By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

Independent Filmmakers Set “99 Percent: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film”

Posted Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 - 4 Comments »
Be Sociable, Share!

99 Percent: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film is a documentary film project founded by independent filmmakers working in conjunction across the country.  Award-winning directors, producers, editors and cinematographers have come together and pledged their time, skills and gear to document the events taking place in NYC and across America.  And they’re inviting you to do it with them.

As protests have spread across the country, many have complained that the media is failing in their coverage.  Audrey Ewell, a New York filmmaker and one of the founders of the project, says: “It felt like a media blackout.  I was glued to the Globalrevolution Livestream on the day the NYC police arrested hundreds of protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge, as others yelled ‘We’re not the criminals.’  And then the feed went out because whoever was filming ran out of batteries. And it wasn’t being shown on the news. We felt a need to gather footage like this from all over the country and craft a document of the big picture.”

Brooklyn-based filmmaker Michael Galinsky says:  “As a filmmaker and photographer I understand both the power of media and documentation.  I knew right away that something significant was taking place and I wanted to be a part of it.  I wanted to use the power of documentary to give the voiceless a voice.”

The filmmakers are calling for others to join them in this project, and say that anyone with footage, a camera or even just a desire to help should get in touch.  Anyone who contributes footage will be paid a set fee based on the amount of time used in the documentary. The fee will be based on the budget they’re able to raise to fund the project. Organizers stress that it will not be a lot of money, but they hope that won’t prevent people from joining in.  All footage will also go up on a community youtube page.

Ewell continues: “That footage we’re getting is real, and it’s powerful.  It feels like history in the making.  When that guy on the bridge ran out of batteries I grabbed my camera, and my partner Aaron Aites and I headed over to Zuccotti Park to film, almost as if we were part of a relay.  And I had the thought that while I’m busy working on other films, what if a bunch of us got together and filmed one hour a day, or whatever we could do, and made a collaborative film?  And then I realized that it should be open to anyone with a desire to be involved.  So that’s what it is.  We want people all over the country to contribute.” All formats will be accepted. All points of view are welcome. All filmmakers and contributors will be credited.

The filmmakers have just started a Kickstarter page, which in its first day has almost reached its $1000 goal (which will only cover the most basic set-up costs), but they say that the real goal is closer to $30,000.

Contributors thus far include Ava Duvernay, Michael Galinsky, Audrey Ewell, Aaron Aites, Tyler Brodie, Maria Breaux, and many more.  The website is at http://www.99percentfilm.com but right now most of the info, a list of what is needed, and the constantly growing list of participants (with bios) is available at the Kickstarter page.

Press requests, prospective participants and naysayers can write to:

99percentfilm@gmail.com.

——————

Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/egg/99-the-occupy-wall-street-collaborative-film

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/99percentfilm

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/99_film

Website: http://www.99percentfilm.com

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/99percentfilm

#  # #

Be Sociable, Share!

Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Independent Filmmakers Set “99 Percent: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film””

  1. Steven Macchia says:
    October 4, 2011 at 9:18 pm

    I am also working on this film

    -Steven Macchia

  2. JUSTICE FOR ALL says:
    October 6, 2011 at 11:39 am

    It is great that an Indie Film can be made at the expense of tax payers! Will all the proceeds go to these young manipulated wanna be hippie types? Will the police be DEAMONIZED for doing their jobs? Is the entire 99% protest being fuled by Indi Film Capitolists? Make sure the protests do not stop until you Indi Film Capitolists say “Thats a Wrap”!

  3. JUSTICE FOR ALL says:
    October 6, 2011 at 11:40 am

    Sorry for the poor spelling.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon