Documentary-making 3.0

Independent filmmakers rely increasingly on a variety of web tools to make and promote their documentaries. With The Pelargonium Project, we also tried crowd-funding.

Websites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter are funding platforms where artists, journalists, organisations etc post a presentation of their project (this includes a text usually, pictures, sometimes a trailer), and invite their friends to donate. Sometimes, project founders get the totality of their budget covered. With our Indiegogo page, in a month we managed to cover about 15% of our expenses, which is about 4% of our total budget.

Another example is The Last Prince of the Kalash, a documentary about a game of hokey played by a Pakistani group, the Kalash, whose survival is being threatened by the recent floods. This unique sport has never been filmed or photographed. The filming crew is currently getting ready for this shoot, and actively looking for funds online. You can donate here.