In an era of change and of new dynamics rising within the community of Arts, ‘A’, a feature film, is here not only to bring a new way of funding and distribution, but also to raise questions regarding the contemporary meaning of the terms democracy, freedom, authority, free will, state, by using the myth of Antigone as an inspiration.

The plot…

The story takes place in a near future urban environment where a faceless authority executes publicly ‘offenders’ or exiles them to the ‘Forest’, which is located beyond the electric fence that surrounds the city.
The main characters are Alpha, a woman conformed to the oppressive way of living because of fear to react, and the Fugitive, a man who crosses to the opposite side and declared a‘Terrorist’ by the institutionalized terror of the
ruling Regime.

The different way of presenting the story

‘BAKIS’, a team of cinema, theatre, music and communication professionals, is suggesting an alternative way regarding the funding, production and distribution procedure and aims at triggering a Discussion between creators and audience:
By capitalizing the work of the team members and by using crowd funding, we achieve artistic independence, while at the same time we facilitate and aim at having direct communication between the supporters of the project and the creators of the movie.

By encouraging young artists and students to participate in the production of the visual communication material of the movie, we invest in the rising artistic potential.

By projecting the movie at Ancient Theatres of the Mediterranean, with a live orchestra in the “orchestra” of the theatre, we bridge the gap between past and present and we present a contemporary cinematic version of the myth in the place that was originally constructed to host the different adaptations of the myths.

By bringing the movie to the cities exclusively in Art & Cultural Spaces and Alternative Venues, ‘A’ is ensuring its independence
from the commercial distribution channels, while at the same time ignites a conversation about the main themes suggested in the myth and their relevance today.

By organizing parallel exhibitions of other art forms under the same roof, the artistic exploration of what it means to read Antigone today is expanded to a much broader base.

By making an open call to like minded artists all around the world to exhibit their work in this thematic world that starts from the movie.

By organizing daily discussions where a distinguished guest speaker will introduce a subject stemming from the myth and elaborating on the current state of things, the audience is not only a passive receiver of information but an active participant in the conversation.

Be part of the story

Whoever is interested in actively participating can visit
indiegogo.com/alpha-movie.com

For more Information:
Official site of the movie: alpha-movie.com
Twitter: alpha-movie.com/twitter
Facebook: alpha-movie.com/facebook
email: info@alpha-movie.com

We are finally ready to show it to the public and we wish to have an impact on those that will take important decisions regarding our oceans in the following days and weeks.

The event will be at the Goethe Institute in Brussels, just a couple of blocks away from the European Parliament.

Invite all your friends and lobby your MEPs to come along and take a stand on the upcoming Common Fisheries Policy Reform! Now we can change it! Next time will be in 10 years!

Now the project is with Mirco, who is taking care of  audio mastering, sound design and adaptation of the his composed music to the structure of the film.
And Filippo Bianchi is working on color correction, balancing lights, colors, saturation, contrast...
Naiara is working on the motion graphics for the film (titles, character names, credits), while we are putting together the long list of credits and preparing final subtitles for the film.

The screening is at SOAS through Native Spirit Film Festival on Friday the 19th of October at 8.15pm. 

SOAS is located at Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG, London, and the festival programme can be foud here. Hope to see you there!

Photos by Francesca Tosarelli and article by Alessia Gallione.

The work has been created in coproduction with the Sandgrains documentary and the article explores the conjunctions of sand gathering and the construction industry.

Visit this link to read the full article in French on the online version.

We spend a few days with Zé and his son Sion, went to a football game and on a day trip on the islands in front of Gothenburg's coast. Here below you can see a few screenshots from the footage we have taken.

We have now finally closed the chapter of the production and are entering the complex process of post-production and distribution.

Naiara Seara, our editor has been working hard on sifting through our 50 ours of material and is now working on the rough cut of the film. It is an exciting experience to see the film coming to life after almost 4 years of work on this project!!

Here below is the tearsheet of the double spread page, and if you want to see the online version visit this link.

if you want to check it out visit this link

Fish tales from the high seas of Senegal

http://www.fengsushi.co.uk/time-for-tea/win-tickets-to-the-preview-of-sandgrains/

Here you can see the photo gallery for a glimpse of what we filmed during that week of investigation.

Here is the photo gallery by Pierre Gleizes.
and here you can find a short extract of our helicopter landing on the ship.

All photos copyright of Pierre Gleizes/Greenpeace

With special thanks to the photographer Andrew Sutton who took the under water pictures.
Full copyright © Andrew Sutton

Slideluck Potshow London IV will take place on Wednesday 25th April at 81 Leonard Street. The evening will consist of a potluck-style dinner followed by an eclectic programme of slideshows curated by Fiona Rogers (Magnum Photos; Firecracker) and Harry Hardie (HERE), bringing together members of the photography, art and media communities for an evening of eating, drinking and sharing work.

For this show, they are welcoming submissions on the theme of GENDER and IDENTITY, which can be explored from historical, cultural, social, psychological or emotional perspectives. they are expecting a vibrant and provocative selection that will consist of two parts, contrasting male and female interpretations of the subject and curated by Harry Hardie and Fiona Rogers respectively.

They are delighted to announce that Blurb will be supporting the event by selecting the best story of the evening and rewarding the photographer with a £200 Gift Card to spend on Blurb.com.

GUP Magazine will select series that suit its media and provide a high-quality stage with a broad audience (online or in print), for those selected among the participating artists/photographers.

A £10 submission fee applies - 20% of the amount raised through submissions will be donated towards the Firecracker Grant to support European female photographers.
All entrants receive a £28.95 voucher to print your own photo book from Blurb, plus a 15% discount on any Viewbook plan.
Additionally, participating artists may be selected to be featured in GUP Magazine and/or DEVELOP Photo, created by Erica Mc Donald.

For more info please click here... and Good luck!!

http://www.fria.nu/artikel/91838

The project also boasts the involvement of roughly 40 people who have contributed through their qualities to the logistics of the project (translators, graphic designers, researchers, people who have opened their homes and hosted the events, people who have cooked and welcomed..)

The 'Sandgrains' project has naturally evolved and expanded. We started with the idea of a documentary, and arrived at something more.

'Sandgrains' and Matchbox Media Collective celebrate today our community of supporters.
The network has grown and new ideas were born, such as the petition to raise awareness on fisheries with WWF.
Moreover, in the coming months, the 'Sandgrains' production will tell the stories of the characters through another medium, photography.
And as always we are open to new contributions, of any kind ...!

This is the victory of crowdsourcing: together we can!

With this newsletter we want to thank everyone who has contributed in an economically difficult period, those who have voluntarily donated their quality and time, and all the people who value independence of thought and storytelling ...

The community of Ribeira da Barca awaits us and we will be with them in 2 days.
We will send you updates and developments on our investigations and stories, and on top you will have the opportunity to understand from the inside the process of documentary production through our and Francesca's blog.

We'll be in contact soon, from the lands of Cesaria and her sodade ...!

Matchbox Media Collective.

Finally, after various meetings, the British NGO 'Global Ocean' donated £1,180 to 'Sandgrains' an amount that will cover the travel and equipments costs of Andrew, our underwater cameraman.

In short, the end of this year is giving us solid hopes regarding the practical possibilities of  crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. At the moment we reached £8,026 and the total target is £10,000, with a total of 88 donors!

There is only one more week to go until the end of our crowdfunding campaign and there are real possibilities to reach the target!

We are asking you all one last effort! Please forward this project to friends and family, share it on social media, or if you can, contribute with a donation!

In the meantime, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

We're working towards a European fisheries policy that honours fishery agreements around the world. EU boats must abide by a sustainable fisheries policy wherever they operate to protect people and the environment from the adverse effects of overfishing.

Help us collect enough signatures for WWF's More Fish petition campaign, so that we can ask for a change in the policy.

WWF just published a page on their website to promote the work of the Sandgrains team. Visit this link to know more.

Garage is a specific branch within the MUBI site that exists to curate and showcase media created by emerging filmmakers. Here is the full article written by our wonderful Richard Webb.

"Today, with the publication of the following article by the Matchbox Media Collective, we initiate a collaboration that hopefully will culminate with the screening of the documentary here in Portugal, during 2012".

Here for the full article.

The sita has ½ million visitors and 1 million pages read monthly.

Follow this link to read the entire article.

Since then, the project has developed in leaps and bounds and the team of Just Do It has joined in supporting it.

Read here the full article.

Here is the video! Also with English subtitles.

Here are photos from the backstage and from the party by photographers Francesca Tosarelli and Thomas Cristofolett.

Click on the images to view the photo galleries.

Here the link to the full article.

Thanks so much for the pubblication!

Check out this short promo edited by Francesco Caradonna from footage of the July Exhibition by Francesca Tosarelli

A magnificent buffet was organized for the more than 80 people attending the event and we discussed the concept of crowdfunding and new ways of creating content.

Thanks to to the work of Dario, Dagmar, Peppe, Giuseppina, Jenny, Judith and Julia we we managed to raise over 1000 euros!

In the program were two shoots, one on at Heden football greens and another at a professional game between Assyriska FC and Jönköping in Ruddalen. We have beed joined by Robin Westerström as second camera and Linnea Ericsson as audio recordist, thanks very much to them!
New footage for the trailer, with a new interview of Jose'!
Soon to be seen in the film's website!

Sottocasa by Daniele Baiardini, among others films from Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, is in the Digital Video Library, a service by the 68th Venice International Film Festival in cooperation with Expo Venice!

Turin. Winter 2009. Reno, Cristian, Fabri. Three inhabitants of Turin.They live unusual homing situations. A man who lives at the margins of the city in a shack, a young homeless who is finding his way to reintegrate into society that has cast out him, a guy who lives in a foster home and he is wondering to leave as soon as possible, or maybe not. And there is Turin as a background, and Turin is preatty cold on winter! An Animated documentary about unusal housing in Turin. It's just a glimpse on the home\house issues hidden to the eyes of the most. A short animated documentary that follows the stories of these three characters showing us their dreams, ambitions, beliefs, defeats.

Matchbox Media is opening up submissions for the creation of Sandgrain's Logo!

Here on the side is the crowdsourced flyer for the documentary film made by Lorenzo Dzieduszycki.

Outside the coast of West Africa, on the islands of Cape Verde, beaches are disappearing, and with them a way of life. José returns home to witness his fellow islanders struggling for survival while European fleets empty their ocean. Sandgrains is a crowdfunded and crowdsourced documentary telling the story of a former football star discovering why and how the beach where he started to play football began to disappear.

We are developing a campaign together with Global Ocean in order to create a documentary film that becomes a catalyst for real impact.

The campaign is starting to take shape around asking for a change in policy at the EU level and we are planning to involve football celebrities and high profile ocean conservationists to champion a call to action.

Become Sandgrains' graphic designer by creating the logo!
The slogan for the campaign is Footballers for a Future with Fish.

The ideogram should reflect ideas around a soccer ball with fish printed on it. Sandgrains' campaign is asking for a petition to stop fishing trawler subsidies and we are at the beginning of developing a visual petition for people to upload their image with their own football with a fish painted on it.

If you'd like to give a hand please get in contact with jordie@matchboxmedia.org

Here below are a few drawings made by Howie Cooke to give an idea

Sheffield Doc/Fest and Shooting People teamed up to present By Popular Demand: Crowdfunding Your Films Panel at the BAFTA Rushes Soho Shorts: Short Filmmakers' Market.

The panel focused on how to raise funds, create a social impact, engaging communities, and what this means for film funding and business-building in the future.

Jordie Montevecchi, co-director of Sandgrains was one of the filmmakers that was on the panel to speak about how to raise money and awareness from crowd/fans/audiences/frien​ds. A discussion to find out why crowdfunding matters beyond film from those using it for music, other arts funding, activism and social impact. In three flash half-hour discussions we’ll survey the practical uses of crowdfunding and how arts funding, media and society are changing right now through the wisdom/madness of crowds.

here is an article on the event by Mike Chapman on Front Row Reviews.

present on the panel:
Michael Troughton - CEO of We Fund
Gregory Vincent - CEO of Sponsume
Jordie Montevecchi - Director of 'Sandgrains'
Richard Shaw - Producer of 'How to Start a Revolution'
Heather Leach - Director of 'Dancing with Hugo Boss'
Moderator Helen Jack for Shooting People

 I had been searching for spectacular imagery, labouring under the illusion that it was compelling, observable tableaux that somehow justified my presence, absolving me of responsibility to understand the events at hand.
How did this spectacle come about? What do this scenes of destruction, replete with shouts and blood, mean to express? What forces brought them about? And who will monitor them? We, the correspondants and reporters? No. The dead will barely have been buried, the wrecks of incinerated cars will have just been cleared away and the streets swept of the broken glass, and we will have already packed our bags and moved on, to where others are burning cars, shattering shop windows, and digging graves for the fallen.
Ryszard Kapuscinski, Travels with Herodotus, 2007

Herat - Afghanistan
I arrived on the luxury flight bringing the President of the Italian Senate, so I dodged the 18 our and famously uncomfortable army cargo to Camp Arena. But flying on the cargo gets you an introduction to what it means being embedded. You see the soldiers, their combat jackets, the machine guns, you sit with them and try to communicate through the noise of the plane. I got there without having this introduction.

 We landed early in the morning and the job started immediately with its running around. Film the president, film the general, film the soldiers, film their parades, drop your bags and run into the helicopter. Noisy. Packed with soldiers and journalists following the president. All the cameramen sitting at the back, trying to get a clean shot through the other cameras.
Thats how it started, one single event over-covered by and created for the news, and many other stories that remained untold. Working as embedded camera operator has been one of my most exciting experiences, it has enriched me personally and professionally, but it also got me closer to the world of how news are created.
With the army you can not tell or show whatever you want, just because you are in a war zone and can only go where they go (so you are told), or you go with the car of an Ngo, but stay just long enough to film their project and leave for security reasons, so you don't give time for someone to organise a kidnapping. You never stop at the side of a long road with a couple of compounds sitting on its edge. You never go into one of these cob houses lying in the dust.

Afghanistan is a fascinating country, when you fly low over it on a helicopter you can get a quick grasp at how magnificent its mountains are, how dry its deserts, how green the valleys around the precious water. But what lives in it you don't see. You see shops, kids and motorbikes from inside the armoured vehicle, and look at them through a grid, because children have fun throwing stones at the military convoys. They know the soldiers wont react, their machine gunner on the top is instructed to wave his hands whens he sees people. "The kids always reply - told me once a young commander - When they grow up, they stop; instead they look at you, intensely.

watch the videos  I  view the screenshot gallery

Thanks Nina!

There is also a small following in the article here.

For those who want to see photos of the event here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150251191107431.344316.775842430 Catch up soon!

We now also have a team of dedicated and crowdsourced researchers working on finding core audiences and implementing the data for marketing Sandgrains to funders.

We've crowdsourced subtitles for the Sandgrains trailer, now in Danish, Turkish, English, Italian, Portuguese and Swedish! All done through the wonderful Universal Subtitles app that allows for anyone to translate into their language directly on the Sandgrains Home page. Do you speak Japanese? Finnish? Translate our trailer! Universal Subtitles is fun and easy to use.

Below is a screenshot of the app on our home page.

From 7pm to 4am
MIMI' MOLLICA, photographer, "London I (Exposed)”
ENRICA CASENTINI, painter, “Open Doors”
DYBBUK *LUKE MOSS, graphic artist
FABRIZIO QUAGLIUSO, photographer, “Shine on Japan”

Bideo installations by the Butchers
Beats by Fucknose - electro-swing, gypsy & dubstep/bassline
Posh cocktails by Gabriel

8, Camerton Close E8 3TB (5 mins from Dalston Junction) London

Free entry, donations welcome at the door

Thanks to everyone for coming and making it such an awesome event, here are some photos and soon we'll have a video edit ready.

Keep track of this blog as we gonna have more events coming up

A couple of days ago we appeared in his home page!

This is the article (in italian) dedicated to crowdfunding projects and in particular about MatchboxMedia Collective and Sandgrains. To read the full article click here!

Back in London after an intense week of networking and documentaries.

We arrived second at Sheffield Doc/Fest Crowdfunding Pitch, thanks to all of you!
The online vote for Sandgrains was massive (187 votes!), but due to previously unknown rules, the present audience carried more weight.

Thank you all for voting! It showed how much support we have!
We now believe that we can have the film ready to screen at next years festival!

The panel

2000 international delegates, over 100 documentaries, 70 industry sessions, pitching events, free drinks from the BBC and much more!

Today we are pitching at the Frontline Club's Matchmaking event! The club championing independent journalism in the UK.
A good test to prepare ourselves for the major pitch at the Crowdfunding Day tomorrow.

We woke up with a nice surprise as we have been also selected to present the film at Frontline's Club Matchmaking Event at the festival. So we will have another opportunity to be on stage to present the project!!!

Looking forward to a week of intense networking and an abundance of documentaries!

This documentary is Matchbox Media Collective's first project applying the innovative approach of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing!

Discover the crowdsourcing section or check out our funding strategy and budget, read about the characters and locations or the film's background, meet the team and look up the production company. And to know more about the project, check out the whole plan.

Here is the flyer that Lorenzo Dzieduszycki made for the launch, thanks a lot!!!

Click here to watch the full photo essay

We would for this documentary to have a worldwide impact, and to make this possible we developed this site to support multiple languages. Now there are only a few, but we’d like for You to get involved!

• Do you like the idea?
• Is there an audience in your language?
• Can you use your skills to support us?
• Could you help as part of a school or college project?

Whatever the reason, we’d love you to help us out, maybe even by telling your friends about us

Maybe you have a friend you’d like to send the trailer but he might not understand the language?

Our videos incorporate the Universal Subtitles widget that allow you add subtitles in  your language.

Why not subtitle the video here?

If you feel like it, just click on the subtitle button, and start making your version.

Want to be involved in a deeper capacity, gain professional experience and maybe even join in our adventures? Just send a mail and let us know where you’d like to help.

We are planning to shoot a few underwater sequences for this documentary, but nobody of our team has the experience nor the gear, and in Cape Verde we had difficulties finding someone up to the job.

Are you an underwater camera person and want to meet us in Cape Verde for a week? Write us a mail stating your interest and please include a link to your showreel.

Do you have a friend that might be interested? Why not link him this page?

Unfortunately for this job we can only allow a fee that will cover all the expenses, check out the budget to see for yourself.

If you feel like helping us out with this aspect of production, and are happy to do it just for the fame, let us know.
Just drop us a line also if you just want to discuss all this a little further.

If you take part in the project you will be credited in the film and get a profile in the Team page.

Some say that the crowd has talent, We believe them!
Are you a graphic designer? Can you do the job? You are in the team!

Are you a professional designer and want to become part of the team?
Or are you a graphics amateur wanting to give your shot at this?
Maybe you are a student looking to find the perfect work to bring to the exams and want to make something that becomes real?

If you participate with your idea, you will get a behind the scenes access through our subscribers’ newsletter for producers and a special note on our web site.
If you win the contest your work will become the logo of this project, and you will become the designer for this project with a profile in the team page and a credit in the film. Check out the budget to see how much is allocated for this paid job.

If you choose to take part in the contest, here are some guidelines:

You should submit a finished and fully developed graphic idea for a logo (ideogram) and the ‘Sandgrains’ text (logotype) connected to it.

The idea should be that these two elements go together but can also be used separately.

Keep in mind that this creation of yours, if selected, will be giving the tone to the entire graphic visualization of the project on different media.

The design should take inspiration from the issues explored in the film; there is a lot of information in this web page, but if you would like to discuss further any aspect relating even remotely to the work you intend to do, don’t hesitate to drop us a mail.

If your work is ready for submission just export a full resolution image, and send it along with your full contact details to Jordie or Gabriel, whose contacts you can find here.

If you win the contest and accept to be the graphic designer for the project, bear in mind that this is an innovative but also risky way of making a film, and we can’t foresee how much we will be able to fundraise.

Do you believe in the project and think it can make some kind of impact?

Share your thoughts with your contacts!

Write about it in your blog!

Get others interested in it!

Spread the word on Twitter, Facebook and other destinations! 

Our project relies on word of mouth, so please consider making the leap from just following the project to having an impact.

If you're a journalist, then perhaps your audience might be fascinated to hear about all the cool stuff we're doing. We're currently compiling a Press Kit where you'll be able to find some relevant info but for the meantime you can send us a mail and we'll be happy to answer any questions.

If together we decide to start a collaboration, you will be credited in the film as part of the research team and have a special note on this website.

An inspiring article by Peter Broderick

Declaration of Independence - The Ten Principle of Hybrid distribution