Signe Baumane MAKES A FUNNY FILM ABOUT DEPRESSION WITH THE HELP OF KICKSTARTER
Latvian born, Brooklyn based Signe Baumane is a truly independent animator who has extensive experience addressing controversial subjects in her work, from horrors at a dentist's office, to a woman's point of view on sex, to depression, which, according to Signe, is not necessarily a grim subject.
"Rocks In My Pockets", Signe's first animated feature, is a funny film about depression. The story is based on true events involving the women of her family (including herself) and their surrender to madness. Only Signe lives to tell her tale.
The film combines stop motion backgrounds with hand drawn animated characters and it is scheduled to be completed in April.
Why depression and how can it be funny?
"I am not immune to depression", Signe says. "But being an animator helps me fend the monsters off with laughter. I see most serious things
as absurd, surreal and funny."
Why Kickstarter?
"For the last 3 years I have either been working by myself, or with a very small team. There is a sense of isolation, and remoteness. I don't even know if people remember me and my "Teat Beat of Sex" that screened at Sundance 2008, or "Birth" from Berlinale 2009, as well as hundreds of other festivals. I haven't attended festivals since 2010 when we started "Rocks In My Pockets". I haven't even seen many of my friends in the last 3 years.
With the Kickstarter campaign we are trying to reach two goals: first, to raise funds for sound design, music and post production, and second, to finally get back to life, open the studio doors to visitors, let the light in and make sure everybody comes to see the baby."
What are your plans for distribution?
"It is not clear to me how a distributor from the outside can take over my very personal film and speak for it.
Also, the landscape of indie film distribution is changing really fast. Every day something new happens that shakes things up.
It looks like the DIY model is the way to go for independent filmmakers, to keep some control over where the film will be screened and have a modest income from the shows, be that VOD or screenings in theaters.
This is the time when fundraising and distribution are almost perfectly aligned. Crowd Funding is a new way of establishing a connection between a film and its audience. It not just about funding. It is about relationships. Kickstarter enables an audience to chose which project to support. Through Facebook and Twitter creators build and engage with their audiences, extending the conversation beyond film screenings. There is a direct line of communication between filmmaker and audience. This is an age of dialogue."
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