The phenomenon of crowd-sourcing, websites where people can present their often creative projects and ask for funding from individuals, is not new to Egypt. Only last year the film collective of Mosireen managed to raise enough funds to continue working for yet another year. In 2011 filmmaker Omar Robert Hamilton, a founder of Mosireen, managed to raise $14,000 to shoot a short film in and about Palestine called Though I know the River is Dry and right now there is a campaign on one of the crowd-sourcing websites to fund the completion of the film.
The ongoing events of the Egyptian uprising and the commitment of the filmmakers to documenting them caused the year-long delay between the fund-raising and the making of the film. In the summer of last year the shoot finally took place and for the past few months the filmmakers have been cutting and editing the film.
“Palestine, as a subject, can feel inaccessible and overburdened with history. Too often genuine drama and style is lost in ideology and political correctness. But film-makers have a responsibility; art has an obligation to tell people’s stories, to tell the stories that are being buried. With this short I think we are telling a relevant and resonant story, and telling it in a way that is both challenging and dramatic,” reads Hamilton’s statement.
Though I Know the River is Dry tells the story of Alaa, played by Kais Nashif, who returns to Palestine and faces his past. Along the journey he must choose between a safe future for his child and safety for his activist brother.
Early reactions to the film have been positive; based on the rough cut version the film has been invited to premiere during the Rotterdam Film Festival later this month, and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in April of this year.
The current campaign is trying to raise funds to be able to give the film professional sound and image quality and the filmmakers have presented an itemised list of what is needed and how much it will cost, coming to a total of $15,000.
Donors can contribute from $20 up to $1000 and every donation will be met with an invitation to a screening, assigned stills or posters and a credit in the film.
For those who would like to show their support in a non-financial way, the filmmakers appreciate help in organising screenings for the film.
At the time of writing just over $9,500 has been pledged in the campaign that will end on 15 January just before midnight.
