And I also extend my deep gratitude and appreciation to the Sisters of Providence of St Vincent de Paul (Kingston, ON); the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame (Kingston, ON); and the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame Visitation Province (Halifax, NS) for their generous contributions. Total support so far has provided almost three-quarters of our estimated budget.

Several people contacted me after fundraising on IndieGoGo closed, asking how they could contribute to the project. Your opportunity is here! Fundraising on IndieGoGo has opened again, with a more ambitious fundraising goal of $1500. There are 39 days left to raise the $1500. If the goal isn’t reached, then any money already pledged is returned to the pledger. This money raised this time will pay for transcription of the audio track on the recordings. Transcribing the tapes is a crucial step in the editing process - the process of turning the 14 hours of interview tapes into 75 minutes of a compelling story.

All donations gratefully received!! Every ten dollars counts! To donate, please go to:

http://www.indiegogo.com/project/view/477

All has been going well on the CAMP UNITY shoot - although my days have been ridiculously full, and I am not even sure where to begin. Each day has ended with me collapsing on the bed, unable to keep my eyes open, exhausted from a long long day.

I am extremely impressed with Kurdistan - a region full of amazing people, history, and natural beauty. Filming for the documentary has already taken the CAMP UNITY team to a diverse assortment of locations - from the conflicted city of Kirkuk, to the awesome mountain ranges on the border of Iran, to a rural eggplant/green chili farm, to the 6000 year old citadel in Erbil (one of the world’s oldest, continuously inhabited cities). And of course to the American Voices Unity Academy, which needlessly to say is an incredible event to be taking part in.

At the moment we are in the city of Suleimanya, and day 4 of the Unity Academy program here is coming to an end. The academy is progressing quite well, and the students and teachers are all working to get ready for the big show next week - next tuesday this city is in for quite an exciting evening!  Observing the exchanges between the students and teachers, both parties eager to learn from the other, has been totally inspirational from a filmmaking perspective.

It’s been yet another long day, and its time for me to head to bed to try and catch at least 6 hours of sleep. Make sure to check out the video blog we are posting - and there are more of those to come over the next 3.5 weeks that the CAMP UNITY shoot will continue… 

This would not have been possible without the support from friends, family, colleagues, and fans! I cannot thank everyone enough for the generous contributions and grassroots help in spreading the word about this incredible documentary opportunity! This IndieGoGo fundraising adventure has been an awesome experience, one that has greatly benefitted the CAMP UNITY project from its very beginning stages. I absolutely could not have done this alone, and I feel immensely lucky to have such an amazing network of people who are willing to back me up in my filmmaking projects.

Everything has been progressing quite smoothly so far, but I still cannot believe how quickly the time has passed and how soon I will find myself in Northern Iraq! It feels like I just wrote my first blog about the project and the fundraising efforts, and here I am with only 4 days to go before I begin the CAMP UNITY shoot…

I am both excited and nervous, but at the moment all emotions are being over-ridden by the last minute stress of pre-production. In many ways, I really can’t wait to just get there and start filming the project – thats always the best part of any film project as its when I feel the most in my “element”.

It will certainly be an interesting production! Aside form the general challenges posed by filming a feature-length documentary, I have recently been informed of some of the environmental factors that we will be faced with: the average temperature in Kurdistan is about 50 degrees Celsius (about 125 Fahrenheit) this time of year, sand and dust storms are not uncommon, the region is in the midst of a huge water shortage and aquatic resources continue to dwindle, and there is only electricity for about 5-6 hours of each day in the cities of Erbil and Suleimanya where the team will be based. Somehow I just cannot seem to keep myself away from difficult production scenarios!

Once again, thank you to everyone who has supported the CAMP UNITY documentary project so far! Please continue spreading the word and letting your friends and family know about this exciting project…

I will be blogging about the production while I am in Northern Iraq, so please check in to see how the Kurdish adventure is progressing and to watch the behind-the-scenes footage/video blogs we will be uploading (as long as the power/internet connections works in our favor!!!)

Yesterday, we filmed the on-going anti-poverty vigil in front of City Hall here in Kingston, and got some great shots of the vigil keepers and their posters and passers-by, some of whom were interested in what the vigil is about, and others of whom studiously ignored the men and women standing silently protesting injustice. We also interviewed two of the “vigil-keepers” and social justice advocates, Sr. Pauline Lally and Jamie Swift, who spoke about the significance of the vigil, among other things. And this morning we also interviewed Adam Newman, who is a physician at the Kingston Community Health Centres, providing medical care to people who are the most marginalized in our society. Adam sees clearly that the illnesses that his patients come with are very directly related to their poverty, housing conditions, inability to afford good food, and so on.

It has been a very full, intense, rich week. Now we will have to have the tapes transcribed and begin the work of editing and piecing together the documentary film. As a first time film maker, it seems like a daunting task. We will also have to decide if we need to interview more women in the fall and what extra visuals we will need to make the final product more effective. The right visuals will make a huge difference.

I am very grateful to all who have contributed in so many ways and for such amazing ongoing support. Thank you very much to each of you. Words can’t express my appreciation.

We also took Debbie to the food bank yesterday. She was in a very good mood, for three reasons. First, I had given her an honorarium for being in the film, so she had some extra money to put on her electrical bill and to buy a few treats for herself and her kids. Second, her son, who often gets in trouble at school was away on a field trip, and so she wasn’t waiting with baited breath for bad news every time the phone rang. And finally, she got food from the food bank, so the fridge and cupboards were stocked for a few days. She doesn’t get to the food bank very often because it is a long way from her house, and not easily accessible by public transit. She was glad of the ride, though she did comment that she hates going to “places like that”. Most people find having to ask for food humiliating, even if the food bank staff are kind and friendly. I think we got some great shots of her unpacking the food with her 3-year old daughter, who helped her put things away. We also filmed Debbie taking some of the food next door, to Summer.

Last night, we interviewed Jeanette, who spoke about the importance of affordable housing, and the changes that she has watched in the 20 years that she has worked as a community support worker for marginalized women. She spoke very powerfully. Today we interviewed Matt, a community organizer who has participated in some direct action campaigns. And tomorrow we film the weekly anti-poverty silent vigil in front of City Hall, that has been happening EVERY Friday for 13 years, every since the former premier of the province, Mike Harris, cut welfare rates by almost 22%. That rate cut has never been restored, and now with inflation, amounts to a 40% cut relative to welfare rates in the early 1990s. We will also interview Jamie, a local social justice advocate, and Sr. Pauline Lally, the General Superior of the Sisters of Providence, who sponsor the anti-poverty vigil, as well as a very active Office of Justice and Peace. The Sisters of Providence are also supporting “Life on the Cheque”, financially and morally.

Yesterday’s sense of elation has given way to feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. And this from only listening to Debbie and Summer’s life stories. It’s hard to imagine living in their shoes. Amazing what these two women have been through, and the challenges they face everyday. I think there will be many difficult decisions to make in editing the film, to tell their stories coherently and give a flavour of what their lives are like.

Perhaps it will turn out to be a blessing in disguise that we have lost two of the participants in the last few days. Sytina’s family raised concerns about how she would be portrayed in a film about single mothers living in poverty and they didn’t support her being in the film, so she decided to withdraw. That was very difficult news for me, because I think her vibrant personality would have shone on camera and her story would have added significantly to the documentary. But c’est la vie. There was no way I could convince her. And then just two days ago, Alison told me that she has to have medical tests this week after a CT scan turned up something suspicious. The new tests have been scheduled so quickly that she is worried that there is something very serious. And of course, she has to take time off work, with no sick pay, and she has no benefits. Fingers crossed that it is nothing serious, and that she will be fine. We may end up doing another shoot in the fall, and I hope we will be able to pick up Alison’s story then. She is so thoughtful, and her story of the obstacles she has faced in getting her high school education, a college diploma, and a job are very powerful and very disturbing.

Tomorrow we film Pam. And we will take Debbie to the food bank to see what the food bank provides for a family of four.

And - we have now raised $950 of our $1000 goal on IndieGoGo, after ten day of fundraising! Hurray! Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed financially and everyone who has shown such enthusiasm and support for the project. I am very grateful.

Tomorrow, we will be filming two of the women participants, Debbie and Summer, who live side-by-side. We will conduct interviews with each of them and then film them and their children at one of their joint dinners. Later in the week, we will follow Debbie to the food bank in Kingston.

Stay tuned! thanks for your interest in the project!

Elaine

Soulbird’s official statement of sponsorship:

Soulbird aims to give a voice to the those who are suffering injustice. We are very pleased to support the making of Soulbird Elaine Power’s social critique documentary Life on the Cheque. We are excited about the anti-poverty organizing and other social action possibilities offered by this project upon its completion. In the relatively affluent North American society, poverty is very often a much-overlooked social and economic injustice, especially for women and children who are living in circumstances that sometimes further prevent and stigmatize them from emerging from lifelong struggles with poverty. In supporting Life on the Cheque, Soulbird hopes to bring the poignant portraits of single mothers living in poverty, to a wider public that may not be aware of this social and economic injustice, and to engage diverse communities in an ongoing discourse about ways to combat poverty – not just in North America, but around the world.

Elaine Power, Director, Writer, and Producer of Life on the Cheque, is an assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston (Ontario, Canada), where she teaches and researches the interactions between poverty, food and health.

In anticipation of the forthcoming documentary, Power stated:

I am thrilled that the dream of filming Life on the Cheque is taking shape and very grateful for the support that Soulbird is providing. Filming, screening and distributing Life on the Cheque will help fulfill a promise I made to the women who participated in my earlier research project to spread the word about what it’s like to live in poverty and to fight for change. I believe that most Canadians still care about one another and the kind of society in which we live, resisting the neo-liberal idea of “everyone for themselves”. I hope Life on the Cheque will inspire all those who see it to advocate for a more supportive social safety net for Canadians who live in poverty.

Life on the Cheque will begin filming on June 16, 2008.  For more information, please visit the film’s project page.  To make a contribution to the film’s budget, please visit indiegogo.com/lifeonthecheque.

What motivates me? I think it is some combination of compassion and indignation; a sense that it is mostly luck that I am not in similar circumstances, and that we can and must do better as a society to look after each other.

Read the full profile here.

This was only the first fundraising goal for the CAMP UNITY project. Even when its for a good cause filmmaking is expensive, so we decided to supplement the film’s budget by raising relatively small amounts of money to help cover critical production costs on IndieGoGo. The website only disburses money to filmmakers if they reach their fundraising goal in 45 days, otherwise the money is refunded to the people who donated. With July fast approaching, we have posted another fundraising goal. Its slightly higher this time around at $1500 which will be put primarily towards sound equipment/microphones, lighting gear, camera lenses, and tapes. 

If you are interested in making a donation, please visit the CAMP UNITY profile on IndieGoGo - http://www.indiegogo.com/CAMPUNITY   Besides contributing funds to the film, you also can help out by donating equipment or frequent flyer miles on the Soulbird website, spreading the word about the project to your own network of friends and family, using the CAMP UNITY widget in emails and blogs (its available on the IndieGoGo profile), and/or endorsing the film on IndieGoGo. Everything helps!

Many thanks to those who contributed to the first round of fundraising for the CAMP Unity project:

Michelle Pallister and Chris Dennis
Kent White
Louise and Brian White
Peter and Celeste Hiller
V. Zeitlin
Cathie Spindler
Paul Bruno
Gabrielle Zeitlin
Amy Gryziec
Erin Hart
Matt Naderi
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