Films can have many impacts on their viewers: they can entertain, first and foremost, they can make you feel like you aren’t alone, and they can introduce you to new people or places. But they can also be a form of activism. From films telling the stories of real activists, like “Selma” and “Milk,” to documentaries inspiring real-life action, such as “Blackfish” and “An Inconvenient Truth,” movies have the ability to both spread messages about social change and inspire audiences to take part in it.
These crowdfunding picks are all projects that either seek to educate on little known issues, inspire audiences to make a change, or serve as a way for the filmmakers to make a change themselves. In “Let’s Play: Dungeons & Dragons Behind Bars,” director Elisabeth de Kleer tells the story of prisoners fighting for their right to engage in roleplaying games while locked up. In “Georgina,” filmmakers Ana Marazzi and Gabriela Ramos Tavárez use a young girl’s story to explore the history of Puerto Rico. And in Natasha Sequeira’s “Beyond Customs,” a narrative about an uptight new father serves as much-needed representation for multiracial children and families.
Here are Women and Hollywood’s latest women-created and women-centric crowdfunding picks.
“Let’s Play: Dungeons & Dragons Behind Bars” (Documentary) – Directed by Elisabeth de Kleer
With recent projects like “13th” and “When They See Us,” incarceration and the rights of prisoners are becoming a bigger topic of popular discussion. With documentary “Let’s Play,” director Elisabeth de Kleer would focus on an unusual way prisoners work on skills like teamwork and bridge racial divides: by participating in roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Even more unusual is the fact that D&D, along with other games like it, are often banned from prisons. Wardens view these games as “demonic” and accuse them of fostering fantasies of escape — as if that is a bad thing. The documentary will be told from the perspective of inmates who have waged legal battles, some as long as eight years, for their right to play.
This topic is close to director de Kleer’s heart; she has written multiple articles about the ban on Dungeons & Dragons dice in prisons as well as the increased creativity the game can inspire in inmates. She’s also produced a short video about the topic for Vice News. Along with educating audiences, de Kleer has engaged in a more physical form of activism by partnering with the Prisoner Reentry Network, a San Francisco organization that uses gaming to help recently-released inmates reintegrate into society.
“‘Let’s Play’ is a film about perspective and identity,” de Kleer writes on her Kickstarter page. “[It’s] about using role-playing to see the world through the perspective of different characters and building empathy.”
By humanizing inmates and asserting their right to roleplaying games that positively impact them, de Kleer is not only educating audiences, but using her voice to speak for the “little man.”
Support “Let’s Play” on Kickstarter.
“Georgina” – Directed by Ana Marazzi; Written by Gabriela Ramos Tavárez
With recent, widespread protests forcing the governor to step down, Puerto Rico has been all over the news. However, many people aren’t aware that it’s a U.S. territory, that Puerto Ricans are considered citizens of the United States, or of the history of the island in general.
“Georgina” aims to change that. A feature film set in 1930s Puerto Rico, “Georgina” is about a poor 13-year-old girl living in a military state who uncovers secrets about her family, becomes entangled with a nationalist cadet, and finds herself in the middle of a clash between the government and the nationalist party.
Director Ana Marazzi and writer Gabriela Ramos Tavárez are making “Georgina” to “support Puerto Rican history education, not only on the island, but across the U.S. and Latin America,” according to their crowdfunding page. The film will, in their words, “help raise awareness about issues and movements such as: Women’s Rights, Puerto Rico’s colonial status, and the U.S.’s relationship with Latin America.”
With an all-Puerto Rican crew and a goal to screen the finished film in classrooms across the island for free, “Georgina” is an example of film that’s both entertainment and activism, proof that movies can make a change.
Support “Georgina” on Indiegogo.
“Beyond Customs” – Written and Directed by Natasha Sequeira
Although recent high profile movies like “Us,” “Captain Marvel,” and “Late Night” may lead you to believe that on-screen representation of both white women and people of color is getting better, you’d be wrong. USC found that Hollywood has made “no progress” in on-screen diversity, and most Americans find representation of women and minorities “inauthentic and lacking.” We know why representation is so important: not just because people deserve to see themselves on-screen, but because media influences how other people see minorities and how minorities they see themselves.
A film about an uptight chef who unexpectedly becomes a single parent to a daughter he never knew about doesn’t immediately bring to mind thoughts about representation for minorities. However, this is exactly how writer-director Natasha Sequeira wants things with “Beyond Customs.”
“I have invested so much time and love into this story,” Sequeira writes on her crowdfunding page. “It is one amongst others [I] have created that echo today’s need for racial empathy and open-mindedness. A film that talks about diversity without saying a word about race.”
The daughter in question is biracial, allowing exploration of two different cultures, while also providing representation to multiracial families, children, and interracial relationships like Sequeira’s. Along with advocating for mixed-race families, Sequeira, who moved to America from India in 2017, also advocates for fellow women of color. Her crew features two women, one white and one Black. “I want to make this film for all the mixed couples, families, and children out there. For all the biracial people who are disrespected and discriminated against,” she writes. “For all the young biracial couples who are judged by the color of their skin. For the colored women of the world fighting to mark their spot in this industry.”
Although deliberate on-screen representation is still revolutionary in today’s climate, Sequeira is making an impact just by following her dream of making a movie, showing other women of color they can do it, too.
Support “Beyond Customs” on Indiegogo.
To be considered for Women and Hollywood’s biweekly crowdfunding feature, please write to womenandhollywoodinterns@gmail.com. All formats (features, shorts, web series, etc.) welcome. Projects must be by and/or about women.
