GRITTY CHICAGO AUTHOR NELSON ALGREN (Man with the Golden Arm, Chicago, City on the Make) will come to life in the first feature-length documentary about him – provided the producers can raise $25,000 in Kickstarter pledges to launch the project.
Columbia College professor Michael Caplan, of Montrose Pictures, and producers Gail Sonnenfeld and Nicole Bernard-Reis are in production on Algren-The Movie, an ambitious, long overdue story about one of the most underrated writers of the 20th Century and his place in American urban fiction.
Algren grew up on the South Side and Albany Park and graduated from the U of I. He received the first National Book Award for Man with a Golden Arm in 1950; was Simone de Beauvoir’s “Chicago Bohemian” lover; a Beat writer before the Beats and was a visible participant in Chicago’s vibrant literary scene during the 1950s and ‘60s.
The producers will tell Algren’s life and work in 13 chapters, moving from autobiographical elements through his literary works. Chicago photographers and Algren’s personal friends, Art Shay and Stephen Deutsch, provided hundreds of photos for the doc.
Many of Algren’s admirers, including William Friedkin, Michael Mann, Rick Kogan, Philip Kaufman, Barry Gifford, Wayne Kramer, Algren expert Bill Savage, musicians, artists and personal friends will discuss how Algren’s writing influenced their work.
Caplan says they started shooting interviews in 2009 and continue to film critical interviews throughout the summer and fall, with a completion date of spring, 2012. Their most recent interview was with indie filmmaker John Sayles.
As of this writing, Montrose Pictures has raised $2,325. They have a deadline of July 11 to complete their $25,000 goal in all-or-nothing pledges, or their fund-raising efforts will be canceled.
For details, click here.
CROWDFUNDING IS ALSO THE ROUTE taken by filmmakers Ed Koziarski, the regular host of this column, and his wife, Junko Kajino, of Homesick Blues, who will be shooting in Japan through mid-October on their timely and important environmental feature-length doc.
They opted for IndieGoGo to raise funds from online donors for Uncanny Terrain, about how Japanese organic farmers are trying to survive the wake of radiation contamination in a small mountain town of Fukushima, near a nuclear plant crippled by the earthquake.
They are currently staying with a family that has farmed this land for 200 years, growing premium quality rice, free of chemical fertilizers, supplied to international consumers.
So far, Koziarski and Kajino have gained $7,770 in pledges towards the $28,000 they seek.
To learn more, click here.
USING KICKSTARTER, producer/director Malachi Leopold of Left Brain/Right Brain Productions, has thus far received $4,500 in pledges towards his $25,000 goal, with a July 1 deadline.
Leopold plans a late fall start of his feature-length doc I am the Water, You are the Sea. It tells the true story of forbidden love between an American Peace Corps volunteer and an Iranian Muslim, who were separated by war in 1977 and their reunion 33 years later.
This is Leopold’s second reunion doc. In 2009 he produced 22 Years from Home, about one of the Lost Boys of the Sudan, who lives in Chicago, reuniting with his parents in the Sudan and finding a location to build a school in their little village.
Click here for more details.
INDIE FOCUS is open and waiting for your indie film news during Ed Koziarski’s absence. Send along news of your current production, festival acceptance, premiere screenings, fund-raisers, events – all the news you usually send Ed – to Ruth@reelchicago.com.
