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Welcome to IndieReign’s Crowdfunding Project of the Week Competition! 

Each week we host a voting poll for the best crowdfunding project, where you get to have your say on the independent film campaign that takes away IndieReign’s Crowdfunding Project of the Week title.

How does it work? Every week we write about four crowd funding projects for indie films, one each day. Those four projects then go into the running here for the Crowdfunding Project of the Week.

We’re handing over the final decision to you lovely readers! Choose your winner by voting for your favorite project in the poll to the right, and at the end of the week the film with the most votes wins!

Every weekly winner receives valuable promotional help from us, including:

• A feature in our weekly news e-mail
• A feature on our blog’s banner
• Promotion to our community on Facebook (26k fans), Twitter(4.5k followers), Tumblr, and Pinterest
• One-on-one consultation about film marketing, sales, and distribution with IndieReign‘s Marketing Manager
• Entry into the running for The Crowdfunding Project Of The Month!

The Contenders:

Sessions

Sessions Sessions is a web series by the production company, Caramel Cappuccino, that follows the lives of struggling actors who handle their frustrations with a healthy dose of therapy.  The first season deals with Regina, a commercial actress who is trying to find her way into the film and tv world.

Bad Day At The Office

Bad Day at the Office is an original film by award-winning director, Nick Scott, about the disastrous workday of Wallace.D. Popple. Yet within this off-beat tale about happiness lies a twist…

Vilsen (The Loss)

This project is a great Swedish action/thriller. Vilsen (the Enlgish name being, The Loss) tells the story of several dead bodies that have been found in Gothenburg, which is scaring the locals…

HitFilm for Mac

HitFilm for Mac is a project by FXhome aiming to bring unique 3D compositing, visual effects and video editing software for creative filmmakers – to Macs!

At the end of the month, the winners of the weekly crowd-funding projects competition will have the chance of winning the Crowdfunding Project Of The Month with a special blog post. The projects have a week to get friends, family, cast, crew, and fans, to comment on the Top Project Of The Month blog post about why that project should win.

One week later, the IndieReign team will pick the winner by choosing the best comment that was left. The winning campaign will then have a Centre Stage Spotlight blog post written about the people behind the winning project, and offered a non-exclusive VOD worldwide distribution deal on IndieReign for when the project is completed, which IndieReign will promote to the world.

The post Vote for Crowdfunding Project of the Week! (8) appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

Congratulations to June, Adrift, ths week’s Crowdfunding Project of the Week Winner on IndieReign!

This week we had quite a competition with the Project of the Week! The fight took off early on with June, Adrift, The Runaway Sun, and Being Independent jumping into action, which soon turned into a very close match between June, Adrift, and The Runaway Sun, but all that extra fan engagement from the cast and crew of June, Adrift, propelled them out into the lead! The June, Adrift project took out the competition with a massive 362 votes separating them from The Runaway Sun.

By winning Crowdfunding Project of the Week, June, Adrift will be featured in our weekly news e-mail, be promoted to our community on Facebook (28k fans), Twitter (4.5k followers), Tumblr, and Pinterest pages, be featured on our blog’s banner, offered a one-on-one consultation about film marketing, sales, and distribution with the Marketing Manager, Michael, at IndieReign, and they are now entered into the running for winning the Crowdfunding Project Of The Month!

If you want to read about June, Adrift‘s Kickstarter project, check it out! The project has 19 days left to raise $32,000, so if you want to show your support and become a backer of June, Adrift, you can do so here!

David Matheny’s The Runaway Sun came in second after a great voting effort, his sci-fi fantasy 25 days left on Indiegogo, and we definitely recommend checking it out!

The final placings are as follows:

1st Place     –       June, Adrift

2nd Place   –        The Runaway Sun

3rd Place    -        Being Independent

4th Place    -        Where We Belong

If you saw the tally of votes and are a little confused about the totals this week, don’t be! We realize that with this particular poll some users found a way to mass vote from one computer, but do not be fooled! We see all, and were able to set the voting numbers straight, the real tally from this week goes as follows:

June, Adrift:                   1,071 votes
The Runaway Sun:       709 votes
Being Independent:     101 votes
Where We Belong:       15 votes

Each month we will hold a Project of the Month competition, the month’s Crowdfunding Project of the Week winners will all go into the draw for the Crowdfunding Project of the Month. The winning campaign will then have a Centre Stage Spotlight blog post written about the people behind the winning project, and will be offered a non-exclusive VOD worldwide distribution deal on IndieReign for when the project is completed, which IndieReign will promote to the world.

The post Crowdfunding Project of the Week Winner: June, Adrift appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

This short-feature film is a great watch for over the weekend and is brought to you by Jordon Hodges.  It was made on a very small budget and was created by new filmmakers.  Whether you like Government Conspiracy, Drama, Suspense, Thriller, or Action this one has a bit of everything.  Impulse Black delivers great performances by Robert Miano as Dr. Osbourne and Marcy Rylan as Skyler and my favorite Will Brunson as Ruffalo.  Get the popcorn ready and watch Impulse Black on IndieReign for just $1.00!

“What do Riley Cole, Hitler, President Truman, Castro, and the person who shot Kennedy all have in common?”

Follow filmmaker, Jordon Hodges on Twitter: @jordon_hodges

The post Film To Check Out Today: Impulse Black appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

We went through our usual routine of every morning, which was walking to the train satiation, only buying a return pass, sitting for 40 minutes on the train as I tap tap tapped away on the blog during the journey, and arriving at Cannes around 9am. This time however, we decided to actually have a proper breakfast, as up to this point we had either eaten nothing till lunch time, or nibbled on left overs at the NZFC office.

So we ate at a cafe right near the train station, and price wise it was great, as things shot up in price the closer you got to the beach, as to be expected. After that we headed to the NZFC office for a bit of work, before Dave headed off into the market for meetings, and I stayed back to catch up on emails and touching base with everyone we had met up to that point.

A few hours later, Dave arrived back, arms full, with lots of films acquired and some contacts we hoped to reconnect with later on, once the dust had settled from the market. We had a debrief, and while Dave caught up with some emails, I got to watching some horror trailers of a few films we were looking to acquire, which really was a mixed bag.

At around 3.30pm, we decided it was time for a late lunch, and as we had found the McDonalds the other day, we thought now was a good time for a Royal With Cheese! A 10 minute walk later, and we were at the busiest McD’s I had ever seen, but 10 minutes later, we were outside eating something we had both dreamed of ordering since first seeing Pulp Fiction all those years before. Tasted ok, but I guess the taste wasn’t the point.

After that late lunch, we headed back to the office for a bit of work, till the NZFC drinks started at 5pm, and with no delegation on the cards, this was going to be NZ only. Though quickly a few Scottish film types turned up, which actually made it into a rather cozy affair, and fun was had by all, with of course the obligatory swapping of business cards between these new contacts.

After the drinks, we all headed off to the first of 3 parties to be held at the Australian office near the Palais over the next three nights. So as we walked up the stairs, and realised what a prime spot they had, we saw that this wasn’t just a drinks, this was an actual party. The place was packed with all types, and even though we turned up only 30 minutes after it was meant to start, we were told they were already out of wine and nearly our of beer! This can’t be a real Ozzie party, surely! Well, I don’t know, and stop calling me Shirley.

After sneaking our way onto the balcony, to get an amazing view of the Cohen Bros read carpet premier happening below, we really did soak in the atmosphere, as once again I had one of those moments where I had to take on board what was happening, as it still is very surreal sometimes. After meeting a British producer on the deck and hearing about his project, we headed inside for a spot of more networking and general relaxing and unwinding, and it really was a good time.

At around 8.30 we decided it was time for dinner, and so a few of us headed down the road to a local Spanish/French restaurant, that for a very good price, offered a three course meal. Good food, good company, and 2 hours later, we were heading back to the train station, after another great day in the wildly normal/crazy/surreal world of Cannes.

The post Following IndieReign/ReelClever at Cannes: Day 5 appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

Set in the back drop of the early 1980s (in the aftermath of the Dawn Raids and where racial tensions are high), Shopping follows two half-Samoan brothers, Solomon (Julian Dennison) and Willie (Kevin Paulo), in a story about finding acceptance in a place where there is no fair standing in society.

Their father, Terry (Alistair Browning), gives them a tough time about looking Polynesian, and tries to teach them about working harder than the rest to get what they want – albeit, in the most menacing of ways. This, in turn, drives Willie to a new family – Bennie (Jacek Koman) and his ‘shopping’ family of thieves – where hopes are not shattered and he is seen as the man he is becoming. But, as always, this doesn’t last for long and things soon get out of hand.

The directors’ deliver bountiful amounts of symbolism; though I’d probably have to watch the film again to really get a feel of what is being shown. And I would have liked to see more of the relationship between Solomon and Willie, but I guess there is enough already there for you to appreciate the love these two brothers share for each other.

Shopping really is a good film. I just hope that internationally these themes involving children mixed into a more adult-world don’t become a stereotype of New Zealand cinema. 3.5/5 stars

The post Film Review: Shopping appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

One of the amazing original perks we gained from becoming a backer of this awesome project was a customized Happy Dance video – just for us!

Crafty Shoddmanship is made up of the three lovely and talented ladies, Amanda McCann, Christine Moore, and Cassie Ramoska, and they are raising money for their film, June, Adrift, which we backed last week, and is also currently a part of our Project of the Week competition!

June, Adrift followes three women (Emma, Liesel, and Rachel) in their 20s who impulsively flee dispiriting lives to build a sailboat in rural Maryland.

If you would like to get your own Happy Dance from these three Happy Dance Extraordinares, all you need to do is back their awesome indie film with just $25! What a bargain.

Anywho, if you want a demo of the talent, check out the video we got – we are over the moon. Thanks Crafty Shoddmanship!

“Every day we are moved by the enthusiasm we hear from those around us, and many people have come through to make this project a reality.”

Find the Kickstarter page for June, Adrift here, and you can also follow them on Twitter, and their blog!

The post June, Adrift sends Crowdfunding Perks for IndieReign! appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

The Crowdfunding Project of the Day today is HitFilm for Mac, a project by FXhome aiming to bring unique 3D compositing, visual effects and video editing software for creative filmmakers – to Macs!

In the kickstarter video and on the project page FXhome talks about supporting independent filmmakers, and that’s what we love, and what we, ourselves, are in the business of doing. Here’s an excerpt from their spiel:

Small developer. Big software.

Supporting young and indie filmmakers is a core part of why FXhome was founded over 10 years ago.

HitFilm is designed to blow away all expectations. The software has only existed for 2 years but already includes:

• Over 150 effects. These aren’t presets – they’re fully customizable. No need to buy expensive extra plug-ins.
• A powerful 2D and 3D compositing environment.
• A revolutionary workflow: jump between a traditional NLE sequence and a layer-based composite shot with a single click.
• A powerful, 3D, physics-driven particle simulator. We’re not kidding around: it’s really, really good.
• Built-in 3D model import with self-shadowing, textures and group animation. No other compositor does this, especially for less than $500. (Supports .obj, .lwo, .3ds)
• 3D cameras with motion blur and depth of field.
• Advanced chroma key & matte control for green screen compositing.
• Built-in optical flow motion tracking + .ma camera tracking data import.
• Academy Award-winning planar tracking technology with mocha HitFilm.
• Non-linear editing tools: ripple, roll, slip, slice with trim viewer.
• Procedural lightning, 3D gunfire, shattering, optical light flares, blood spray and film damage. To name a handful of the 150+ effects.
• 3D text for sophisticated titling and motion graphics.

On Mac in 2013.

FXhome is small, independent software developer. Making products as big as HitFilm is expensive. That’s why powerful filmmaking software like this usually comes with a high price.

The vast majority of the Mac version will be funded by FXhome. We’ve already invested heavily in the initial R&D. The challenge is in the immediate cost to equip our developers with the essential hardware, development tools, software licenses and test machines needed to create the Mac version.

If you want to keep up to date with the progress of the software, or maybe keep in touch with the company, or get the software for Windows, or enter in some of their awesome filmmaking competitions, you can find out about them down these avenues: Kickstarter, Facebook, Twitter, Hitfilm Website, and the HitFilm blog.

The post Project of the Day: HitFilm for Mac appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

This feature drama, thriller is brought to you by Daniel Young and is a must see film on IndieReign!  Buy this excellent, well-made film and get your dose of thrilling, sexy, creepy cinema for just $1.99!

“A teenage girl is hiding a criminal inside her bedroom closet.  At first they have an innocent relationship: trading stories, making up rules, and goofing around, but slowly the man becomes bored with her girly ways and begins to spy on her lonely mother.  One day after a jealous fight with the girl the man leaves the closet and makes his way into the mother’s life”.

The post Film To Check Out Today: Pinprick appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

Without umbrellas, meant by the time we had walked to the train station, which was only around a 5 minute walk away, we were already rather wet. Even my big thick winter jacket was struggling to keep the cold and wet out. So by the time we made it to Cannes, we were a little drier, but outside it was till coming down hard, and that’s when Dave relented and bought an umbrella from one of the local men walking the streets, who on this day seemed to be doing a rollicking trade.

I was still thinking my jacket was going to be enough, but after the walk from there to he NZFC office, I quickly deduced that nope, I also needed to grab one. After a bit of work at the office, Dave headed off for a breakfast meeting with some film types, on a super yacht. Yes, you heard right, a super yacht. In Cannes, often big deals are done on such extravagant things. Once he made it there, the crew even offered to dry his pants while he had his breakfast meeting, and offered him a perfect fitting pair of slacks in the mean time. Cannes really is a whole other level.

Myself though, had a bit more work to get done, before heading into the market for a 2 hour conference on online distribution, which of course is right up our alley. Despite picking up an umbrella on the way, I was still pretty soaked when I got there, and that feeling of being wet, which started from the morning, was sadly going to be with me the rest of the day, keeping my immune system very active.

The conference was very interesting, as it covered mainly issues within the European VOD market, and how it’s going to, and is, effecting the theatrical and DVD markets. The room was over full, with over 400 people, representing hundreds of companies, with two different languages being spoken on stage, requiring little ear pieces for us to have it all translated. So it was very eye opening, and the main thing I took away from it was that this really is the time to be in this market, as these old school companies really do seem lost in the deep waters of he web, and though the market is still very much free flowing, waiting to make the move is far more dangerous than diving in right now.

As I headed back to the office, and caught up with Dave to hear about his meetings that day so far, including trying not to sound too jealous of his high powered meeting on a super yacht, we decided it was time for lunch. We almost didn’t want to have it though, as it meant heading back out into the cold driving rain, and we didn’t know if our clothes could handle any more water soaking into the lining.

But, our hunger took over, and so we headed out, and found a small cafe not too far down the street, which nicely satisfied our pangs, and brought a brief respite from the cold. While there, we also scooped out the theatre near by, as we thought it was about time we tried to make it to one of the many world premieres going on at the festival, and we knew there was going to be a very cool sounding film playing later that night that we would love to see, though we also had been told it might mean lining up in the rain for hours, which didn’t sound so inviting.

We headed back to the office for more work, and at 4pm, an Israeli delegation arrived for a round table, and once the drinks began, I had a good chat with one of them about his films, Israeli films in general, and about putting his films onto IndieReign. It really is amazing the different people you meet at these various networking events.

At 6pm, when the drinks wound up, Dave and myself headed off to go line up for the 7pm film. Yes we were told you would need to line up for much longer, but we thought an hour is enough, and if it was too long, we would move on. When we got there though, we looked at the line, and despite needing to stand in the rain, we thought our umbrellas should be enough, as it wasn’t exactly driving rain at this stage. And instead of 2 hours, or even 1, it was more like 30-40 minutes before the doors opened and we made it into our first red carpet world premiere at Cannes.

The film itself was called ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’, and documented the failed attempt of a true cinematic artist and his attempt to bring to the big screen the massive sic-fi film ‘Dune’. As this was the mid 70s, it was before Star Wars and Aliens, and his ambitious project was so ahead of its time, that it’s not so surprising it didn’t get made in the end. But his ideas, and the team he built around the designing of the project, all went onto inspire sic-fi films for decades to come.

When walking back to the train station, we picked up a drink and a mars bar each, for another nutritious eat as you go meal, and headed back to Nice, exhausted from another successful day at Cannes. Rain fell every second we were outside, and though we left for the day dry, we arrived back wet, and hoping like hell our bodies could cope enough to keep sickness at bay for the final 3 days of the market.

The post Following IndieReign/ReelClever at Cannes: Day 4 appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.

The crowdfunding project of the day today is a great Swedish action/thriller, Vilsen (the Enlgish name being, The Loss) by director Rasmus Tirzitis.

The director’s vision:

“My wish is to leave the audience with the impression that they have taken part in an exciting and dark story and have followed the main characters on an emotional journey.”

Regissörens vision

“Min önskan är att kunna lämna publiken med känslan av att ha fått ta del av en spännande och mörk historia, där de samtidigt fått följa med huvudkaraktären på en emotionell resa.”

If you’re an expert on Swedish, or are just wondering about the different name meanings, Tirzitis has offered an explanation which justifies the name choices much more clearly, which is a huge help for the more un-bilingual readers (myself included). “Without going into the meaning of “Vilsen” too deeply, it is about something that we as people go through in life when you can feel lost. The Loss is more in line with the message we want to convey. Furthermore, we do not want to confuse anyone by calling the film “Lost” since there is already a well-known TV series by that name.”

Vilsen, or The Loss, tells the story of several dead bodies that have been found in Gothenburg, which is scaring the locals. Leading the investigation is Goran Lidman whose job is to find the attacker and the tracks lead them to suspect an occult group. Former priest Gabriella, who wants to stop the murderers for her own reasons, offers her help. An unwilling cooperation begins and Lidman must accept a world beyond his comprehension if he is to stop the killer…

So far  one third of the film has been recorded, thanks to personal investments and a talented team both in front of, and behind the camera, but it is an unrealistic dream to continue on this way as funds are running low! This is why Tirzitis has started his Indiegogo campaign, to help raise the money to finish this movie!

Tirzitis says in the Indiegogo project video, that their goal is “to finish the film, without big investors that hang over our shoulders telling us how things should and should not look. The vision should steer, and not the money, we don’t want someone to come and tell us how to tell our story” and that is something that no doubt strikes a chord with any indie director that has an amazing story to tell.

“Most of you all know that there are good stories out there – that never get the chanced to be filmed because companies would rather be invested in safe bets to get back their revenues. We felt this story deserves to be told the way we want to tell it. And that is where we need your help. the money will go towards food, accommodation, and travel for the crew.”

A mindset like this deserves respect, and working for the independent film industry, this is something we feel strongly about. No one’s vision should be compromised by buying power, that is why crowdfunding is such a great platform for indie filmmakers. If you want to show your support, do like, share, or even back this project! Vilson is also on Facebook, and their website!

The post Crowdfunding Project of the Day: Vilsen (The Loss) appeared first on Independent Film Distribution.