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Donate! Canary in a Coalmine (and Jen) need support

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
https://www.facebook.com/canaryfilm/posts/659017354236001

Someone messaged me this morning to tell me she was no longer supporting me. She said I took her friend's money and was now trying to get rich off of ‪#‎mecfs‬

Reality: $5,000 in debt. 4,840 hours donated. Priceless spoons and health sacrificed. My family now in a precarious financial position because of my work.

Achieving what we have never before achieved in terms of visibility and recognition is going to require investment. Making sure the film has impact beyond our community is going to require a team with the capacity to plan and execute at the highest level.

It's going to require all of us coming together.

We need your financial support now more than ever if we are going to realize the potential of this film. j.mp/canaryimpact

If you can't support us now – I know so many of us cannot – consider sharing this and spreading this word so that others might give.

Thank you so much for your support.

A full-time working year is 2,000 hours. Jen is sick and has put in all that time and, it seems, her own money.

Let's support this project!
 

Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
https://www.facebook.com/canaryfilm/posts/659017354236001

A full-time working year is 2,000 hours. Jen is sick and has put in all that time and, it seems, her own money.

Let's support this project!

Thanks, @Sasha , for bringing this worthwhile campaign to our attention. I was the seventh person to donate (after your first appeal), and am glad to see the totals significantly improved since then -- 51 donors for a total sum of $13,091. But it is still not enough.

I encourage everyone who has even a few spare dollars/pounds/euros, etc., to take a look at the following link: http://www.canaryinacoalminefilm.com/

This website includes descriptions of the "team" -- in addition to Jen Brea, an impressive collection of experienced and award-winning film makers which include the following:

Deborah Hoffmann - Executive Producer and Creative Advisor: Deborah has received two Academy Award nominations (1995 and 2000), and has received numerous awards. She has served on juries for the Sundance and San Francisco film festivals.
Lindsey Dryden - Producer: Lindsey is an award-winning British filmmaker has who has worked on films for the BBC and History Channel. She was nominated "Best Emerging UK Filmmaker" in 2012 (Open City Docs) and "Best Producer" in 2013 (Underwire Festival). She specializes in rich personal stories, often about science and health.
Patricia Gillespie - Producer: Patricia is an award-winning documentary cinematographer and producer/director based in New York city. She has worked with high-profile clients including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Emiliano Battista - Editor: Emiliano is a London-based film editor of award winning feature documentaries, dramas and television programs. His film "3 ½ Minutes" won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance in 2015.

If these individuals, in addition to Jen, can't produce a film that brings the attention our illness needs and deserves, no one can!
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
Everything I've seen about this film so far has impressed me, and everything I've seen of Jen and her advocacy work has also impressed me. A film is nothing if it can't get a wide reach and I'm convinced that she and her team will do a stellar job.

Well worth our support!
 

Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
I've broken my response to @Sasha 's request into two shorter posts to make it easier to read.

Not only is the "team" impressive, but their impact campaign is comprehensive. Please take a look at the website:
http://www.canaryinacoalminemovie.com/campaigns/kick-off-canarys-impact-campaign/

Here are a few highlights:
  • Nexus USA, a conference at the White House and the US Institute of Peace, where Jen presented a new trailer for the film to a group of philanthropists, social entrepreneurs and change-makers.
  • The Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, to find inspiration in the latest and best of virtual reality for Canary’s VR project, and meet with potential supporters of the film and its impact campaign (just finished at the end of January)
  • Cavendish Global, where Jen will deliver a keynote to a group of family foundations and impact investors that support medical and scientific research
  • The TED Summit in Banff, Alberta, Canada
With $22,500, Jen will be able to add a trip to the United Kingdom to meet her editor for the first time, screen the trailer for patients in London, and participate in other speaking opportunities. The goal of this trip is to lay the foundation for the film’s UK impact campaign.

With $76,900, Jen will be able to support herself and the team to fully take advantage of all opportunities and lay the groundwork for the 2017 campaign. This means reaching out to disability organizations, foundations, medical associations, women’s organizations and human rights organizations to collaborate in several ways including organizing screenings for their members.

With $89,000, Jen will be able to expand this groundwork to the United Kingdom -- a jurisdiction that sorely needs a change in how our illness is perceived (my words).

If everyone who is able to, and who uses, and appreciates, the Phoenix Rising forum (both members, and guests) donated only the value of one specialty cup of coffee, the impact campaign would be well on the way to achieving its goal.
 

JenB

Senior Member
Messages
269
I want to thank you all so much for your support and enthusiasm! Beth showed me this page because I was having a rough day yesterday. So much of what we have accomplished for the film to date has been a bit inside baseball. It's hard to know what it all means unless you are in the documentary industry, and so I sometimes wonder how much of it translates to the patient community. And so seeing the enthusiasm here about the early outreach success and the amazing experience and accolades of our film team is so gratifying. It makes me feel less alone. All of this has been incredibly hard won but so, so hopeful. I can't tell you what it means to have that recognized. Thank you.

We have another new hire we are looking forward to announcing soon. Let's just say it's killer!
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
https://www.facebook.com/canaryfilm...4225441048530/659465020857901/?type=3&theater

Canary said:
An angel just donated $10,000 to Canary's impact campaign last night bringing our total raised to $13,091 of an $89,000 goal!!!j.mp/canaryimpact

What this means:

– all of our spring outreach travel is funded: the trip to the Nexus USA Summit at the White House, Sundance, the keynote to health philanthropists this February, the TED Summit in June

– we can hire a US impact producer to help develop and expand those relationships we started at Good Pitch http://bit.ly/1l0oCqz with organizations working in disability rights, human rights, women's rights and medicine and further our impact planning in the UK & Europe

Please join me in giving a hearty THANK YOU to this donor, a patient who has been fighting everyday for decades against this vicious disease. Her and her family's generosity has helped sustain the film over this last year and has played a crucial role in getting us successfully to the assembly.

My deep, heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been able to give, whatever they can, at any level.

Excellent! 15% already raised of the $89k.

Keep donating! :)

Thank you, that generous patient and her supportive family!
 

JenB

Senior Member
Messages
269
Here's the announce: https://www.facebook.com/canaryfilm...79.1073741826.224225441048530/659981124139624

I am thrilled to announce the latest addition to Team Canary, Kim Roberts, an extraordinarily talented and experienced editor. She's won an Emmy and has edited four Oscar-nominated documentaries.

I will be heading to LA next week to help set up the second phase of our edit there.

Please join us in welcoming Kim!

Kim Roberts, A.C.E. is an Emmy-winning editor of feature documentaries. Her recent work includes The Hunting Ground, American Revolutionary: the Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, Waiting for 'Superman' (Paramount), Food, Inc. (nominated for a 2010 Oscar®), Autism the Musical (HBO), and Inequality for All (Radius). Kim won an Emmy for Autism the Musical, her third nomination. She was also nominated for an Eddie award for Food, Inc. and Waiting for ‘Superman’ from the American Cinema Editors.

Her other films include: Oscar® nominees and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winners Daughter from Danang and Long Night’s Journey Into Day; Last Call at the Oasis (Participant); Two Days in October (Peabody and Emmy winner ’06); Made in L.A. (Emmy winner ’09); The Fall of Fujimori (Sundance ’05); Lost Boys of Sudan (Independent Spirit Award ’04); Daddy & Papa (Sundance), and A Hard Straight (Grand Prize, SXSW). Kim received her Masters Degree in Documentary Film Production from Stanford University, where she won a Student Academy Award.

Learn more about our team: http://www.canaryinacoalminefilm.com/team/

Support Canary:
The film: http://www.canaryinacoalminefilm.com/donate
The impact campaign: http://j.mp/canaryimpact
 

PhoenixDown

Senior Member
Messages
456
Location
UK
Personally I think the money is best spent directly on research, I know the film is supposed to raise awareness but we already have two ME films, not sure what a third film will add to advocacy.


Edit: In the past I have donated to Investinme because it's run by volunteers and the money goes directly in to research.
 
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Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
Personally I think the money is best spent directly on research, I know the film is supposed to raise awareness but we already have two ME films, not sure what a third film will add to advocacy.

I agree that money spent directly on research is very important. However, I consider "Canary in a Coal Mine" to be a potential "gold mine" with respect to future fund raising for our illness. Yes, we already have films about ME. But, my perception is that so far, they've pretty much been "preaching to the choir". I wonder how many who are not either patients, or family and friends of patients, have been exposed to these films. In order to reach a broader audience, we need to have an ME documentary screened in as many high-profile venues as possible (eg. film festivals). To be chosen, a film must be of exceptional quality. This can likely be achieved only by experienced and award-winning film makers like those Jen has assembled on her team.

After taking a look at how funds raised in the impact campaign for "Canary" will be used, I think it is our best hope to reach those with "deep pockets". We need to catch the attention of the philanthropists and family foundations that donate funds to support medical and scientific research, as well as the change-makers. We've waited too long for governments to adequately fund ME care and research.
 
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