BREAKING NEWS (Oct 25) >>  Due to the incredibly kind donations of 187 people here, plus two external donations, we have reached our $20,000 funding target!!! Congratulations & a huge thanks to all who contributed! However, THIS CAMPAIGN IS STILL ACTIVE. We are leaving this campaign running for the time being because a few friends and supporters have indicated their intention to donate soon, and any extra funding collected here will be wisely spent on the same very real needs outlined in our pitch below. All of the donor perks offered here will still be given too. So if you still wish to donate, or know someone who does, feel free to click that bright orang 'GIVE' button and help us out. Thank you! :)

BREAKING NEWS (Oct 12) >> JALANAN has won the Mecenat Award for BEST DOCUMENTARY at the Busan International Film Festival! This is the first time an Indonesian film has won a major award in the Busan festival's 18-year history. We are of course proud and delighted. And one of the reasons we were able to make such a strong showing at Busan was due to your support here! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

UPDATE >> We started off strong and reached our emergency target of $5,000 very quickly, which was fantastic. But things have slowed down since then, and we're now only half way to our proper goal of $20,000. Time to crank it up! We're officially changing the target to $20,000 now to reflect the real deficit and new urgency: only 13 days left in the campaign! And to help things along, we'll add an important pledge: If we close this $10,000 gap, 30% of that amount ($3,000) will go directly into the life savings account set aside for JALANAN's three main characters - Boni, Titi & Ho. Please help spread the word and help us reach our goal. BIG THANKS!
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Dear friends, curious souls & random stalkers!

JALANAN ("Streetside") is a feature-length documentary film that tells the captivating story of Boni, Ho & Titi - three charismatic street musicians in Indonesia's teeming capital city, Jakarta. 

We've worked incredibly hard for the past 6 years to create this heartfelt, engaging movie, and we're excited that the results are being acknowledged: JALANAN has just been selected to screen in competition at the Busan International Film Festival in Korea - Asia's largest and most prestigious film event. On October 5th, they will host our World Premiere.

But experiences like this don't come free, and we're determined to make a splash. To get our awesome team to Korea, produce promotional materials, market the film there and cover accomodation & meals, we're going to need over $5,000. And even that's on a very tight budget. So we're going to ask you to help out.

But first, some more background:

JALANAN tells the story of the three musicians' struggles, their music, their hopes and their dreams. It's also an edgy, surprising portrait of Indonesia over a tumultuous 5-year period of rapid change. Using the powerful soundtrack of the buskers' original compositions, JALANAN traces their elusive quest for identity and love in the day-to-day of a city overrun by the effects of globalization and corruption. It's full of heart and it's packed with fun music.

Here's a very brief teaser clip:

There's a lot more to JALANAN than what you see in that clip. It's a drama/comedy/romance/musical rolled into one, full of heartbreaking, hilarious, surprising moments, human drama, political critique, social irony and even a sudden electrical blackout.

So the film is finally done, it's looking and sounding great, and we're amazed it's actually on its way to some of the best film festivals in the world, as well as a theatrical release in Indonesia (very rare for a documentary!)

But to share all this with as wide an audience as possible, and because films don't sell themselves, we need to aggressively publicize JALANAN: reach out, travel to festivals near and far, meet the right people, interact with audiences and get the film some serious exposure. All of this costs money, and at the moment we're nearly broke. 

Here are some (fake) Frequently Asked Questions to better explain our mission.

What do you want from us?
A bit of your money. 

Do you enjoy asking people for money? 
Not at all. 

Then why don't you find investors or film grants or a producer, for God's sake? Isn't that how it works?
Absolutely, and we've done this very successfully. Over the course of the JALANAN project we've raised a total of $184,000(!) from the kind of sources mentioned above, and that's actually a lot for a social documentary. Along with a painful chunk of the director's own savings, it was enough to get the film finished beautifully, beautiful enough to get it into one of the world's top film festival. But it left us with almost nothing for promotion. For this urgent purpose, investments and film funding grants either come with too many strings attached or take too long to be worthwhile. Which is why we're here. 

It's probably important to mention that JALANAN began (and remains) a totally indie project by a first-time filmmaker with almost no resources. We had no initial budget, no production house to back us, no Executive Producers, etc. Just a lot of of motivation to tell a story honestly and a serious commitment to making good art. It was, and mostly still is, a labor of love. But now that we're about to hit the international stage, we feel it's time to step up our game so that we don't waste such an amazing opportunity to get this story noticed.

So are you asking for charity? Are you poor? Are you lazy? 
No. We're asking you to support a film we think is worthy and important, which we've worked incredibly hard to make. We want tons of people across the world to get a chance to see it. If you share the sentiment, we'd be grateful for your support. If you don't, that's totally cool too. At the very least, you've now heard about JALANAN. Haha!  

The phenomenon of ‘crowdfunding’ (as campaigns like this are known) has really taken off lately and is fast emerging as the method through which future creative projects, and possibly even major businesses, will be funded. Increasingly, independent artists are finding it faster, more fulfilling and more beneficial to cut out the intermediaries and take projects straight to their intended audience – their viewers, readers, listeners, buyers, etc. This direct relationship benefits both the artist and the audience.
[Nobody explains this better than indie musician Amanda Palmer in her powerful TED Talk, 'The Art of Asking'. If you're curious, you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMj_P_6H69g]

So how much are you esking me to donate?
Totally up to you. Anywhere from $1 to $6,000, depending on your mood & balance sheet.
$5 is what you spend on a beer most places these days, that's easy.
$15 is what you'll be overcharged for a weak cocktail at a snooty night club.
$25 is what you might spend on a nice lunch.
$50 is what you sometimes spend on a nice dinner.
And those are pretty routine expenses.

Whatever. So what's in this for me?
We're offering you a bunch of cool perks (on-screen credits, personalized video messages thank-yous, etc.) If you donate $50 or more, you'll have booked yourself one of the first copies of JALANAN's official DVD, before its release to the public! 

But mostly, you’ll get a ton of satisfaction knowing you’ve supported a very special film produced straight from the heart. In this era of cheap reality TV, sensationalist news, non-stop advertising and shrinking attention spans, you’ll be part of a project that’s the very opposite of all that: patient, genuine, poetic and utterly human. You’ll have a personal part in telling an important story that would have never been told; in giving a voice to people who are normally voiceless; in supporting a documentary art form that is such an essential window to understanding cultures at a time when so much of the world is misunderstood. So you get all of that for just 10 or 25 or 100 or 250 dollars! It’s an opportunity you probably shouldn’t refuse, and the sort of deal you might want to tell your friends about, too.

Wait, would JALANAN's director give his own money to someone else's project?
He frequently does. Over the past few years he's enjoyed this relationship from the other side: Despite his own limited funds, he's donated to at least 10 different projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, some by friends, other by complete strangers, simply because he loved what they are doing and wanted to play a small part in it. In some cases he donated $5, in a few cases $100. It always felt amazing, and he loved receiving updates as those projects progressed and ultimately got launched into the world. 

So what's this Fundrazr thing? Why aren't you using Kickstarter, isn't that trendier? 
Fundrazr is a better platform for flash campaigns: It pays out immediately, doesn't impose an all-or-nothing target, and doesn't have a culture of complicated rewards that the recipient must spend tons of time procuring after the money is raised. It's a simpler, quicker model. It's more like borrowing $20 off a friend but never paying them back, and then giving 7% of that to Fundrazr and PayPal. Pretty cool. Especially for Fundrazr and PayPal!

Wait, aren't there more pressing causes for me to support than your film? 
Absolutely, and we'd never overstate the importance of this film or fundraising drive, because we dislike the alarmist tone of many public support campaigns.
We're not saving lives with this project. It's in no way crucial to the future of mankind. JALANAN brings to light a simple story from the streets of Jakarta, a tale from the margins of society in a huge, rapidly globalizing Asian city. We believe it’s important and compelling and contributes to opening hearts and minds. But it is what it is, and nothing more. So if your funds are limited and you have an opportunity to contribute your $50 to a local humanitarian initiative or help a neighbor, we'd never ask to compete with that.

Now what happens if you hit your $5,000 target early? Where will the extra money go? Will you use it to buy cocaine, or a new BMW 420i? 
We'd love to buy those things, but in reality $5,000 is just enough to get us through our very first festival in Busan, Korea. 

The hard truth is that we actually need to raise about $20,000 to cover a proper overseas festival run for the first 6 months or so. Then some money will hopefully come in from distributon deals. So we need to quickly surpass this initial $5,000 target (Busan!) and then start gearing up for the next phase, including:

• Creating even better publicity materials (companion booklet, posters, stickers, postcards, media kits and DVD screeners.)
• Producing a professional theatrical JALANAN trailer (we have a temporary one right now, and plan to make one that's even better).
• Film festival application fees (these range from $20 to $120 per festival, and we intend to submit to at least 50 festivals, holy shit!) 
• FedEx mailing costs for submissions & film master copies to festivals ($50 to $75 per packet - ouch!)
• Extra film master copies on HDCAM & DCP (to handle multiple film festival traffic & limited theatrical distribution. A single HDCAM clone costs $450 - yikes!)
• Travel costs to international film festivals (we always travel Economy on the worst airlines, and will continue to do so.)
• Survival costs at international film festivals (food, accomodation, hot dogs at 7-11)
• Website upgrade and maintenance (we need it to work well)
• Equipment for ‘guerilla’ street screenings: mobile projector, speakers, foldaway screen.
• Production of a JALANAN soundtrack CD containing the buskers’ music, to be sold by the musicians themselves as a micro-business on the streets of Jakarta, with all profits going to them.

Another thing: A portion of any extra funding will be allocated to a livelihood fund we’re setting up for the film’s three main characters – Boni, Ho and Titi – aimed at easing their long-term financial pressures. Indeed, a portion of any future revenue from the film will be allocated to this purpose.

Okay, this project sounds very cool. I'm sold. How do I donate? 
You can easily support us by clicking on the big orange GIVE button at the top right of this screen. You can use your Visa, Mastercard or PayPal. 

Do you promise that donating will make me feel good about myself? 
Yes, it will leave you feeling proud and warm and fuzzy inside.

Should I share this page with friends, or keep it a secret? 
You should share it, please.

Really?
Yes, really.

I'm so intrigued by this project & this endless FAQ section still isn't long enough. Where can I see & read more? 
Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JalananMovie
And our website: www.jalananmovie.com 
And pretty soon we'll be launching a JALANAN travel blog!