ReWilding Jefferson County film
$5,000 + $3,500 Addendum for completion
A thought-provoking 7-minute film about a small but important creek in Jefferson County, Iowa and what happened when it was altered. Written and directed by award-winning documentarian Dick DeAngelis.
Cedar Creek film final edit, promotion
$4,500
The goal of this grant was to inspire as many people as possible to act to support the mission of BeWildReWild and Big River Connectivity. Here is the result of that grant.
- Worked with Ashley to develop a focused landing page within bewildrewild.org. Made suggestions to Ashley so bewildrewild.org can collect key info from interested people and give them a clear way to become a part of the solution.
- Executed a Facebook ad strategy to maximize views of “Cedar Creek” on Facebook. Spent $850 cash and additional $620 in gifted ad credits (my oldest son works for Facebook) to drive traffic to movie. RESULT – 27,300 views of “Cedar Creek to date on Facebook.
- Rendered the film in 2 additional formats including YouTube for submissions to Film Festivals and ecology gatherings. Film festivals in particular can expand viewership and keep the impact of the film alive for much longer. To date, we have applied to 22 film festivals for the film Cedar Creek. So far, we have heard from Four festivals. We are pleased to announce that Cedar Creek was selected to screen at the following festivals:
- Iowa Motion Picture Association Awards, Iowa – Short Documentary
- Best Shorts Competition, La Jolla, CA – Documentary Short and Nature/Environment/Wildlife film
- Independent Shorts Award, Los Angeles, CA – Best Documentary Short, Best Cinematography and Best Web and New Media
We are still waiting to hear selection decisions from 18 festivals later this year (we were not selected to only one festival so far). Each submission means Cedar Creek is viewed by a panel of judges and each time Cedar Creek is selected, it is viewed live at the festival by a much larger audience.
Funding covered the costs of a) Final edit and render of film on Facebook, Vimeo and YouTube; b) Application to at least ten Midwest film festivals (includes application, submissions and possible attendance/presentations). Showing “Cedar Creek” in several key theaters throughout Iowa.(those were scheduled but have been delayed due to the pandemic)