Yesterday Canary was one of seven film teams to present at Good Pitch New York. Even though we have been preparing for this for four months now, it's one of those things you can't quite understand until you live it. It was incredible!
First we gave a seven minute pitch (including our trailer). We honed our presentation over an intense two day workshop. The time limit really forces you to distill the story into its most essential elements and I came away from this with a much better sense of how to talk about my experience and this disease to a wide audience.
After the pitch, Jess Search, Good Pitch's incredible moderator and BRITDOC Chief Executive went to the table. Our table was incredible. It's the first time I've had a chance to talk about the film to such a diverse group outside of our own community.
Nancy Klimas powerfully framed this disease as a social justice issue. Linda Tannenbaum from the Open Medicine Foundation talked about the funding constraints the scientific community faces.
Tabitha Jackson from the Sundance Institute talked about how important it is for stories to be told by the people living them.
Isaac Zablocki from Reelabilities had some really creative ideas for helping to make screenings accessible for home bound patients and across different disabilities.
We are starting a conversation with Shantha Rau Barriga of Human Rights Watch about forced institutionalization.
Monica Mallampalli from the Society of Women's Health Research had ideas for engaging new scientists around this disease.
Brian Byrd from the New York State Health Foundation had some incredible ideas about reaching the medical profession and getting some of our content into New York hospitals.
Tom Rielly from TED committed to helping me leverage their amazing community for the film.
Lastly, Peter Staley offered his friendship and support and the wealth of his incredible experience. Yes, I have the biggest activist crush.
And then there was the audience! So many amazing new connections and collaborations are emerging from this.
We received seed funding from the Fledgling Fund for our social impact campaign, specifically
to help us create a virtual reality experience to give users (and in particular doctors) a visceral experience of what it is to have this illness.
We received new support from the Harnisch Foundation and a commitment of in-kind post-production support from New York Women in Film and television. And help getting the word out and driving audiences to this film from American Association of University Women and Goodwill.
And so many more conversations to follow!
Documentary film is in a golden age. The internet and access to multiple media and platforms mean that films can be a tool for movement building and bringing people together like never before.
I felt that so strongly yesterday, for all of the films. It was a particularly emotional moment for me because it was not long ago that I was alone in bed, sick, scared, unable to find any care, without a name for my experience, disconnected.
And then I went online and found all of you. And you said yes, I believe in what you are doing!!! And the power of that Kickstarter campaign, the power of this community online gave me the leverage and the credibility to keep building and building and building and building on that.
This is only the beginning. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to BRITDOC, Sandi DuBowski and the entire Good Pitch team for their incredible vision and humanity.
Thank you to my tireless producers, Lindsey Dryden and Trish Gillespie, and my husband, Omar Wasow, who makes everything possible. And to the table and the room for showing up and being so incredibly loving.
I hope that everyone reading this can feel just a sliver of that love today.
