Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal Turn to Kickstarter for 'Ambulante'
Kickstarter has become one of the most popular crowdsourcing websites for filmmakers and artists to raise money for their projects. Now two of the world's most famous Latin America actors, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, have embarked on a Kickstarter campaign. Their project is called "Ambulante," a documentary festival they want to bring to Los Angeles.
The two creators are putting the festival together from Sept. 21 to Oct. 4, and their goal is to embark on a major tour throughout the Greater Los Angeles area to create unique exhibition spaces and program free documentary cinema.
According to the Kickstarter page, their mission is to democratize documentary culture. The Ambulante project was established in 2005 and has annually organized a three-month tour across Mexico presenting remarkable international documentary cinema. If the actors raise the money, they plan on programming one free screening event and invite the filmmakers, subjects and other special guests to engage in conversation with audiences after the film. They also hope to organize screening parties and musical performances that will be free and open to the public.
The two actors are trying to raise $52,780 in order to invest in state of the art projection, transportation costs, as well as providing meals and gas mileage to the crew that would be working during the festival. With seven days left they have only made $22,645.
What's interesting about this project is that it is not a movie these actors are making. Instead they are trying to promote films by other directors through the festival. In Mexico, the Ambulante project has been successful in showing Oscar-winning documentary "Searching for Sugarman," "The Act of Killing," "Pina" and "Presunto Culpable."
Celebrities have used crowdsourcing throughout the years, particularly to promote a movie. Last year, Rob Thomas created a campaign for "Veronica Mars" and that became one of the most successful campaigns ever, making over $5 million. Zach Braff also funded his film on the crowdsourcing website, making $3 million. Other celebrities that have used it include Katherine Heigl and LeVar Burton for his "Reading Rainbow" campaign.
However, these celebrities have not always received buzz for their campaigns. Last year when Spike Lee embarked on a Kickstarter project, he received criticism because he had a movie coming out that was made by a studio. Lee defended his project by stating that he had could not get it funded by the studio. The controversy continued throughout his campaign and he even had to change his video that promoted the project. The director, however, still made his goal of $1 million.
Throughout the years, Luna and Garcia Bernal have crossed over into Hollywood and have acted in three films together. They were first seen in Alfonso Cuaron's "Y Tu Mama Tambien," which went on to be nominated for an Oscar. Later, they acted in the comedy "Rudi y Cursi," and in 2012 they acted alongside Will Ferrell in "Casa de Mi Padre." The two have also collaborated as producers on numerous projects, including the recent film "Cesar Chavez." Garcia Bernal is slated to be seen in "Rosewater," which will be Jon Stewart's directorial debut. Meanwhile, Luna is slated to be in "Me Quedo Contigo."
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