*****PERK AMMENDMENT: Unfortunately there was a typo on the $100 perk, stating that donations of $65 dollars would receive a DVD. All $65 dollar donations will be therefore be honored with a DVD, while $100 donations will all receive a second copy and have international delivery costs waivered. Thanks!*****
The Story
"Yadorigi: A Village in Portraits" is a short documentary about some
bohemian characters in a small village in South Western Japan, shot in Kanagawa in February 2011. It follows three compelling characters: A Junk Collector, an Organic Farmer and a Circus trainer, each with their own philosophies on life. Through their portrayal we learn more about the village, Yadorigi, and the positive and negative aspects to rural living in Japan.
Donations to this campaign will help get the completed short film into as many relevant independent film festivals as possible, and get the story seen by a larger audience. This relatively modest amount ($3500 or £2000) will help hugely in covering submission fees, authoring, and rights issues. If the campaign makes the top end of the
target, it will hopefully contribute to a further 2-3 films as part of a series, or alternatively a feature length version (subject to positive response for the first film).
The Impact
I am a British born Japanese video editor, and having lived the vast majority of my
life in England, have often felt that Japan as a country had become a caricature of itself in western media; portrayed in stereotypes (samurai, salarymen and schoolgirls). I came across Yadorigi during the two years I spent living and working in Tokyo, and I became determined to share it's story with a larger audience and show a side of Japan that is normally overlooked. I shot, edited and funded the project myself, and it has been fantastic and enlightening experience, however now I hope to share it with as many
people as possible and would greatly value your support.
A contribution here is more about showing there is interest and support for this project than anything else - and ANY amount will be gratefully received. For me, this is a rich story about a fascinating, yet under appreciated part of Japanese
life. I hope to find out from all this whether anyone else feels the same....
Failure to make the target, and the project will scale down accordingly:
$0-$1000 - the short film will be re-edited with
free creative commons music (instead of by a composer or recorded artist) and maybe pitched to web
tv distributor (such as current
tv), and entered into a few small local festivals only.
$1000-$2000 - the short film will be entered into as many festivals as would allow (and as would be strategically viable).
$2000+ - the project will continue beyond it's initial scope. The village will be revisited to
capture the story of the other characters: the motorcycle mad baker; the architect who escaped from the city to start her own cafe; the craftsman who wants to revive traditional skills; the kid who dreams of
life in the city; and more! The larger goal would be to create a rich documentary series that gives a broader
insight on what life is really like for this small community in Japan; with the final product targeted for web or TV distribution.
What We Need & What You Get
- Music rights/composer - $500-$1500 (cost of music rights or composer to score the film)
- Authoring - $500-$1000 (Deliverables such as: Digibeta, HDcam authoring, DVD etc.)
- Professional subtitling (optional) - $500
- Festival submission - $500 (the cost of each festival submission is from $30-$100, regardless of whether they are successful or not).
- Travel - $500 (Money will also go to help me physically attend as many events as possible and promote the film, a conservative estimate)
- Promotion - $500+ (money that will go straight into paying for perks goodies, as well as screenings and promotional events to help solicit further interest)
As a scalable project, the project will be able to continue on some level, regardless of the final funding amount. The perks are all unique to this campaign, and special thanks must go to George Skoufas (an American artist who lived in Yadorigi, see:
http://www.kanengalleria.com/Site_2/kanengaller...) for donating some of his time and art works to helping this campaign.
Other Ways You Can Help
Awareness is everything for this project, so please spread the word to other people who you think might be interested. There is a Facebook page <
http://www.facebook.com/yadorigidoc > that will constantly be updated, and needs as many people to register as possible to keep it alive. If you would like to feature this story on your blog or publication, please contact me, and I will be happy to talk more on it.
Thank you for your support.