05
Jan12
"It Takes A Village..."
by Thirsty Girl Films
The last few months have been the most exciting yet for Gwapa (Beautiful), a feature documentary about a poor Filipino family’s struggle to help their 3 kids with facial deformities. In case you haven’t heard, here’s a short recap. Nearly a year ago, we set out to create a no-budget short documentary about the Bulabos family, who have multiple children with severe cleft issues, as they embark on a journey to get free surgical care from the Faces of Tomorrow clinic. After assembling a rough cut, we quickly realized that there was a lot more than just a short film there. Many children need more than one surgery and extensive speech therapy. With reverent themes like family, love, and determination, we knew that we had to film the rest of this incredible story. Knowing that Faces of Tomorrow will travel back to the Philippines to treat these kids again in January 2012, we set out to film this journey as well. Fast forward to November when we ran a kickass crowd-funding campaign to fund the completion of our project. We didn’t reach our goal, but $12,411 our of our $16,500 goal ain’t bad! (In the end, we’re left with $11,291 after Indiegogo’s 9% fee. If we had reached our goal, then they would’ve only taken out a 4% fee.) Fortunately, we raised enough to fund production in January and we’re very excited to film the second part of the project!
To add to all the excitement, I was notified on our last day of the fundraising campaign that Gwapa (Beautiful) was nominated for indieWIRE’s “Project of the Week.” Gwapa (Beautiful) was chosen as “Project of the Day” the previous Wednesday.) This was quite the honor, but overwhelming too. This news came at such a crazy time of the campaign and it is was quite the task to promote the campaign and the contest at the same time. Fortunately, we won indieWIRE’s "Project of the Week" competition! Our reward is a digital distribution consultation from SnagFilms and Gwapa (Beautiful) is now officially a candidate for “Project of the Month.”
Fast forward to present day to where we’re now vying to win indieWIRE’s “Project of the Month” contest! Ring the year in right by helping to bring awareness to Filipino kids with cleft deformities. Winning a consulation with Sundance Institute only solidifies the importance of this film. Be a part of the movement! Please consider voting for Gwapa Beautiful for indieWIRE’s “Project of the Month” contest. The competition runs through a Facebook poll from January 2nd to the 6th, ending at 10am EST. You must have a Facebook account to vote. Help save lives forever and help spread the word about this important issue! Click HERE to vote this film.
To add to all the excitement, I was notified on our last day of the fundraising campaign that Gwapa (Beautiful) was nominated for indieWIRE’s “Project of the Week.” Gwapa (Beautiful) was chosen as “Project of the Day” the previous Wednesday.) This was quite the honor, but overwhelming too. This news came at such a crazy time of the campaign and it is was quite the task to promote the campaign and the contest at the same time. Fortunately, we won indieWIRE’s "Project of the Week" competition! Our reward is a digital distribution consultation from SnagFilms and Gwapa (Beautiful) is now officially a candidate for “Project of the Month.”
Fast forward to present day to where we’re now vying to win indieWIRE’s “Project of the Month” contest! Ring the year in right by helping to bring awareness to Filipino kids with cleft deformities. Winning a consulation with Sundance Institute only solidifies the importance of this film. Be a part of the movement! Please consider voting for Gwapa Beautiful for indieWIRE’s “Project of the Month” contest. The competition runs through a Facebook poll from January 2nd to the 6th, ending at 10am EST. You must have a Facebook account to vote. Help save lives forever and help spread the word about this important issue! Click HERE to vote this film.
This has been a truly magical experience for everyone involved with the film. I think the best part has been the incredible support we’ve received and are still receiving for Gwapa (Beautiful). I’m humbled by the outpouring of love from the indie filmmaking community, not only in monetary donations but spreading the word as well. The saying “It takes a village...” never felt more appropriate! We were a featured campaign on Indiegogo. Likewise, we snagged featured stories on Take Part and Film Courage, and were mentioned on Perezitos blog too. As a filmmaker, it’s truly inspirational to have so much love for your film and your vision. I feel honored and blessed for this. Because of all this support, I know in my heart that Gwapa (Beautiful) will be a success and the indie film community is a major part of that! Not to mention, this campaign garnished a lot of buzz for the film and we have some very exciting stuff in the works! So be sure to check out www.gwapafilm.com for updates from our Filipino production and beyond. In case you wanted to back to this inspirational film but didn’t get the chance to, we’re accepting donations via Paypal on our website as well.
Back to the indieWIRE competition. If you’re running a crowd-funding campaign right now, I suggest you consider submitting to these contest. Each week, indieWIRE readers can vote for their favorite in-the-works film project using a Facebook-based polling system. Each weekly winning project will also be voted on for the best project of the month; the winner with the most votes will score an in-depth consultation with a senior member of Sundance Institute’s program staff.The projects are selected by indieWIRE editors from filmmaker-submitted applications, documentaries or online video. Digital distribution is a rapidly changing industry. According to IndieWire blog, this is what filmmakers can expect to get out of the consultation:
Back to the indieWIRE competition. If you’re running a crowd-funding campaign right now, I suggest you consider submitting to these contest. Each week, indieWIRE readers can vote for their favorite in-the-works film project using a Facebook-based polling system. Each weekly winning project will also be voted on for the best project of the month; the winner with the most votes will score an in-depth consultation with a senior member of Sundance Institute’s program staff.The projects are selected by indieWIRE editors from filmmaker-submitted applications, documentaries or online video. Digital distribution is a rapidly changing industry. According to IndieWire blog, this is what filmmakers can expect to get out of the consultation:
- Discussion of new platforms and devices, including iPad and other tablets, smart phones, and connected TV platforms -- and how they can become part of your distribution strategy
- How theatrical and digital releases can work together
- The promotional and financial value of theatrical distribution vs. digital distribution
- How to get the most out of digital-distribution platforms.
If you want to submit your film for consideration as “Project of the Day,” click here.
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