KICKSTART THIS

Kickstart This: 'I Am Not A Hipster', 'Canyons' & Jodorowsky's Project

by Ben Pearson
May 11, 2012

Welcome back to another edition of Kickstart This, FirstShowing's weekly column dedicated to spreading the word about cool indie projects that need your help to become a reality. This week, we've got three film projects that we want to point you toward: a musical drama called I Am Not A Hipster, Bret Easton Ellis' new film The Canyons; and a personal project from legendary Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky called La Danza De La Realidad about the early days of his childhood. Take a look at these projects, sound off in the comments below, and don't forget to toss them a few bucks if you can. Check them out!

First up, there's I Am Not A Hipster. I missed this one at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, but Alex really enjoyed it and he's actually quoted in the pitch video. It's about a musician in the San Diego music scene who is unexpectedly visited by his three sisters, and based on the fact that this little movie that could fought its way through a tough process to get into Sundance in the first place, that should tell you that it's probably worth checking out. The film is essentially done, but the filmmakers need our help to make sure as many people can see it as possible, so check out the video below and see if you'd like to donate to their cause:

For more information on I Am Not A Hipster, or to help support the release of the indie film, visit its Kickstarter page. Director Destin Cretton and his team are hoping to get $27,500 by June 11th, so let's see if we can help them along toward their goal.

Next, we've got The Canyons, written by American Psycho author/writer Bret Easton Ellis and directed by Paul Schrader. Schrader is probably best known for having written Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, but he's also been directing movies for over thirty years and is experimenting with alternate means of funding outside of the studio system to preserve an uncompromising vision. That's what's so great about Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, and other crowd-funding sites like them: they put people like Schrader and Ellis on an equal playing field with someone who has never made a movie before, wipes away all of the sometimes-unnecessary Hollywood bureaucracy, and allows passionate people to come together and make something awesome. We've written about The Canyons here in the past, but take a look at their last promo:

For more information on The Canyons, or to help support the indie project, visit its Kickstarter page. Schrader and his crew are looking for $100,000 by June 10th, and they're halfway there.

And finally, we're featuring avant-garde Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky's newest feature project, titled La Danza De La Realidad (aka The Dance of Reality). I've never seen one of his films, but I've been reading Jodorowsky's name for a number of years as a key player when it comes to surrealism and even as someone who tried (and failed) to adapt the sci-fi story Dune. The Dance of Reality will be a magical portrayal of the first five years of the filmmaker's life, shot in the same town where he grew up. Though he's tried, Jodorowsky hasn't been able to make a film since 1990, so I'll be interested to check out some of his early work and then compare it to what he's able to do with this project if he meets his financing goal.

Jodorowsky isn't using Kickstarter or IndieGoGo, but to find out more information about La Danza De La Realidad, or to help support the film, he's collecting donations at the film's official website here.

That's it for this week's edition of Kickstart This, we hope you enjoy these choices. You all have been great about e-mailing if you see any cool projects you'd like to see featured, so keep that up by sending stuff my way at BenPears85@gmail.com. Spread the word about these projects and other indie efforts you see, and don't forget to donate if you can and sound off in the comments below. I'll be back with more next week.

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