Support animated films and strong female characters by backing the crowdfunding campaigns of Samantha Slate, Danielle Arden, Melanie Wise, Bola Ogun, Alba Garcia & Ingrid Veninger.
Summary: Sibs by Cynthia Silver & Samantha Slater | Bristles by Danielle Arden | Artemis Women In Action Film Festival by Melanie Wise | The Water Phoenix by Bola Ogun | Dangerously Ever After by Alba Garcia | He Hated Pigeons by Ingrid Veninger
Sibs by Cynthia Silver & Samantha Slater
29 year old Sophie, a struggling writer in New York, goes home for her father’s funeral and is met with a sudden decision about whether or not she will become her 12 year old -now orphan- half-brother’s guardian. With little time to decide, Sophie has to confront her complicated feelings and find out if she really wants to be a mother sooner than she thought.
Sibs
Short Film
Directed by Cynthia Silver
Written and starring Samantha Slater
Cinematography by Darian Brenner
Produced by Made with Sass
Campaign goal & duration: $13,750 – March 6
Shot in March 2015 in New York over the course of 4 days, Sibs is produced by Made of Sass. Founded by actress Samantha Slater, the company creates film & web television and employs at least 50% of female crew members on each project, a figure which jumped to 80% on their last film Sleep Training.
Sibs will mark the second collaboration between Slater and director Cynthia Silver, her former teacher at the Atlantic Acting School. An instructor at the school since 1998 focusing on the Practical Aesthetics acting technique developed by David Mamet and William H. Macy, Silver is also a critically-acclaimed actress and theater director.
The duo will work once again with cinematographer Darian Brenner, who shot Sleep Training in 2014. The former student of SFX and prosthetic makeup artist Tate Steinsiek, Brenner is also a independent director producing live action and animated shorts.
The donations to Sibs are tax-deductible and the project recently received the support of Star Trek & Heroes actor Zachary Quinto.
Bristles – A Romantic Comedy
by Danielle Arden
Meet Lilly and Lisle. Lilly likes the thrill of high speed chases. Lisle likes to iron his underpants.
Directed and produced by Danielle Arden, Bristles aims to capture the awkwardness and sweetness of romance.
Co-written by male lead Grant Leat and starring Noor Lawson, the highly stylized romantic comedy set in the 1930’s doesn’t stray far from Arden previous work as she wrote, performed and produced short films & plays set in the 30’s and 40’s.
Bristles is produced by Lawson’s company MyLovely Productions, which focuses on strong productions for female artists in theatre and film.
Cinematographer Andy Banjanin will get to collaborate a third time with MyLovely Productions and the film will be edited by Alvaro Gago.
Bristles
Short Film
Directed by Danielle Arden
Written by Danielle Arden & Grant Leat
Starring Noor Lawson (Lilly), Grant Leat (Lisle)
Edited by Alvaro Gago
Cinematography by Noor Lawson
Produced by Noor Lawson & Danielle Arden
Campaign goal & duration: £5,000 – March 7
Artemis Women In Action Film Festival
by Melanie Wise
A celebration of action films and the women who kick ass in them! A celebration of empowered women.
Melanie Wise and her team are raising funds for the Artemis Women In Action Film Festival, which will take place in Los Angeles in April 24-26, 2015. Celebrating women in action films and strong female characters, the event will showcase feature films, shorts and documentaries and honor stuntwomen Angela Meryl (Kill Bill, NCIS: Los Angeles) & Maja Aro (Once Upon a Time, The Tomorrow People).
4% of the money fundraised will go to the Los Angeles division of Girls on the Run, a non-profit organization encouraging young girls to build lifelong confidence & health through creative fitness programs.
Artemis Women In Action Film Festival
Film Festival
Founded by Melanie Wise, Zac Baldwin, Sean Newcombe
Board of Directors: John Halbert, Howard Brodwin, Heidi Mastrogiovanni
Crowdfunding Advisor: Leah Cevoli
Event & Social Outreach Manager: Sonja Isabella
Campaign goal & duration: $75,000 – March 19
The Water Phoenix
by Bola Ogun
When betrayed by her lover, a mermaid held captive in an Aquarium must find her way out alone.
An auditor of the selective AFI Directing Workshop for Women, Bola Ogun moving forward her script developed at the workshop.
The Water Phoenix involves fantasy elements and mermaids & will benefit from creative breakthroughs, technological assets and relationships formed with the mermaid community such as Thom “The Tail Man” Shouse, the prosthetics and special effects artist who created the tails of the movie Splash.
Starring Ogun herself and produced by Bethany Bellinger & Michael David Lynch, the film will be edited by Debra Weinfeld (Covert Affairs, NCIS: New Orleans) and VFX producer Jason Sax (Grimm, The Normal Heart) will supervise the visual effects-driven sequences.
The Water Phoenix
Short Film
Directed & written by Bola Ogun
Starring Bola Ogun
Cinematography by Amanda Treyz
Edited by Debra Weinfeld
VFX Supervisor Jason Sax
Produced by Bethany Bellinger & Michael David Lynch
Crowdfunding Consultant: David Rodwin
Storyboard Artist: Tim Chang
Campaign goal & duration: $15,000 – March 30
Dangerously Ever After
by Alba Garcia
Not all princesses are made of sugar and spice–some are made of funnier, fiercer stuff.
A stop-motion animated film based on an award winning picture book, Dangerously Ever After.
During the production of her last stop-motion film, animator Alba Garcia received an unusual demand from her own 7 year-old daughter, captivated by her favorite picture book: “Mommy, can you animate this?”.
Written by Dashka Slater and illustrated by Valeria Docampo, Dangerously Ever After follows Princess Amanita, a fiercely independent heroine with a taste for danger and adventure.
As soon as she got the blessing and full support of the author, Garcia went to work and started developing an animated adaptation, produced by her company: Fantasiation Studio. Run with her husband Julio Garay, Fantasiation has recently completed Time/Space Reflections, an animated short merging different techniques: puppetry, 3d animation and printed faces.
Dangerously Ever After will use the same tools and has received the support of major animators & filmmakers, from Frankenweenie sculptor Nathan Flynn who designed the armature of the dolls to Peter Lord (Wallace and Gromit), Kirk R. Thatcher (The Muppets) & Fon Davis (Star Wars).
Dangerously Ever After
Animated Short Film
Directed by Alba Garcia
Book by Dashka Slater
Graphic Design by Lacey Mason
Edited by Nadirah Bell
Score & Sound FX by Robert Foster
Prop/Set Experts: Julio Garay, Oscar Rodriguez
VFX /3D Artists: Collin Wynn & Victoria Di Liberto
Campaign goal & duration: $42,000 – March 4
He Hated Pigeons
by Ingrid Veninger
Welcome to the new pUNK Films feature HE HATED PIGEONS, a phantasmagorical epic with live score.
He Hated Pigeons
Feature Film
Directed, produced & written by Ingrid Veninger
Starring Pedro Fontaine, Cristobal Tapia Montt
Cinematography by Dylan Macleod, CSC
Edited by Maureen Grant
Sound Design Jakob Thiesen
Colorist: Ryan Ruskay
Sound recordist: Braden Sauder
Re-recording mixer: Eric Apps, CAS
Sketchbook art design by Marcos Sorensen
Production assistants: Daniel Diaz and Esteban Sandoval
Music by Ohad Benchetrit & Justin Small
Produced by pUNK Films
Campaign goal & duration: $25,300 – March 12
Main picture credit: Injeongwon
