Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede

by graham clayton-chance in York, United Kingdom

Total raised £4,000

raised so far

32

supporters

Help us make history. Supporting our film will help preserve this important LGBTQ+ community event for generations to come.

by graham clayton-chance in York, United Kingdom

We're still collecting donations

On the 8th December 2024 we'd raised £3,057 with 30 supporters in 42 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.

Help us finish this important film! We’re raising funds to move into the final stages of post-production and distribution of our film Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede. In short:

  • We transformed our short film into a feature-length documentary and we tripled the resources it needed to complete it.
  • We want to achieve the best picture and sound quality this film deserves.
  • We need additional funds to include leading country artists in our soundtrack. 
  • We want to distribute this film as widely as possible to film festivals and online to community audiences.

This project has always been a non-profit endeavour, to date we’ve waived all our fees and donated our time and personal funds, on top of the kind support from donors. 

Our target of £13,000 would help us finish the film and distribute it to a few locations over a year. Our stretch goal of £18,000 would help us create an exceptional film and distribute it widely over six years. 

The Film

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Last Dance at the Sundance Stompede is a 50-minute film about San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ annual country-western dance weekend as it came to an end after 27 years. 

In November 2023, over 800 people from around the world gathered in San Francisco to engage in four days of dancing, dance workshops, and dance performances, as the community prepared to say goodbye to their beloved event. 

Through the reflections of its participants, we explore how the practice of queer country-western dancing challenges gender norms, subverts the historical culture of country-western dancing, and creates intersectional connections.

The film explores how dance has not only forged connections, but become a form of healing, empowering individuals to reclaim their bodies, express their identities, and foster a sense of belonging. The Stompede is more than a dance event; it’s a communal ritual where people find joy, healing, and solidarity.

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The Story So Far...

  • Filming Nov 2023

Last November, thanks to the generous support of friends and the community, we raised enough money to film the final Sundance Stompede. We had intended to just make a short film, a visual diary of the event, with reflections by participants. With just me, Director of Photography Casey Regan, and an outpouring of support from the community, we spent five days capturing the magic of the event.

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We set up a room in the hotel for interviews, and filmed workshops and dances late into the night. The music was incredible—I had to Shazam quite a few songs!

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Armed with 1980's classic Leica lenses for a vintage film look, we shot 16 hours till late night, every day for five days. It was intense, but we loved every moment.

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  • Editing January to August 2024

With 18 hours of interviews and four hard drives of footage, I began the assembly process piece by piece, bringing the film to life. Initially, we’d planned this as a short film—intimate, tightly focused. 

But as I sifted through these hours of candid, heartfelt interviews, a clear truth emerged: this needed to be more than a short. The richness of our contributors’ insights and the spontaneous, beautiful moments captured over those four filming days demanded a larger canvas. 

What was going to be a project we could manage in our spare time, became a much bigger challenge. We spent the next 3 months creating the 50-minute version, employing Suzy Gillet, a brilliant edit consultant and creating a trusted circle of professional colleagues to watch edits and also screen it for people who'd never heard of the event. These responses were typical:

" I love love love love love this film! It’s so beautiful! I cried during that last dance Lee Ann Womack song. All of the interviews are wonderful, and beautifully sequenced to tell an overall story collected from many individual stories. As an audience member, the images and feelings continue to resonate in my mind, and I, too, feel like dancing! " D

" I think about this beautiful film all the time!! I want everyone to see it - it was just gorgeous. And important! And it was just so beautiful too - as a piece of visual art - the light, the angles and viewpoints. I don’t know the technical words for it all but it was luscious. " V

What We Are Raising Money For

Expanding the film to 50 minutes, however, has come at a price—one that has outgrown our budget and used up all our savings. We didn't want to cut the story down, knowing it would mean losing incredible perspectives and the intimate details that made the piece unique. So, we crafted a bigger story and accepting the resulting challenges, compelled to bring the full vision to life. 

We’ve got two targets. The first target of £13,000 will get it done, but with limitations and a short shelf life. The stretch target of £18,000 will produce a high-quality film we can be proud of and the ability to share it to our heart's content for a long time, which means more festivals around the world for six years and hosting the film online on our own terms.

Fundraising Target of £13,000: Standard Finish and 2 years Distribution

  • £7,000 towards all picture and sound finishing costs in post-production 
  • £4,000 for music licensing for two years at festivals, including two major recording artists
  • £2,000 towards Festival Submissions and promotional materials (£80 a submission).

Stretch Target of £18,000: Premium Finish & 6 years Legacy Distribution

All of the above plus:

  • £2,000 additional funds to upscale the post-production picture and sound quality with exceptional industry talent
  • £2,000 additional funds for music licensing extended to six years, including licensing to show the film online
  • £1,000 additional funds for Festivals, plus the creation of archiving material and activities to support additional screenings and talks, and a microsite to add more context to the history of the Stompede

Why Films About LGBTQ+ Life Matter

For decades, LGBTQ+ communities have been overlooked or misrepresented in the mainstream media. Our histories, our joys, our struggles—stories of real people living their lives authentically—are often erased or reduced to stereotypes. When we don’t see ourselves on screen, it becomes harder to imagine a future where we belong, where our lives are celebrated and understood. That’s why creating films about LGBTQ+ life is so important—they fill the gaps left by mainstream culture and preserve stories that otherwise might disappear.

Films like ours don't just document moments in time; they build connections across generations and borders. They empower marginalised communities by showcasing the beauty, strength, and resilience that has always existed, even when it was hidden from the world. These films serve as both a cultural record and a source of inspiration, letting current and future LGBTQ+ people know they are seen, valued, and part of a rich, ongoing legacy.

Exciting Plans for 2025

We are already in discussion with promoters in the UK and USA for screenings of the film with surrounding activities, talks and even country-western dancing! We have a cultural exchange between San Francisco and Leeds (UK) in the making, where we are screening the film alongside discussions and dancing and I'm sure that will only be the start of what's to come. 

Already I can feel that this film will be an event film, something that will bring people together and serve as a blueprint for other communities to learn what is possible.

About The Director

Graham Clayton-Chance is a filmmaker who creates moving image works for film, installation and theatre. He lives in the United Kingdom and his award-winning work has screened at International Film Festivals including Berlin, Edinburgh, London and Rotterdam. He has also been funded by the UK Film Council and the Arts Council of England.

“The highlights of my career are making films that reveal LGBTQ+ issues and culture, from So Mi Madre (nominated for a Queer Teddy at Berlin Film Festival) to helping raise awareness for the need for the first LGBTQ+ care home in the UK (which has now been built!). Also, my dance films documenting the British choreographer Nigel Charnock have reached international audiences and been nominated for awards.

Most importantly I am dedicated to using film as a means to document, record and archive the way LGBTQ+ people live – film is a crucial part of preserving history and also sharing history.” – Graham Clayton-Chance

Here are some examples of Graham's work: grahamclaytonchance.com

About The Cinematographer

NY-based cinematographer Casey Regan is known for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury and Special Jury Prize-winning 'Step' which documents the senior year of a girls' high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore. He has had lots of experience working in dance and understands the importance of documenting communities (Found - Netflix 2021, Hood River - 2021, Ballet Now - Hulu 2018). 

About The Production Company

xFilm is an award-winning independent production company based in London specialising in drama and documentaries. Its first feature-length documentary, The Climb, premiered at London Film Festival in 2017 to great acclaim. xFilm are supporting this project entirely on a non-profit basis.

Here is the company website: www.xfilm.co

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Rewards

This project offered rewards

£20 or more

Film Friend

• Thanks in film credits • Link to finished documentary on release

£40 or more

Film Contributor

• Thanks in film credits • Certificate of contribution, signed by Graham Clayton-Chance • Link to finished documentary on release

£100 or more

Film Ambassador

• Mid-level billing in film credits • Certificate of contribution, signed by Graham Clayton-Chance • Link to finished documentary on release • Special preview link to trailer

£300 or more

Associate Producer

• High-level billing in film credits • Certificate of contribution, signed by Graham Clayton-Chance • Special preview link to trailer • Special preview link to finished documentary prior to release • Post-shoot producer's catch-up with director Graham Clayton-Chance to discuss what we captured and the direction of the edit

£800 or more

Executive Producer

Top-level billing in film credits • Certificate of contribution, signed by Graham Clayton-Chance • Special preview link to trailer • Special preview link to finished documentary prior to release • Post-shoot producer's catch-up with director Graham Clayton-Chance to discuss what we captured and the direction of the edit • Special Q&A with director and production team on completion of film • Invitation to World Premiere!

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