Here’s how it works:

An artist posts a description of their project on Kickstarter.com.  The description includes the amount of money that the artist is seeking for their project.  In order to receive funding, the project must attract the requested “pledges” within a predetermined amount of time.  If the project does not attract 100% or more of the requested funding, the pledges made are returned to the people who made the pledges.  The artist only receives the funding if the Kickstarter community funds it 100% (or more).

Kickstarter is a really innovative way to build support for artistic projects and provide funding for artists.  In an effort to build support for deserving documentary film projects, I am going to post information about three projects each month.  Take a look at the three requests for funding and use the links provided to visit the  projects on Kickstarter.com.  If a request speaks to you, consider helping to fund the project.  You can give as little as $1.00.  Every little bit helps.

Here are December’s projects:

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Project:  One Nine Nine Four
Description:  In 2006 at the ripe old age of 22, I left my home in Sydney, Australia to travel to Los Angeles and shoot a documentary on my favourite music scene; 90′s punk rock. At the time I didn’t know any of the artists personally, but with my producer Matt Wardle and executive producer Bill Silva, I was able to interview every band that I had on my list(Green Day, Blink 182, Bad Religion, NOFX, Rancid etc) and also get professional skateboarder, Tony Hawk, to come on board as the narrator.

3 years later and I have completed 99% of the film, I’ve interviewed all of the bands, cut it together, added archival footage, Tony’s narration, sound mix, colour correction you name it. However I have hit a wall with the music clearances, when we started this project we set aside 45% of our small budget for music, but the record labels and publishers(the big guys) unfortunately want more money than we can provide. This means that to release the film we need to pay the labels and publishers what they are asking as they, not the artist, control the copyrights.

Our Plan
We need to raise money from the community(meaning you) to finally finish this project, clear the music and have it released to the world. We are also trying to raise money from other areas such as sponsorship but to date this movie has been 100% independently financed out of Australia from family and friends.

We have a music supervisor now working around the clock to sort out all of the deals and paperwork with the publishers and labels, but we still need the money to pay for this music once the paperwork is signed.

Awareness
The film already has a lot of awareness and good will in the community. It has been mentioned in press all over the world such as NME, Spin, Rolling Stone, Triple J, Indie 103.1 & also punk websites such as Punknews.org and Absolutepunk.net. Collectively the trailers have been viewed over 100,000 times on Youtube and I was also invited to be interviewed on Last Call With Carson Daly, after he heard about the film through the grapevine. We were also invited to screen at the Calgary International Film Festival recently where the film received a standing ovation & Blink 182 even have us in their top friends on Myspace!

What Now?
I have set the pledge target quite low at $5,000 which I believe we can raise. However this is only going to pay for a portion of the music, the more money we can raise the less music I will have to cut out of the final version of the film. Ideally if we can raise over $30,000 we will be able to finish the film immediately as is. Please help spread the word through your blogs, facebook, twitter, myspace etc.

Honestly making this film was one of the best experiences of my life. When I was 16 years old listening to these records in my bedroom I never imagined that I would meet any of my heroes, let alone get to interview them and even become good friends with some of them.

Pledge Goal:  $5,000
Deadline:  January 31, 2010
Website:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jaialattas/one-nine-nine-four-90s-punk-rock-documentary

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Project:  Edible City
Description:  Hidden between buildings and across networks of backyards, germinating in classrooms and sprouting up in city centers, a grassroots movement is thriving in the Bay Area …

Edible City is the forthcoming documentary from East Bay Pictures, following the stories of folks who are digging their hands into the dirt, fighting for sustainability and social justice by doing something truly revolutionary: growing a local food system.

Now is the time to tell this story about real people making real change! Edible City will provoke critical thought, further the dialogue surrounding food and our food system, and inspire audiences to action.

The East Bay Pictures team has been hard at work on Edible City for over a year now, and we’re nearing completion. Throughout the process we’ve had incredible support from hundreds of generous people around Bay Area, and across the country. Now we need your help to finish!

Our goal is to raise over $5,000 by February 1st, 2010, so we can stay on target to finish the film by March, 2010. Once completed, Edible City will be entered in film festivals worldwide, and shown to distributors like PBS, the Discovery Channel, and the Independent Film Channel. Ultimately, the film will be available online and on DVD, in order to reach as broad an audience as possible.

Many people have supported Edible City because they share the vision of a sustainable and just food system. If this is a movement you want to support and a movie you’d like to see, we’re asking you to pre-buy a digital download and signed DVD of “Edible City” for $25.

Pledge Goal:  $5,000
Deadline:  February 2, 2010
Website:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewhasse/edible-city-faces-of-the-food-revolution

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Project:  Fresno
Description:  I started this feature documentary back in April 2009. I’ve been up to Fresno to shoot many times now and have grown to like the town a lot. Back when the housing foreclosure crisis was about to hit, Fresno, was the proverbial canary in a coalmine. Too much development too fast and way too many bad loans.

But how to frame this and keep it interesting? Then I heard that skateboaders were cleaning out the pools and skating them. That was all I needed. I left for Fresno within the week. Just me, a small HD camera and the addresses of some Motel 6′s.

So now the film is finished. There’s a couple tweaks, but it’s done. Completed. I even have some great original songs and all the signed releases.

The film can be bought on-line and is getting a wonderful reaction wherever it’s shown, but to get to the next level, I need your help. I made this film entirely by myself. I clipped on every mic. Shot every shot and asked every question. No one else funded it and there were no other producers. Hard work, but fun.

I need some funding to enter it in as many film festivals as possible and produce the Blu-Ray disk.

Pledge Goal:  $2,500
Deadline:  January 6, 2010
Website:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paynie/fresno-a-sweet-little-film-all-about-the-housin