A fundraising campaign from my inbox… I figured I'd let her tell her own story, with everything else you need to know underneath:

Hi, my name is Jade and I'm an award-winning independent filmmaker who happens to be deaf. I graduated from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and was the only Deaf person to graduate from film production. Since 1993, no other deaf person has enrolled.

I am looking for a blogger/writer to do a story that will help generate more supports for a feature film I am trying to fundraise via Kickstarter. This will be my 2nd feature. I wrote, produced and directed this feature film last year: www.hearmyowntunethefilm.com

A review of that film:

"Ann Marie "Jade" Bryan is promoting her new work as "the first ever feature film about deaf black culture." Indeed, it is startling to see a new drama with a deaf central character. ("Children of a Lesser God" came out nearly a quarter-century ago) and it is equally rare to find someone other than Tyler Perry making a contemporary film with African Americans as the romantic leads." Review by Phil Hall, Film Threat, http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/43980/

Since Switched at Birth, an ABC Family drama for TV, covers a white family featuring deaf actors, my film will be the first ever African-American Deaf drama. I can see this becoming a hit TV show someday.

THE STORY

The Double Life of Zhane Rain, based in New York, is a psychodrama/surreal story about a hard-of-hearing teenager who juggles with family, peers and culture conflicts, while in search of her own sexual and identity freedom, and self-realization.

Zhane Rain is an intense and carefree high school senior with three generations of both hearing and Deaf family members who unravels family secrets behind the traumatic brain injury that caused her deafness.

Here's a preview of the Kickstarter campaign. Thank you so much for taking the time.