INWOOD — When Inwood resident Josh Liveright set out to make a film with his friend and colleague Be’ Garrett he decided to add another tool to his traditional method of calling and emailing investors to raise funds — he started putting out feelers via social media.
And so was borne the idea for the social media fundraising drive for "American Falls," a film that asks, “What happens when your ideas of race are put to the test?”
The film crew, which includes four Upper Manhattan residents, has set out to raise $20,000 in seed money to convince an interested producer to commit to a matching grant to fund the film.
They now have four days to raise the remaining approximately $4,500.
“This kind of fundraising is more emotional instead of just hammering away,” Liveright said. “You want to find a window into people’s interest and get them jazzed about it. You’re tapping into those sources through the virtual reality of social media.”
“We figured we would start the momentum and have people come on board to support the film,” said Liveright, who has been busy reaching out to potential backers on Facebook and Twitter, as well as Kickstarter, a social media fundraising tool.
Kickstarter has recently gained popularity with groups looking to fund everything from new changing rooms for a public pool in Washington Heights to helping a performer buy his own baby grand piano for solo performances in Washington Square Park.
If the film's creators are able to raise the cash needed, the movie is set to star actors Vincent D'Onofrio, whose latest acting credit is on "Law & Order: Criminal Intenet," Denis O'Hare of "True Blood" fame and Curtiss Cook, who also stars in the "Law & Order" franchise. Cook was most recently on the big screen in "Shutter Island."
"American Falls" tells the story of how the life of a Japanese-American family that owns and operates a small motel in rural southern Idaho is changed when a black man checks into the hotel.
The man is the first African-American person the family’s children have met, which motivates the family’s 13-year-old precocious daughter “to solve the mystery of this man, especially after two detectives come knocking on their door in the middle of the night.”
Liveright said the story examines the relationship between father and daughter, with a nod to the relationship between Atticus Finch and his daughter Scout in the American literary classic "To Kill a Mockingbird."
“The story is about going through a rite of passage,” Liveright said. “It’s a good story that has something to say, that’s the kind of stuff we like to sink our teeth into.”
Yishane Lee, a former Inwood resident of five years, heard about the film through Facebook and donated $100.
She said she made the donation because the film resonated with her experiences growing up Chinese in a mostly white suburb, but also because of the connection to Inwood.
“While I've moved,” she wrote in an email. “I still appreciate and support folks there, as well as the ‘hood itself.”
