NEW STRETCH GOAL ADDED!

We have met our 10K goal, and now we have added a new stretch goal of 5K so we can license ASTOUNDING, INCREDIBLE UNRELEASED performance footage of Howlin' Wolf!! If we meet this goal we can license this great never before seen performance and include it in the finished film! You can be part of preserving blues history. Please make a contribution today! 

SUMMARY

I'm Gina Berrett, director and producer of Smokestack Lightning. I have been working several years on this film with other producers, and it has been an amazing experience traveling through the South, meeting blues legends and Howlin' Wolf band members, many who have since passed away. Two years ago this film looked like it would never be finished, so I decided to take the project on myself to finish on my own, and after a lot of hard work, it is almost finished! I am so excited to bring the incredible and riveting story of Howlin' Wolf to you. Your donations will make it possible to finish post production and enter the film into festivals this year.

WHAT WE NEED & WHAT YOU GET

We only need 10K to get the film to enter the film into festivals this year. The Indiegogo funds you contribute will go toward final editing, color correction, titles, and sound mix. The finished film will look great and sound amazing! Any funds received beyond the goal amount can be used for higher quality post production and to license the archival footage and music. 

The perks for this campaign are amazing! After several years working on this film, we have over 100 hours of interview and performance footage. With so much great content, we have too much to fit into the film. So we are offering bonus feature films that go more in-depth about Howlin' Wolf's life and music, in addition to killer t-shirts, posters, and personalized autographs of your favorite Metallica album by Kirk Hammett, and rare t-shirts and posters we collected from past years of the Howlin' Wolf Blues Festival, once held in Howlin' Wolf's hometown of West Point, Mississippi. 

THE IMPACT

Howlin' Wolf was more than an amazing blues man. He was an American hero. His story is exciting and poignant, and he overcame massive obstacles to become one of the kings of the blues and the father of hard rock. Howlin' Wolf is one of the few that can lay claim to being a direct link from the pre-war blues of Charlie Patton, to the formulation of Rock and Roll! Smokestack Lightning  features rare and original interviews with several late blues stars and music icons that have never been released. Also there are a lot of never seen before photos and riveting performance footage that can finally be released!

Smokestack Lightning  tells the story of a poor farm boy from the Black Prairie region in Northeast Mississippi that migrated to the Delta and created some of the most powerful and influential music in the history of the world. Then we follow Wolf to West Memphis and the birth of rock and roll, and then to the gritty Chicago blues scene in the politically turbulent 1960's. Many of the blues legends who tell their stories in the film have since passed away, so we get to see them one more time in this film. 

Smokestack Lightning has been in the making for over a decade, and after years of dedication and hard work it is almost finished. Your contribution will help us bring Howlin' Wolf's incredible and heroic story to the world. There will only be one Howlin' Wolf and this film will secure a spot in history for future generations and the world to enjoy!

RISKS & CHALLENGES

After working so long on this film we are SO CLOSE to finally finishing. The editing of the film is well underway, so all we need now are the funds to polish and finish it, then we can enter it into festivals and find distribution. We are a great team of writers, historians, and storytellers, and post-production professionals and we're ready to finish the editing and make it look great. Smokestack Lightning has already been invited to several film festivals across the globe, and several distributors are waiting to see a finished cut!

Any funds we raise above the 10K goal can be used toward purchasing the rest of the licensing for photos and performance footage--although we have already purchased much of the archival footage and photos, the more funds we raise, the more incredible archival footage and photos we can put into the finished film, which we like to call the "Definitive Howlin' Wolf Documentary!"

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE

Even if you can't contribute, we get it! There are other ways to help out. Sharing the campaign on social media to help spread the word is a great way to help the production and can have a huge impact. We really appreciate it and ask for any help you can provide! Be a part of music history and help us "Howl for the WOLF!"