Get Brianna to Toronto Film Fest

We are trying to get Brianna Jonnie, her mom, and ourselves to the Toronto Independent Film Festival for the screening of our film "If I Go Missing".

#MMIWG

The film is an art-fueled short documentary about Indigenous teen activist Brianna Jonnie, who is ridiculed by her city and the media for simply asking that at-risk Indigenous youth be given equal treatment if they go missing.

Our story:

When we first saw Brianna making Winnipeg headlines, we also saw that the ways her story was being handled by media and the public were generally geared toward supporting their own aims. Things like creating controversy with her message to fuel web traffic. We found as well that the comment sections were being led by destructive and hurtful racism and sexism. No surprise there.

Brianna's message was good. But it was getting crushed, twisted, and silenced.

We wanted desperately to give Brianna the platform she needed to deliver her simple message that we should be in this together, and that everybody should feel loved. So we did. We pitched a film to Bravo and and they said yes!

They even gave us a healthy budget of $39,400 to make the  film. And we put every cent of that into the making of the film, and then some.

We hired a professional choreographer for a dance segment, top-notch directors of photography to film it, a beautiful band to perform an original song exclusive to this film, a remarkable original music composer and musicians, and we worked with Brianna to truly make it about her message, avoiding intrusion wherever we could. I myself am an award-winning journalist and filmmaker, and I donated all the time I could to the production, direction and editing of this film.

We cared so much about this presentation, that we put a lot of our own financial resources into it too.

All told, the film cost us over $48,000 to make, and between getting gouged by middle-men, and well deserved pay for professional services rendered, we haven't made a dime in profit. In fact, we still owe money.

But this isn't about the money. It's about standing up for what is right. And Brianna is right. Everyone should feel loved. Kids in danger shouldn't be ignored because of prejudice. That is deadly to those kids. We shouldn't be divided into "us and them". And we should be involved, physically, in the well-being of our communities, regardless of race or age or our own prejudices.

This film says all that with so much more than words.

Everybody should see this film.

And this step is about exactly that.

As an official selection of the Toronto Independent Film Festival, it is extremely important that we make it to the screening of this film.

But, long story short:   We're out of money.   :(

So...

Can you help us get ourselves and Brianna to this festival? We're tapped out, folks.

This is a huge opportunity we can't afford to miss. Industry professionals scout this festival like mad. There is a good chance we can get a much wider distribution and bring this film to millions of people! All we need is a bit of money to get there. We are only asking for airfare and hotels.

And we want to bring Brianna's mom too. Because she is Brianna's rock. And we don't think she should miss a second of this either. Her mom is very insistent that we focus on getting ourselves and Brianna there first before she will accept any money to go.

The festival starts on September 6.

Please help us. We would be so grateful.

It would mean the world to so many. It would help humanize this issue. But more importantly, it would show at-risk kids that people do care. That we are out there trying our best.

Here is a cost Breakdown:

$1896  covers round-trip economy airfare for me (the producer/director), Angie the production manager, Brianna and her mom Amanda.

$720 covers hotels for Angie and I, for the four days we will need to network this thing and get a good distributor. Brianna and her mom will be hosted by their relatives in the area.

We worked to find the cheapest air and hotel rates we could in the area, and these  rates represent estimates of the mean cost of the lowest compared prices.

If by some miracle, we make more than our goal, that will be used for taxi reimbursements and meal per diems for Brianna and her mom. Any extra overflow will be put toward a possible trip to Utah for Sundance this year, which we have also entered this film in. If there are still extra funds leftover after that trip, we will donate them to action-based child protection groups such as Guardians of the Children or Operation Underground Railroad. Or you can specify privately what you'd like us to do with any leftover money, and we will do our best to accommodate.