So, here we are. The final month of fundraising. We’re rounding third, headed for home, as the song goes. Perhaps it is only natural, as one nears the finish, to think of the beginning, to reflect on where we started, and on how far we’ve come.
Most of the team here at Toska met online, through a love of film you likely share. The internet is a uniquely powerful phenomenon in human history; it has the ability to transform almost every aspect of our experience, from how we communicate, to how we work, to how we live. Accordingly, it has changed how we make art. Now a group of like-minded individuals can come together, dream together, fund and make a film together, where before we might never have met at all.
And just as the internet has transformed so many aspects of our lives, so too has it changed the nature of filmmaking. It has liberated the medium, to an extent placing it back into the hands not only of filmmakers, but of the audience. Indeed, there is a greater potential now for fans to become filmmakers too. And it is crowdfunding in part that gives us that power.
We have a chance here, not just to enjoy film in all the various connotations of that verb, but to make a film ourselves. We can go now from consuming to creating. And that “we” doesn’t just include the members of our crew; it includes everyone reading this right now. Because by supporting our film you’re becoming part of it too. Maybe you’re not spending hours wrestling with editing software, or designing a poster, or talking to a filmmaker about his or her experiences. But you are working day in and day out to make a living, and then choosing (hopefully)to invest a little of your hard-earned money in our film. In that sense your labor is every bit as vital as ours; without your support there would be no footage to edit into a finished film, because there would be no way for us to shoot it in the first place.
We started this project with very little, other than a passion for film and the strength of our beliefs. Among those is a belief in the power of people, that by working together we can all achieve whatever we imagine doing. We choose to believe in the tendency of human beings to help each other fly, rather than shoot each other down. We choose to believe more people will help build a set of wings than will punch holes in them. And fundamentally we believe in the power of dreams. To inspire, to uplift, to enlighten, and above all, to unite.
We hope you share this belief, and that you’ll decide to be part of our dream. A man dreaming alone can move only himself; dreaming together we can move mountains.
Contribute to The Reel Britain’s final Indiegogo campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-reel-britain
Carrie
Publicist, Toska Productions