Last month we were proud to announce that 4Culture had sponsored our film and would be funding our efforts to get historical photos for the film (it’s more expensive and involved than anyone would hazard to guess.) That was just one component of finishing our film, however: we still needed funds to get sound, music, animation, editing, and color correction for the film.

The last few years have been soul crushing when it comes to grants. It’s been a lot of film organizations telling me our film is too educational to seem appealing to the masses, and educational organizations telling me that, since we’re doing a film, they expect that we’ve been mentored by Michael Bay and explain that “something flashy like film isn’t what they’re interested in funding.” Then there are those who’ve explained that it’s too political. Rejection is never easy, and when you’re working on an independent film with little funding other than your own, the journey can be discouraging and doubt-fueled.

Our experiences filming have constantly reaffirmed that this film needs to be finished, that the story needs to be told, and though it’s been tough, we’ve held out hope that this film can get finished and this story can be told well. We’ve just had to wait until that happened.

This last week, 4Culture gave us a big boost to finishing the artistic side of post-production and awarded us an Art Projects grant for the film. Through their generous support and this award, we’re able to get begin work on completing the documentary. This has been such a needed vote of confidence this has been. Not only do we now know that we can start the work of finishing this film, but it’s just been a weight off of our hearts to have someone come along and support us like this. It’s the first time in the last two years that we’ve seen a light at the end of the tunnel.

Now that we’ve gotten word that we can begin post-production, Vasant has locked himself in his editing bunker and I am working with artists who are able to come alongside us and help us finish this film. I’ll have a HUGE update on that in a few weeks– we can’t wait to tell you who we’re working with!

We’re still fundraising for the rest of post-production, so the timeline may wobble a bit as we race to get funds in time for festivals, but the plan is that we’re aiming to be finished by the end of summer, sending the film off to festivals this fall, and then hopefully, it will be available next spring for the public to watch. As always, keep your eyes on our website and social media for more updates.

Thanks for your support and best wishes! We’re working hard to do you all proud!

We are so pleased to announce that 4Culture has awarded us a Heritage Grant. Our film has been in a holding pattern the last few months while we secure funding for the post-production process. This grant will allow us to obtain archival photographs to use in the film to create dynamic, visual bridges between the interviews and the historical reality to which our subjects are referring. 

We’re still pursuing other grants and hopefully, by early this summer, we’ll have enough funds to finish post-production and submit this film to festivals this fall. We have some exciting news to announce about the creative approach we’ll be taking to the final cut of this film and we look forward to announcing them in June!

Trailer: http://youtu.be/AolngvHKv4Y Website: http://promisedlanddoc.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/promisedlanddoc Twitter: http://twitter.com/PromisedLandDoc

We hope you'll like this sneak peek at the film. We're so grateful to the Duwamish Tribe, the Chinook Nation, San Francisco Film Society, Indie Services and to all who have either appeared in the film, helped us out, been amazing resources, or simply encouraged us over the last two years. We can't wait to show you more of the film.

We are deep in the post-production process editing the film. In order to finish the film, we have to finish raising funds for archival photography licensing, technicians to assist in post-production (such as sound and coloring,) and so on, and we have to wait on that before we can finish. We're pursuing grants and private donations and we hope we're able to procure that funding and finish the film and begin submitting to festivals by summer. 

We’re really excited to announce that our film, Promised Land, has been sponsored by the amazing San Francisco Film Society. We’re so honored to have access to their resources, partnership and advice as we work on our documentary.

This has been an exciting journey so far, but it’s also been rough. Doing anything you love is hard because it takes all of you: all of your time, all of your resources, and most of all, your heart. You put all that you have of yourself into a creative work, and that can leave you feeling pretty vulnerable. That’s why it’s been wonderful, and an unbelievable privilege to ally with such a great force in the filmmaking world. We’re ecstatic moving forward with this amazing story having such a great vote of confidence in this film in place. Here is the San Francisco Film Society page on our project! There’s a blurb up about the film, and a place to donate. It just means a lot to be listed on their site. The Hollywood Reporter did a fantastic article on San Francisco Film Society and how it’s become a game-changer for the film world in the last few years. Seriously, have I mentioned that we’re excited about this partnership? If I haven’t, let me know. I can keep on repeating myself.

What’s next for us? We have a lot of exciting things in the works, but we’re continuing to be tactful about when we release the full information about the film until we’ve reached a certain point in production. What you can look out for is our first trailer, which should be released within the next month!

Stay tuned and thanks for your support!

cultfilms:

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