Home Stretch for the rough cut

Tapestries is beginning its home stretch (woo hoo!). With a strong post production team in place - led by line producer Christopher Bankston, editor Jessica Sison and writer Susan Black and backed by the amazing post production facilities at FatBox Films - the team, led by director Michealane Risley is hoping to have a rough cut in the Fall, in preparation for premiere in 2009!

Thanks for all your support (real world at our fundraisers, blogosphere and everything in between). We'd love to see you at an upcoming fundraiser on October 19th at the McGrail Vineyards in Livermore (see invitation below). Signup online.

TapestriesOfHope101908BenefitV2 - Upload a Document to Scribd

Also, Tapestries was invited to a panel discussion organized by the Producers' Guild of America featuring pathbreaking filmmakers who are leveraging new media to raise money, build audience and find distribution for their projects. Other filmmakers included Mark Jonathan Harris, who is behind Darfur Now and other Oscar-winning documentary films and the panel was moderated by Peter Broderick, who has worked with Christopher Nolan and 600+ other filmmakers on online strategies.

ps: huge shoutout to Jessica (our editor) whose short is screening at festivals everywhere. Track a screening near you!

Christian Science Monitor feature + Women@Google Speech

Christian Science Monitor recently wrote a feature about filmmakers successfully leveraging their online / social network fans to help with fundraising, and Tapestries was featured in this story. An excerpt:

Filmmaker Michealene Cristini Risley has connected with activists concerned about sexual abuse by blogging about her experiences, which include being arrested and detained in Africa for filming without a journalist’s permit. “[The documentary] goes after that niche audience that is aware of the issue, that is somewhat socially conscious,” says Anand Chandrasekaran, one of the film’s producers.

The film is well into post production and preparing to be completed in the Fall. Also, director Michealene Risley was invited to the Women@Google series, which has featured Sen.Hillary Clinton among others in the past. Below is the video from the talk:

Benefit concert fundraiser at Wente Vineyards a SUCCESS!

Our benefit concert fundraiser at Wente Vineyards on June 28th was a SUCCESS in terms of both entertainment AND fundraising!

Attendees were treated to an eclectic blend of jazz, world, classical, and rock from acclaimed band THE FRONT PORCH. Check out these three short music videos from the charity event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBNH4mFF-x4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLTNhD8F7s8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp9aq-KZvfw

Attendees were also treated to an inspirational speech by "Tapestries of Hope" Director Michealene Cristini Risley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrDdLH_JH_I

THIS Saturday, June 28th, 2008, from 1 to 3 pm

This is turning out to be a busy week for Tapestries of Hope with director Michealene Cristini Risley just finishing a talk by invitation at Google as part of the Women@Google series (This after Risley's successful Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders' Seminar at Stanford University with producer Anand Chandrasekaran).

This Saturday, June 28th, 2008, from 1 to 3 pm, is the Tapestries of Hope Fundraiser Wine & Music Event. You're invited to Wente Vineyards (California's oldest family owned and continuously operated winery) for an afternoon of live music, free food, wine tasting, and helping our human rights cause in the historic (air-conditioned) Estate Winery Barrel Room, located at 5565 Tesla Road in Livermore, CA.

Enjoy live music from winemaker Karl Wente's acclaimed band The Front Porch, which includes Tapestries of Hope producer Ray Arthur Wang, a retired concert pianist. The Front Porch rotates through multiple genres for a truly unique listening experience: hear original music as well as The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Van Morrison, Tom Petty, Chick Corea, Beethoven, Gershwin, etc. (Joining The Front Porch for this charity event will be world renowned percussionist Kenneth Nash, famed for his collaborations with Bobby McFerrin, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, B.B.King, Woody Herman, Weather Report, and many more.)

All proceeds from the concert ticket sales go to complete Tapestries of Hope, the human rights movie and social entrepreneurship effort that you're familiar with. Michealene will speak at the event.

For the philanthropists out there, tickets go for donation levels of $25, $100, and $500, the latter two coming with great perks. Click here to RSVP today!

For those with a tighter budget, there are group discounts: you can show up at the door in a group of 2 for $5 OFF each $25 minimum entry fee. Show up in a group of 3+ for $10 OFF each entry fee.

As a thank you for your donation to our registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, you will receive up to $50 savings off wine and merchandise in the Wente Family Estates tasting rooms. Restrictions may apply.

Finally, the blog love for Tapestries of Hope continues with this nice read.

Blog love for Tapestries

Tapestries is in post-production (a HUGE shout-out to Kent and the amazing team at Fat Box, and our editors Robin Chin and Vanessa Perez!)... feels like the beginning of the home stretch. From the first meeting with Betty Makoni in April 2007 and beginning of pre-production in Summer '07 to now feels like a long journey. Now the wait begins...

The ability to tell such a powerful and important story... we're excited, to say the least!

The blogosphere is excited too this week. Following is a snapshot of the collective bear hug the project and its director received:

- Amy Jussel's Shaping Youth blog... an excerpt:

Obviously, it’s a touchy subject to awaken the world to the story of two child abuse survivors fighting to expose these horrors, but Michealene has managed to ‘pay it forward’ with profound positivity by giving people the tools to engage at IndieGoGo, a cool social media film fundraising site for supporters like me to make a difference.

- Mamalicious blog... an excerpt:

I’m so lame. Tapestries of Hope has been on my to-blog list for a minute, but I hadn’t gotten around to it because it deserves much more than a rush job, and that’s where I am these days. But Amy Jussel at ShapingYouth has done the damn thing–and done it right.

- Ideas for international development blog (blog in French).

On another positive note, Tapestries is the first movie to repeat online fundraising success on the new site IndieGoGo! Check out the project's page and get involved today. You can choose the movies that get made.

Thanks a ton for all the support. Stay tuned for more updates.

We love you too!

The Estimated Cost of Human Life in Zimbabwe is Four Dollars!

Can you imagine? Four dollars would buy most of a fast food meal in the United States, perhaps a cup of designer coffee. In Zimbabwe it is enough to motivate boys to beat pregnant women with nail ridden planks and smash the skulls of old men into the earth, blending their blood with the rich red soil of this beautiful but anguished country.

To read the rest of this blog, visit The Huffington Post.

On a brighter note, here are the winners of the official Tapestries of Hope IndieGoGo raffle.

- Peter Johnson: Private Screening with Director
- Lorraine Hariton: 3 month free membership to Women's Independent Cinema
- Nancy Jamison: 3 month free membership to Women's Independent Cinema
- Adryenn Ashley: 3 month free membership to Women's Independent Cinema
- Lauren Kastanis: Chocolates from Seattle Chocolate Company
- Joy Elliot: Playstation 2

In one collective pause-the World waits to stop the Atrocities in Zimbabwe!

WHY? I don't get it. Does any country have the courage to confront President Mugabe of Zimbabwe?

To read the rest of this blog, visit The Huffington Post.