in funding the stories that aren't always seen on screen. As the writer and director of this story, it is very important to me that I accurately portray my community.
My name is Jasmine Estes, and as an Afro-Chicana filmmaker, I wanted to see myself on screen and be able to enter my career with my stories. The writing process was filled with so much love and support from my peers, and creating this film will need love and support from my community.
It takes a lot to make a film, and we would love any help. From rental spaces, equipment, and ensuring everyone is fed, I want to enjoy this film is just as fun as it was to write. With such a high goal, we understand it is a lot so lets break it down!
Our main goal to fund is locations.
With finding locations, the roller rink is essential. To rent a 'private party' at Skate-O-Mania, the 2 hour block is $800. Filming takes a lot of prep time and to ensure safety of the skaters, actors, the crew, and our equipment, adding 2 hours would be $1,400 total for the 4 hour rental. On top of the rink, we also need to rent a house for our lovely Tiana to live in. With everything, we would estimate our locations total to be around $2,000 for any safety, renting the space, and being able to get extra time to get the best product.
With the details within the film, we also need money for everything you see on screen! This includes costumes, roller skates, the props within the house, and so much more! For all of our intricate details, we need money to fund all of the fun stuff!
We also need to feed all of our skaters, actors, and crew! We are planing on filming for 3 full days and need to ensure fuel for everyone on set. Catering, snacks, water, and coffee all cost money and we are looking to create a film with plenty of fuel on each day.
Lastly, any potential left over money would aid in film festival submissions. This story is important, and we believe it needs to be seen and traveled around. We are hoping to do just that post graduation, with newfound time, and shiny new degrees.
Donating anything will help us in creating this film! Not only are you supporting this queer POC story, but you will aiding in the launch of queer POC's careers. Capstone mimics what real world filmmaking looks like so having any financial support would help this feeling come true. Each dollar either provides a meal, lessens stress on production, or helps us to showcase this story at different festivals. Your $5 can help our UNM community, find the community this film is made for.
As much as donations help, spreading the word and letting others know about us also help. Unfortunately, reaching our goal is going to be hard, and may not happen. If we can't we would have to not have the roller rink, but instead use a skate park or pull out of our own pockets for any travel, or catering prices. As students, we know how to stretch a budget and we can get favors and support from families and friends. We hope with your help, we are able to spread the weight evenly and be able to focus on the art of it all, not just the finances and technical aspects of filmmaking.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read about our story, want to help, and donate if you can. If you can't please follow our journey @RollerRootsFilm on Instagram and please spread the word! The more people that know about us, the better chance we get at making this amazing film!
Thank you all
