Photo of (left to right) Pratibha Parmar, Alice Walker and Shaheen Haq, by Trish Govoni
We’re now over a month into our crowd-funding campaign – aiming to raise $50,000 in 90 days on IndieGoGo – and it has been an emotional rollercoaster. We have raised over $15,000 so far. Every donation truly makes my heart sing, and every encouraging comment spurs us on towards the finish line. Do check out the IndieGoGo page to see what our wonderful donors from around the world have been saying. We have recently been filming a few of our remaining interviews, before (funds permitting!) getting back into the edit suite to turn all of this incredible footage into a feature-length film.
The count down continues! 50 days to go and we have $34,554 left to raise. We know we can do it with YOUR help. The last few weeks have seen fantastic write-ups about the film. I am moved by people’s passion, giving us the vital energy to keep going. I want to share an impassioned call out from one of our donors, Patricia Lesesne on her Facebook wall.
“Every now and then, there is a cause—a project, an initiative, a mission— that encompasses the very core of who you are, what you do, and why you are here. When one encounters this THING that is bigger than you—this thing that IS you, ALL of you – she wants to share it with everyone she knows. And she wants everyone to consider it, just take a moment to seriously consider it. This film about Alice Walker is one of THOSE THINGS for me. Whether you are one of my students or parents of my students, a fellow alum of my beloved alma maters—The Principia Upper School, Harvard University, Tufts University, a childhood friend, a more recent friend and/or colleague, sorority sister, a member of a congregation that I have been blessed to serve, whatever your race, gender, sexual identity,religion, political standing, martial status, or economic background—whoever you are and however we are connected, I am pointing you to this independent film and asking you to take a moment to consider supporting it, watching it, and sharing it. In a real sense, I am saying, “Hey look at this,” and in so doing I am saying, “Hey, look at me…a me that you may not know or have considered.” Consider the expression of Divinity that choose Blackness and female-ness as a conduit. If you look closely enough, you’ll see yourself too, as we are all one. Thank you! Thank you for alerting us to this awesome opportunity Sis. Aishah Shahidah Simmons!”
Aishah Shahidah Simmons, none other than our very own fundraising team member, blogged for Ms Magazine about Alice Walker’s pivotal role in developing her consciousness and informing her work. Aishah’s writing is impassioned and beautiful and I hope you will take a few moments to read her blog post.
Inbetween crowd-funding and filming, I managed to fit in an interview with G3 Magazine’s film editor Jen Kilchenmann for So So Gay.
I’ve also been emailing out a regular newsletter with updates about the film. You can read the latest one here and follow the link at the top to sign up. Don’t worry, I won’t fill up your inbox – I usually just send out an email once a week and you can unsubscribe anytime. Finally, I urge each one of you reading this to support our fund raising drive for the next 50 days. Pledge to become Beauty In Truth Ambassador by actively soliciting donations from your friends & networks.
