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THIS IS DAY ONE, MAY DAY 2009 |
You are here: Home > News > THIS IS DAY ONE, MAY DAY 2009 |
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THIS IS DAY ONE, MAY DAY 2009 |
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So it begins. After 3 years of brainstorming and hundreds and hundreds of hours sitting at a computer, so it begins. May Day 2009.
This site, this structure, is dedicated to a pretty simple concept: a large group of people can affect the existing mechanisms for funding and distributing documentaries, by each giving a small sum of money that collectively adds up to be a significant grant.
How are we going to decide what proposals to support? That is every citizens' personal decision, but we at CAM want to do it in a way that is Democratic with a capital D. This means: a proposal is brought forward after careful authorship and editing for a member to view and read. The member then visits the forum for the proposal and enters discussion about it. The member elects to support it, or not, a dollar at a time. Learning about the issues + dialog with other citizens + voting = Democracy
Why is this important to do? For the last 30 years of my adulthood, I have seen the changing landscape on TV and the press increasingly promote a private political agenda. This agenda serves the profit-making side of corporate media, instead of the needs of the people to be informed. Furthermore, big media has increasingly become the only watchdog of itself. The Foxes are not just running the hen-house. They get to edit the surveillance video in any way that they like. If you have any doubt about the corrupting power of corporate media, just watch the 2004 documentary "Orwell Rolls Over in his Grave" .
In this recession, funding for documentaries is tighter than ever. Fewer and fewer grant opportunities exist. Increasingly, only those with their own line of credit, or cash in hand, will be able to afford to make them. Unfortunately, that creates class issues, even among filmmakers. We need more people of all racial and socioeconomic levels asking the hard questions, and looking for truths.
Just as a Democracy requires access to issues, so too, a motivated potential audience needs to have its' voice heard by those who control the production. YES WE CAN, when we put our money where our mouth is. As an organization, CAM has the potential to find the pebble beneath the big rock. The rock that, when moved, starts everything rolling. As Archimedes said about his lever: "Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth". Well I suggest to you that CAM is the place to stand, and viewer-based media funding is the lever.
This lever is what we call: Web Initiated Fiscal Democracy or WIFD. Sounds a little poetic.... "so blew the winds of WIFD"... But watch, and you will see, by the Fall of '09, a second WIFD site from us for short narrative films : Independent Film Shorts or IFS. We think of it as a CAM clone, but with a slightly different personality.
For CAM there is still a lot of work to do. We will have to modify the site as we go, to make it work more smoothly. Much of the content for this site will need to be generated by you, the members. CAM will become integrated into the web-based community of documentary support and resource sites. We will become a household name at film schools and festivals. (In fact we are already planning a presence at Seattle International Film Festival this spring.) (And all this is not mentioning the T-Shirts, Mugs and Stickers which are yet to come!)
"What can I do for CAM?" you ask.
Tell your friends, acquaintances, and friends of friends. Talk to anyone you know who has made or ever wanted to make a documentary. Mention CAM on any forum you visit. Post us on any bulletin board or organization to which you belong that you even remotely think would help. Add your opinions about documentaries and video blogs to our member forum. Help us get some traffic going. (Let me also say that we hear about 10 suggestions a day of things we "should do" to promote the site. We love to hear your ideas, but we really love it if you do what you think we should. Please, if possible, just do it!)
All that said, if you go to Letters in the CAM Directors Point-of-View, you will find letters you can copy and paste into any email that you write. These letters include:
Dear friend, acquaintance and friend of friend
Call for Proposals
Letter to bloggers
Press Release for Camgrants.org
Lastly, I want to thank the following people for their love and support:
My best friend and spouse of 33 years, Ann Marie Fischer;
My great son and co-worker, Martin Fischer, aka DJ Sonny Chiba;
My sweet daughter Mali Fischer-Levine;
My daughter, friend and co-editor Milla Prince (watch out for her, she's gonna alter your perceptions);
My brother-in-law, developer and main web-head, Rico Dorfman;
My sister Sue and brother-in-law Micheal.... friends in the hardest moments;
All my friends of Lopez Island who have helped me when I was in doubt,
especially Lars and Nils;
Alex Skott and Alex Musgrave, for graphic contributions to CAM;
My fine nephews John and Simon Dorfman, for their technical aid and encouragement.
And on this MAY DAY, a special thanks to Geno R, Charlie W, Coby S, Bob G, and all the members of Shipwrights Local 1184 in Seattle, who I have worked with since 1977. You all should see the documentary "The Take" ASAP.
To the memory of my departed Dad, Sidney Levine and Aunt, Shirley Levine, I say love, thanks, and I hope that you are pleased.
And last of all, I dedicate this site to the memory of my Mom, Irma Levine. Thanks Mom, for making me eat all on my plate, and for trying to make the world a better place.
Love and thanks to all,
Russ Levine, CAM DIrector
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