IndieGoGo: fundraising for independent film-makers · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

IndieGoGo, an indie film-maker platform
Benjamin Bewick from Pulso Social wrote and brought to our attention IndieGoGo, a website where independent film-makers can raise funds and promote their film. In his post he points us towards three Latin American examples that are taking advantage of the system:
“Pelotero” from the Dominican Republic, “Changes Lives” from Mexico, and “Digital Aymara” from Bolivia are films using the independent film website, IndieGoGo, to attract investors and fans from the US while the films are in production.
How are these independent film-makers using IndieGoGo exactly? Pelotero, for example, on their profile page, has a short video excerpt of their documentary, they have  a list of widgets you can use to promote the film on different social networks such as on twitter or facebook, or simply emailing it to a friend, or adding a widget to your page.  There is a panel where they suggest what is needed for the film: in their case, they already succeeded in raising $2000, and now are requesting $10000 for post-production, editing, musicalization, etc. They also have an announcements tab where they keep fans posted on developments on their movie and link to their official site and facebook page.
Here is the excerpt of their film:
The Mecca of Baseball from Ross Finkel on Vimeo.
On IndieGoGo you can search projects by country, by city, date posted, rating, funding status, funding goal and percentage reached in their fundraising activities. So what else is there from around the world?
From Indonesia, JALANAN documents the life of 3 street musicians who play on buses in the streets of Jakarta. They have already won a production grant from ITVS to make the movie, now they need cash to finish the production:
JALANAN (“Streetside”) tells the captivating story of Boni, Ho and Titi – three gifted, charismatic bus musicians in Jakarta – and through them a wider, mostly-unknown story of contemporary Indonesia. JALANAN intimately portrays the young musicians’ lives and quirky sub-culture, while also painting a striking portrait of Indonesia’s frenzied capital city that is raw, humorous and brutally honest. JALANAN accompanies the three characters as they perform songs of social angst on commuter buses, debate politics, flee their tunnel home during a monsoon flood, and get locked up by police. It follows them back to their home villages in East Java and traces their elusive quest for legitimacy, identity and love in their adopted city.
There is also Frontrunner, a documentary about a woman in Afghanistan running for president:
Frontrunner is an enthralling journey through a moment in history, a woman’s quest to become Afghanistan’s first democratically elected president. Nimbly navigating hostile terrain, filmmaker Virginia Williams offers a riveting portrait of Dr. Massouda Jalal, a pediatrician and mother of three who faced near insurmountable challenges in her bid to lead a rigid Muslim society.
Following, an 8 minute trailer for the film, which is attempting to raise $5000 USD for distribution and promotion of the film, and also in subtitling the film to local languages and to be distributed in mobile cinemas throughout Afghanistan and other developing countries.
Read more about how IndieGoGo works and how to participate here.  The also provide a great resource for movie-makers in their Blog, where they promote screenings, contests, activities and even have a monthly section  by Roberta Marie Munroe on how to keep short films fresh, including hilarious examples of the most seen cliches that you should not include in your film if you wish to stand out (in a good way).