Watch You Rise - Documentary Film

Watch You Rise- Documentary Film (https://vimeo.com/904900610/c0f6b9e9bb?ts=0&share=copy)

Dear friends, family, peers, mentors, and allies,

Some of you know my work, have contributed to the project, and shared it with potential donors. Thank you. I wanted to give an update a year later about where things are, invite you to donate again at whatever amount you can, and ask you to pass this on to anyone you think might be interested in supporting bringing Watch You Rise closer to the finish line.

I am now entering my fourth year of working on Watch You Rise, A Documentary that follows a journey of a young activist seeking to elevate the voices of teen and young adult sexual assault survivors and perpetrators after the MeToo movement, intending to question the current conversation, portray diverse communities, better educate young people, and discover solutions for how to transcend cycles of abuse.

The film explores how encouraging accountability from those who cause harm can be more powerful and healing than shame or isolation. Watch You Rise presents personal stories to examine the state of sex education among youth and young adults, its limitations, the effects of sexual assault, and the conscious choices by survivors and perpetrators to change the stream of damage. Questions asked during interviews make this film an exploration of the problem, the "why," and how it is essential to examine what we are taught -and what is often crucially omitted. This project is committed to making the dialogue around sexual assault and harms more inclusive, with many interviews centered around Black Indigenous youth of Color and the LGBTQIA community. Watch You Rise holds up youths' voices and opinions, usually kept out of the common media and rhetoric around these issues.

For the last year, I have continued to film interviews with youth and adult survivors. As I grow as an activist and creative, the vision for the film has evolved. I've had the opportunity to interview various experts to fill in gaps of current cultural, historical, and organizational limitations to understanding youth and young adult sexual assault. The first adult interview I conducted was with Dr. Annie Farmer, a licensed psychologist and a youth survivor of Jeffrey Epstein and Giselle Maxwell. After years of experience with major news and media outlets, Dr. Farmer said I led the most respectful and skilled interview. Other interviews have included: James S. Gordon, M.D., author of "The Transformation-Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma," Katrina Rivers, Zarina Agnew, and Mischa Byruck.

I began fundraising for the film a year ago on GoFundMe, and after a wonderful upwelling of support here on this platform, I knew that I had to continue working hard to bring Watch You Rise to fruition. This past spring, alongside some award-winning filmmakers, I was accepted into a Sundance Festival Collab class on Documentary Filmmaking. The three-month workshop helped to clarify how much is needed to bring a short documentary like this to completion, after which I began my fundraising work in earnest. To date, I have received $31,000.00 in donations!

I am requesting new donations whether you have donated before or this is your first time. Watch You Rise needs an additional $150,000 to be completed. (More information is available, upon request, about funds raised and the continuing budget.) As rights to education around sexuality, sex, and sexual assault continue to be withheld, I aim to make Watch You Rise accessible and distributable to reach communities nationwide.) This summer, I received a matching donation/grant of $18,000 from an individual; I am looking for other allies to match $18,000 or double it. I am fiscally sponsored by From The Heart Productions, which means that donations for Watch You Rise are tax deductible. Your support can help foster meaningful change in the lives of youth, young adults, families, and communities.

Thank you for your support and encouragement,

Isabella Grace Cohn

From the Heart Productions

To whom it may concern:

From the Heart Productions, Inc. is honored to provide fiscal sponsorship for the project, "Watch You Rise. We carefully select the films we sponsor, and believe that this project will make a positive contribution to society and to the field of filmmaking. We have been successfully funding films since our inception in 1993 under the 501© 3 Internal Revenue Code of 1954. We are also classified as a public charity under section 509 (a) (2) of the Code. As such, any monetary donations to our Fiscal Sponsorship Program qualify as charitable contributions under the U.S. Tax Code.

Our IRS number is: 95 [phone redacted] and as a donor, you may use this number on your taxes with the donated amount for a tax deduction. From the Heart Productions will administer any funds received

in support of this project. As fiscal sponsor for this film, we will be closely monitoring its progress. We will contribute advice and feedback where needed on fundraising initiatives, trailers, rough cuts, festival submissions, distribution, and outreach strategies.

Please make check donations payable to: From the Heart

Productions, and indicate the name of the film on the memo line. Donations can be made by Check, Credit Card, Stocks, Bonds and Crypto.

If you have any other questions, please contact me directly.

We are proud to endorse this project and encourage you to

support it.

Best Regards,

Carole Dean

President, From the Heart Productions

805-984-0098

[email redacted]

1013 Harbor Blvd., #53 Oxnard, CA 93035