Dear Friends and Supporters,
As you know Partition Stories was successfully funded 4 days prior to our deadline. Contributions kept coming in, however, and the campaign ended on May 25th. We raised $12,215 to post produce the film in 2014! Thank you for supporting us through our 6-weeks long campaign.
For Surbhi and I crowdfunding was an exciting journey full of wonderful surprises. We discovered clusters of support that stunned us, people we didn’t know who became the film’s Executive Producers, and friends we counted on but who contributed at levels that were unbelievably generous. We were touched by Nandita Das’s endorsement. She tweeted about Partition Stories and became an important contributor. Her tweet generated a wide spectrum of responses. There was some pushback about reinvestigating the past and the possibility of reconciliation. It makes our film all the more meaningful it seems.
We learned from this experience that Indiegogo isn’t just about fundraising – it’s the perfect platform to connect with talented and dynamic people all over the world. In 6 weeks our campaign page was visited by 3,000 people from almost 40 different countries! We are perennially grateful to John Siddique, who is not only letting us use his writing but has also been a wonderful ambassador for the film. Jimmy Engineer’s collaboration is so unexpected and valuable that it still takes our breath away – his Partition Paintings are Homeric in their scope and detailed storytelling. Connecting with Zeshan Bagewadi was another serendipitous turn of events as he was dreaming up a musical project that fit Partition Stories beautifully. Renowned Partition historian Vazira Zamindar consented to be interviewed and Urvashi Butalia, who has written the seminal “The Other Side of Silence: Voices From the Partition of India,” agreed to let us use her work in our documentary.
In short, we are enthused to get working on this film! It’s cool to be connected to our supporters directly, without any intermediation. We will keep you posted as we edit the film over the next few months and we look forward to fulfilling your rewards once the film premieres in early 2015.
Please keep in touch and let us know if you have any questions or comments.
Our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/partition.stories.film
Our Tumblr Blog: www.neelumfilms.tumblr.com
Partition Stories’ Website: www.NeelumFilms.com
Surbhi’s Website: www.SurbhiDewan.com
On Twitter: www.twitter.com/maraahmed
Lots of love and good vibes,
Mara and Surbhi
