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This is your last chance to help with the Zappa documentary and to help save the vault...campaign ends Friday at noon: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/al ... escription" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Damn they did well!

Film Movement kickstarting a 4K restoration, theatrical tour, and Blu release of Wolf Gremm's KAMIKAZE '89 starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder in his final feature role. I knew nothing about the film before watching the trailer, but wow - that trailer! Dig John Cassavetes screaming in a German accent! Rewards are a bit steep - $45 before you get a Blu - but it still looks worthwhile.

That does sound an interesting project, although unfortunately any reward relating to getting a finished disc of the film is restricted to only shipping within the US.

Good catch, colin. Sorry I didn't see that before posting. I assume it'll be region-locked, then? Wouldn't prevent it being shipped internationally by sellers after release, but could keep it from being distributed directly from FM.

I received this postcard today from the Marion Davies campaign. Thought it was kinda neat.

88 Films (UK) have a project aiming to raise £10k to restore D'Amato's ABSURD. You need to pledge £45 to get a blu-ray of it, but their gimmick is for every additional £10k they raise they will restore another film: MASSACRE IN DINOSAUR VALLEY, AENIGMA and BEYOND THE DARKNESS, and you will receive those blu-rays as well.

It's a pretty ingenious campaign: they've already passed the £10k funding goal for ABSURD, so if they do manage to raise the full £40k then bully for them, and if they don't they've just charged a bunch of people £45 for a blu-ray. Win-win.

Well they're 29% of the way to 40K after only 2 days so it's not like there's any real risk of people being ripped off. This is pretty much guaranteed to get to 30K at least, and even if you weren't happy about only getting 3 Blu-rays for your £45, you can always withdraw before it ends and get your money back (though I can see them going all the way to 40K no problem).

That's finally gotten me to sign up for Indiegogo! I thought, since I haven't got any of 88 Films discs yet, that I'd go for the £180 tier that gets the first fifteen Blu-rays in the series as well.

EddieLarkin wrote:Well they're 29% of the way to 40K after only 2 days so it's not like there's any real risk of people being ripped off. This is pretty much guaranteed to get to 30K at least, and even if you weren't happy about only getting 3 Blu-rays for your £45, you can always withdraw before it ends and get your money back (though I can see them going all the way to 40K no problem).

Good points, maybe I shouldn't have been so snarky in this instance (especially seeing as it is 88 Films, who seem like good guys in general).

colinr0380 wrote:

kidc85 wrote:One of the chaps from Nitrateville, Edward Lorusso, has a new Kickstarter up. He's done this a few times before and it's been a really interesting run of projects. Essentially he pays the LoC (or a private collector in this instance) to scan an unreleased-on-home-video silent, he commissions a composer and then rewards his backers with the DVD(-R, I believe). This time around it's for the Cecil B DeMille / Gloria Swanson flick FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE.

Edward Lorusso's next Kickstarter project has just been set up, this time for the 1921 silent Ducks and Drakes starring Bebe Daniels.

And here's the latest Kickstarter project, a Marion Davies film, The Bride's Play from 1922, the same year as Davies was in When Knighthood Was In Flower.

The 88 Films Kickstarter is just short of £18,500 as of right now. At this rate, at least the second film is guaranteed to be restored, possibly the third; the fourth might be beyond their reach, no?

I know a lot of people, including myself, are waiting for pay day at the end of the month (as unlike Kickstarter, Indiegogo take funds up front). There will also surely be a big push towards the end as there always is, especially if they're past 30K. It's not guaranteed but I can definitely see them doing it.

sir_luke wrote:Film Movement kickstarting a 4K restoration, theatrical tour, and Blu release of Wolf Gremm's KAMIKAZE '89 starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder in his final feature role. I knew nothing about the film before watching the trailer, but wow - that trailer! Dig John Cassavetes screaming in a German accent! Rewards are a bit steep - $45 before you get a Blu - but it still looks worthwhile.

colinr0380 wrote:That does sound an interesting project, although unfortunately any reward relating to getting a finished disc of the film is restricted to only shipping within the US.

I just got an email back from this Kickstarter stating that they've changed it so that they will also ship discs to Canada (at an additional cost). Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they'll reach their goal though.

Luke M wrote:I received this postcard today from the Marion Davies campaign. Thought it was kinda neat.

I hadn't been expecting one due to being in the UK but the same postcard turned up in Derbyshire this morning. That's a nice touch and also kind of relieving in the sense that it has tested out that my shipping address is correct! (Although Kickstarter allows you to use the same address for every pledge, so I knew it was OK from the previous projects coming through!)

I've been thinking that I might put it on my wall next to my World of Tomorrow postcard!

The campaign for Jan Švankmajer's last film, Insects: indiegogo link. Anyone willing to pool together 15k for that personal dinner?

I suspect the most popular option will be $150 for an exclusive Blu-ray release of five of his feature-length films (all of them since Conspirators of Pleasure, including this yet-to-be-made one).

theflirtydozen wrote:The kickstarter for Jan Švankmajer's last film, Insects: indiegogo link. Anyone willing to pool together 15k for that personal dinner?

There could be a Švankmajer film in that idea - a bunch of people fighting it out in order to get the undivided attention of the filmmaker! I might try and go for the Blu-ray set too, though it should be emphasised that since it is all tied into the production of Insects that we're not going to get any glimpse of any discs for at least two and a half years, so patience and crossed fingers sounds like it would be key to backing this one! It sort of puts the wait for the Alan Clarke set into perspective!

swo17 wrote:I suspect the most popular option will be $150 for an exclusive Blu-ray release of five of his feature-length films (all of them since Conspirators of Pleasure, including this yet-to-be-made one).

Which I think is a pretty good deal, since none of them is available anywhere on BD to my knowledge. I can easily see myself paying that much even without the cachet of helping to fund the film.

Agreed. It also includes earlier perks (downloads of the new film, the script, and a 4K-quality scan of a film frame).

There's only 17 hours left, but in case some of you missed it, there's an indiegogo campaign to make a documentary about the band Negativland.

Only 35 minutes left to fund the theatrical rerelease of Fassbinder's final role in Kamikaze '89. They're $2,540 away from their goal still. I supported it yesterday with the blu-ray perk. Let's make it happen!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/57 ... nav_search" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As predicted, the 88 Films Italian Collection Restoration Project will reach its highest target of £40,000, meaning each Blu-ray will only cost backers £11.25. A pretty good deal compared to their last campaign, where you needed to put up £20 for each of the films. There's 12 days to go yet too, so perhaps they'll add a 5th target...

Actually, anything seems possible now. The campaign reached £30,000 only 36 hours ago, and is now sitting at nearly £42,000... Eli Roth sharing it to his Facebook and Twitter followers earlier today may have had something to do with it.

For anyone curious, a lovely poster for Alice (designed by Eva Švankmajerova) has been added to the Jan Švankmajer indiegogo page (as well as Surviving Life by Švankmajer himself). All are signed by Švankmajer, limited to 50, and (in the case of Alice) almost sold out. I did not hesitate to pick one up and support the cause. May have to double dip of the Blu's as well.