Details below on a new crowdfunding campaign from filmmakers Angela Tucker and Lauren Domino for a film titled "Paper Chase," which is inspired by teen comedies from their youth (like "Sixteen Candles" and "Say Anything"), most which were devoid of black characters, or relaying some specific "black experience."
The filmmakers have set up a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000, and with just over a day to go (as of the time of this post), they’ve raised most of it, or around $40,300. So they need to raise another $9,700 or so in the next 26 hours (as of the time of this posting) for the campaign to be successful.
So, in the interest of time, read and watch their pitch/video below, and if you’re sold, head over to the project’s Kickstarter page here (or click within the Kickstarter widget below) to make a contribution! Angela Tucker’s name should be familiar, because we’ve featured her past work on this blog – creator of the awesome "Black Folk Don’t" web series, as well as producer of Yoruba Richen’s award-winning new documentary "The New Black" and more.
***
We are planning to shoot this feature film in New Orleans in early summer 2016 and we need your help!
What do you do when you’ve alienated your entire graduating class and have a week to pay for college? Throw the ultimate house party. PAPER CHASE is a teen comedy that follows Alicia, an ideal driven, well-meaning if somewhat pretentious New Orleans teenager ready to reinvent herself at Kensington University in Atlanta.
When her college dormitory balance is discovered unpaid, Alicia and her hardworking but cash-strapped, single mom Valerie must find a way to procure the funds. Completely unpopular, she turns to her best friend, Jamila, an outspoken, charismatic fashionista who steps in to throw the affair and mend Alicia’s relationships before they leave for college.
While Alicia’s mom, Valerie, makes the rounds asking various family members and friends for monetary assistance, the girls must hatch a plan to get 100 people to attend while battling new friends, future ex-boyfriends and the hipster art collective across the street.
WHY PAPER CHASE/ WHAT’S THE INSPIRATION
We’ve looked at the statistics regarding women in film, particularly women of color working in the film industry and the abysmal rate in which our projects get financed and made. Instead of getting depressed by these figures we got inspired and decided to create a project by black women; focusing on black female friendships. PAPER CHASE is the result of this inspiration.
Owning that the black experience isn’t monolithic this project speaks to black life we haven’t seen on camera before. The film’s lead characters are all women of color, actively working to take control of their lives and sexuality. It’s important to us to show the experience of black women on screen not of suffering but of comedic joy and agency. PAPER CHASE is a film in which women of color can identify and see themselves fully represented on screen. New Orleans and it’s influences also bring a lot to the story, and while our city is getting some media attention, the story is never told by people from the city. Though many film productions utilize the city, New Orleans appears to be little more than a backdrop. Rarely do films depict the city in all of its complexities. Filmed in locations all over the city, PAPER CHASE touches upon issues like race, gentrification and class through a comedic lens.
***
You can read more here.
Watch the pitch video below (Kickstarter widget underneath):
