WATCHorTIME

Hi, my name is Travis Beard , director of THE WATCH OR THE TIME [previous film Rockabul ]. I am making this new film with my production house partners Broken Yellow , writer Cath James and our 501c fiscal sponsor Development Now Initiatives. Mark Smith is the founder of DNI, which is a 501c3 Non-Profit, so all donations are tax-deductible!

 

THE WATCH OR THE TIME is a film that takes a confronting look at the West’s failures in Afghanistan through the stories of those who lived it. Mark, Cath and myself lived in Kabul for a combined 19 years. The characters chosen for this film are friends and people we worked alongside. Our characters represent a plethora color, expertise and madcap adrenaline junkies that made up the Kabul community. Armored car salesmen, UN political advisors, artists, photojournalists, Olympic cycle activists, university students and Taliban sympathizers. No, we don't exclude anyone from the dialogue. We are not here to present a film that has the answer. We are making a film that allows the lived experience to be told by people on the ground, and you, the audience, are left to answer the question we pose: Is the Western nation-building model obsolete in the 21st century?

This film is important to us to be made because - we all went into Afghanistan with a mission, goal and dream. Some of those were achieved, but 20 years on and more than a trillion dollars spent [by the US alone], the country has not crept back towards 1996. We can not lump on all the blame on the Taliban. We, the West abandoned the Afghans in their most desperate hour and now those that did not get out are dealing with a new era of uncertainty.

 

We have just completed the final shoot/interviews/production for THE WATCH OR THE TIME , and we are excitingly moving into post-production; editing, sound-grade, color-grade, graphics and completion outputs. We have some private investors equating to a 1/4 of the budget, but we still need to raise $50,000.

 

We will use all the monies raised to complete the film to industry standards. We, the core creatives, are not being paid for our work or time. This film is a pure passion project. Not because we don't want to be paid, but more because we believe that the film deserves the best post-production possible. And when the film succeeds, then we will accept the accolades and pats on the back. All supporters will have their name included in the credits and will receive an advance link to the film online.

 

In a time where the media bombards us with conflict from all corners of the world, we are making this film, so the Afghans are not forgotten and [we hope] the West will not make this mistake again.

 

DISCLAIMER; We are not raising funds for Afghans or to send to Afghanistan. The funds raised will be used solely to make a film about Afghanistan and will be produced in Australia. If you want to know about other work Travis does DIRECTLY with Afghans, check out Sound Central