Fire Song Down Under!

Hello there!

For those who dont know me, my name is Andrew Martin and I am a First Nations Mohawk Actor. Recently I was given the opportunity to travel to the Australian premiere of Fire Song!  But first here is a bit about how we got to this point.

 In 2014, I auditioned for a role in the feature film, Fire Song, which was set to film during the summer of that year. After surviving the auditions, and falling in love with the story, I was cast in the lead role as Shane, a young, closeted, Anishinaabe man living in a remote indigenous community in Northern Ontario. Shooting began in August 2014, with the entire film being shot over the course of 15 days! Heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, and countless cans of Redbull went into making the magic happen.

Fast forward to August 2015, when it was announced that Fire Song  would have its world premiere at the 40th Annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It would soon start travelling to film festivals such as the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival and Image+Nation Montreal LGBT Film Festival, to name a few. At the beginning of the New Year, Fire Song kicked off 2016 with its U.S. premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and recently screened at the Reelout Queer Film+Video Festival.  Next, Fire Song will be going Down Under to be screened on March 2nd at the Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney, Australia!

I know that’s a lot to take in, but if you are still with me, here is the part where I need some help. 

February 27th is the day I leave for Australia.

I was presented with the opportunity to travel to Sydney to be there at the Australian premiere of Fire Song.  My flights to and from the Land of Oz will be covered, and I will be hosted for the week I will be there. Though travel and accommodations are taken care of, that leaves me to cover the extra costs of being in Sydney for a week (food, transportation, finding Nemo etc.). This opportunity came up last minute and leaves me with just two weeks to prepare and secure some extra money.

Any and all donations are greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart. I can assure you that it means a lot to the entire cast and crew that it is being screened in Australia, and being given the chance to represent the Fire Song Family and take this beautiful and vibrant story that shows the resilience of Indigenous peoples to an audience an ocean away truly means a lot to me

As an incentive, using some of the donation money I will send a personalized postcard from Australia to those who wish to donate $15+

Thank you again,

Andrew.