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Wilhelm Reich Documentary: Final Post-Production

Story of physician & scientist Wilhelm Reich whose books were burned by the U.S. gov’t in the 1950s.

Wilhelm Reich Documentary: Final Post-Production

Story of physician & scientist Wilhelm Reich whose books were burned by the U.S. gov’t in the 1950s.

2 Campaigns |

South Glastonbury, United States

$73,245 USD by 381 backers

$71,925 USD by 360 backers on Jul 15, 2017

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Overview

The Wilhelm Reich Documentary Film Project—in production since 2015—is very close to completion and now needs one final push to secure the monies necessary to finish it and put it out into the world. This is the first meticulously researched and factually accurate film ever produced about pioneering psychiatrist, research physician & scientist Wilhelm Reich whose books were banned and burned by the United States government in 1956 and 1960.

ALTHOUGH THIS CROWDFUNDER ENDED ON JULY 15th, YOU CAN STILL DONATE TO THIS FILM PROJECT BY CLICKING THE "BACK IT" BUTTON (ABOVE & TO THE RIGHT)

OUR FINAL PUSH TO FINISH

THE

WILHELM REICH DOCUMENTARY FILM PROJECT

Financed entirely by crowdfunding in 2014 and 2016.

Filmed in Europe and America in 2015-16.

In editing and post-production since 2016.

Now in its final post-production phase.

We're so close to completing what will be the first factually accurate film ever produced about pioneering psychiatrist, research physician and scientist Wilhelm Reich, M.D., whose published books and research journals were banned and burned by the United States government in 1956 and 1960.

To complete this film and put it out into the world to help correct the widespread distortions about Reich, we're asking for your support.

Our 2014 Kickstarter campaign raised $187,000 for "Phase 1: Production" which enabled us to move forward with on-camera interviews and location filming in Europe and America:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/25874147/wilhelm-r...

And last year's crowdfunder to raise $180,000 for "Phase 2: Editing & Post-Production" brought in $115,780, which was about $65,000 short of what was always a realistic and well-calculated budget figure for putting this film together in the editing room:

www.indiegogo.com/projects/wilhelm-reich-docume...

Since then, we've edited a 90-minute "rough cut" of what will be a 110-minute film. Which means we've assembled over 80% of the film storyline, but with much more work and expenses still ahead of us.

To meet these expenses, we also spent considerable time over the past nine months evaluating over 100 grant applications for what are called "finishing funds". Then we selected and filled out what we felt were the most promising applications, i.e., those specifically seeking documentaries that are historical, rather than contemporary.

To date, however, all of our grant applications for finishing funds have been turned down, which necessitates this one last crowdfunder to secure the monies for completing this film.

$72,000 is our goal for this final crowdfunder, a far more modest sum than our previous campaigns. $72,000—minus Indiegogo’s standard 5% fee plus all credit card fees—will provide us with over $66,000 for our remaining post-production expenses.

And to ensure that every new dollar is spent directly on the film, we are not offering any rewards, perks or incentives as we've done in our previous crowdfunders. That would only add to the already burdensome costs and labor required to finish this film.

Moreover, we hope that the greatest incentive for any donor is the personal satisfaction of helping us bring this film to completion, a film that will present an authentic and factual narrative of Reich's life and work to newer and broader audiences.

OUR REMAINING POST-PRODUCTON EXPENSES INCLUDE:

SECURING THE RIGHTS TO HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS

While we have free and unlimited access to all photographs in Reich’s archives at Harvard's Countway Library of Medicine, the rights and clearances to dozens of photographs from other archives and collections cost hundreds of dollars apiece.

Some examples for this film: (a) Photographs of the 1934 Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association in Lucerne where Reich was formally expelled from the Association. (b) Photographs of individual psychoanalysts, scientists, journalists, left wing officials, FDA officials, lawyers, etc.

SECURING THE RIGHTS TO HISTORIC FILMS & NEWSREELS

These resources will cost thousands of dollars, depending on how many seconds or minutes are used in the final film.

Some examples for this film: (a) Newsreels of the 1927 fire and riot at the Palace of Justice in Vienna, the event that politically radicalized Reich. (b) Footage from a private collection at the Library of Congress showing Reich and other psychoanalysts on the streets of Vienna in the 1920s. (c) World War I and World War II footage.

SECURING THE RIGHTS TO NEWSPAPERS / MAGAZINES / ARTICLES

Costs for these resources vary, according to individual archives or collections. Some examples for this film are visuals from numerous European and American publications, spanning six decades.

EDITING ROOM COSTS

Rental time for the editing room costs well over $100 per hour. Hundreds of hours have been spent in the editing room thus far, with many more hours still ahead of us.

These hours will be spent: (a) Finishing the rest of the film storyline. (b) Fine-tuning the edit of the complete 110-minute film. (c) Adding camera movement and other effects to hundreds of photographs and other visuals, i.e., excerpts from Reich's laboratory notebooks, diaries, correspondence, documents, plus newspaper and magazine articles.

TITLES / GRAPHICS

Hiring a graphic artist to design titles and graphic treatments for the entire film.

MUSIC SCORE / SOUND DESIGN

Producing an original music score and adding audio effects for the full-length film.

FINAL SCRIPT / VOICE-OVER NARRATION

Revising and finalizing the film's scripted narration. Auditioning and hiring a voice-over narrator, plus other contributing voices. Conducting an audio recording session at a sound studio to record the narration for the complete film.

FINAL DETAILS: EDITING / AUDIO / COLOR CORRECTION
Final review and fine-tuning of all edits, audio-mixing and color correction.

We are grateful and indebted to all of you who have supported this project in our previous crowdfunders. It’s because of you that we have come this far, and we hope that you’ll help us finish what you helped us to start.

And to those of you coming to this project for the first time, we hope there's something about Wilhelm Reich's life and work that resonates for you and will inspire you to help us finish this much-needed film.

WHY SHOULD YOU DONATE TO THIS FILM PROJECT? OF WHAT INTEREST IS WILHELM REICH TO YOU?

Wilhelm Reich, M.D. (1897-1957) created a unique and valuable legacy of social, medical and scientific achievements in psychoanalysis and psychiatry; sexual health; the psychology of fascism; cellular research; the origin and experimental treatment of diseases such as cancer; infant and childhood health; and weather experimentation.

But, tragically, Reich's published books and research journals were banned and burned by the United States government in 1956 and again in 1960.

How could such a thing have happened in America, the country to which Reich had emigrated from Europe just four days before the outbreak of World War Two? What was in those publications that allegedly "merited" their destruction by the U.S. government?

And the prevalent distortions and misrepresentations about Reich and his work—which originated during his lifetime—persist to this day in poorly researched books, articles, films and throughout the Internet, including Wikipedia.

This painstakingly researched documentary film will help to correct and dispel these distorted narratives.

Your contribution will help ensure that Reich's remarkable life, and his pioneering insights into human health and the health of the planet, will be presented factually and compellingly to widespread audiences.

THE LIFE AND WORK OF WILHELM REICH, M.D. (1897-1957)

Begins studying psychoanalysis in Vienna with Sigmund Freud, the Father of Psychoanalysis. (1919)
Revolutionizes psychoanalytic techniques in Vienna and Berlin which he presents in his classic book Character Analysis. (1920s-30s)
Opens clinics in working-class neighborhoods in Vienna and Berlin which provide access to birth control and sex education. (1920s-30s)
Publishes The Mass Psychology of Fascism after fleeing Nazi Germany, a critique of the authoritarian appeal of both Naziism and Communism. (1933)
Develops the first psychosomatic therapeutic techniques. (1930s-40s)
Conducts laboratory research in Europe and the United States on the origin and development of cancer cells. (1930s-50s)
Discovers a biological radiation in specific micro-organisms that can kill bacteria and cancer cells. He calls this radiation orgone energy. (1939)
Discovers this same orgone radiation in the atmosphere. (1940)
Conducts experimental orgone radiation treatment of patients with terminal cancer, early cancer and other diseases. (1941-50s)
Fights the investigative abuses of the State Department, the FBI, and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). (1940-57)
Struggles against the collusion of the FDA and the American medical profession. (1947-50s)
Warns of the pharmaceutical industry's influence on the American medical profession. (1950s)
Conducts weather experiments in Maine and Arizona to alleviate drought conditions. (1953-56)
Confronts censorship and First Amendment issues when a Federal Court in America seeks to ban his publications from interstate commerce. (1954)
Challenges the right of a court of law to judge basic scientific research. (1954)
Witnesses the FDA's burning of his publications at his laboratory in Rangeley, Maine. (1956)
Dies in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. (1957)