Documentary Film Project

roject title:      The Dwindling Party

Project dates:            Begins: 4/1/16          Ends: 6/2/16        

Project director   Name:   Kevin F Burnett
                                                          

Some addicts have lived some incredible and often dangerous lives. Some of these stories are hilarious to other addicts but to normal folks they may come across as horrifying. Some have come so close to death only to reapeat it the next day, why ? Why dont they just knock it off and grow up?  Some stories are so outlandish and incredible to society but to others in recovery these tales are nothing new, or unique. No matter how insane or painful our past is there is always someone else with more preeminent experience.  Someone once said to me "Maybe if you weren't out partying all the time, you would get your s**t together"!  "Partying? I havent partied since 1991,  this is anything but a party, its a nightmare"! Im not suggesting that criminal activity be overlooked and we should enable someone into the role of  a victim, but there are proven options than the ones we practice. I dont assume that my opinions are always the correct ones, but without a conversation, there is no hope. 

My spring documentary will be a portrait of addicts, alcoholics, Counselors, Administrators and a Judge, set against the backdrop Of Olympia, WA. Olympia is a character itself, a small town accused of being a city and the third in my series of films centered in this city.  A place that seems separated from the rest of the country and where everyone seems to know one another.  I am interviewing addicts from addictive addiction to years of sobriety, sharing honestly some experiences in an empathetic attempt to meet on common ground with people that don’t understand. These stories will be juxtaposed with America's attitude towards addiction.  I will be making a critical analysis using light and sound to examine the debate of treating addiction as a health crisis instead of a criminal plague. I will back these up with interviews of professionals who have worked in the field for over thirty years as prison counselors, program administrators and a local judge who spends his retirement coordinating a foundation to raise awareness and revenue in the pursuit of moving the addicted and alcoholic out of the courtrooms, jails and prisons and into the treatment centers, and the rooms of twelve step programs 

There are funny, tragic and heartbreaking stories of the life of addicts from all walks of life because this disease knows no boundaries, from soccer moms to street kids, lawyers to criminals, it doesn’t discriminate.  Do you know anyone that hasn’t been affected either directly or indirectly by this disease?  Especially since the pharmaceutical companies have taken a more active role as the biggest drug dealers around.
I’m not claiming to know the solution, but I do know experientially that incarceration for low-level non-violent criminals isn’t the answer. We are walking around with blinders on, more concerned with the newest iPhone then taking responsibility for our community. If I had read this twenty years ago I would dismiss it as paranoid nonsense I would also point out the inconsistencies of the author and yours truly who has sucked off the system a number of years.  That was then and this is now and I’ve come to realize, living in this wonderful town, ...I mean city that we are all responsible and everyone has the power to initiate change. 
 Sobriety, as difficult as it can be in the beginning becomes such a wonderful gift that many do not live to see.  In the last twenty-five years I have lost close friends from this disease. I interviewed a young man of 25 who was charged with Felony Burglary at the age of 15, when him and his friend broke into their grandfather’s liquor cabinet. Kids do stupid things; marking them fro the rest of their lives is a travesty. He was marked and acted the part of what the small town he came from called him, a loser.  Dramatic you say? Try getting a job as felon. The local jails are filled with people serving time on drug charges alone that would serve the community, their families and themselves in such better ways if they were given a chance at sobriety. Even if you don't subscribe to any of these opinions, you can't deny the facts that it costs less to put someone through rehab than to put them through jail and prison, and that doesn't include the ripple effect into the families and communities in which they live.  Jails are like sweeping the problem under the rug, only to deal with them when they're released, bitter with new friends and a criminal education in new scams and hustles. 

 I'm not defining addiction or suggesting any solutions other than communication and truth.  

I have shot a lot of the film but need additional footage to complete the project. I am working on the side to raise money but I'm not making the amount needed in the time frame. This is the third film in a trilogy, the first two films are:  1. anti-venom  and  2. Solidarity Not Charity  (along with Ian WIshart) can be viewed @https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZMWBiQUP_vYjQ_GVUIlH8Q
the money raised will go towards materials, new and essential equipment, transportation and food. 

I’m in the process of organizing a collective of artists and activists who strive to educate even if it means stirring the pot, and if you know me, you know I love to stir it up. I too was labeled no good very young and filled those shoes for many years, not anymore; I’m taking the red pill.  So ask yourself if reality, truth, & knowledge are worth pursuing.  Ask questions, don’t believe the easy answers all the time, trust your gut, Dont believe the Hype. Or stay where you are, Take the blue pill, a life consisting of a simple belief and blind faith and unexamined habits. Just consume, and never mind that over there, they were bad and deserved it, those kinds of people do that kind of thing, if the police did that they must have had no choice. The blue pill leaves us with the comfort of the many things we believe we will receive if we take part in the everyday world and do not examine much at all. We choose this pill if we believe that we do not need truth to live. The blue pill lets us keep our identities and our allegiances with family and friends undisturbed.


Here is a list
Additional Funds will go towards the collective.

Purchase of 16mm film:

 x5   Kodak #7266 TXR455 16mm Tri-X (100' Roll) 

                                                              B & H Photo 39.95 a roll 199.95

Shipping  00.00

16mm process Of 5 Rolls       

Cine Lab 65.00 a roll student rate   325.00

                                                                           Shipping 34.00


Zeiss Compact Prime Cp.2 18mm T3.6 EF

Lens Rental 145.00 4days

   Shipping   23.00


Fuel                                        110.00


Food For Interviewees ( 8-14)  Olympia x over two weeks               125.00


Art Department 75.00



_____________

Total  $  1428.95


Additional Wishful Equipment

New Used Equipment for future projects:

Full Frame DSLR or Sony HXR
Cinema Lens Kits


Ultimate- drone w/camera...what did you just say drone? I say F...Yeah


new total                2500.00