Sometimes They Sing - Film Festival Fund

A message from Andy and Maya

We've been friends for many years and after confessing our love as lockdown struck, we are now one of many couples born of Covid-19. Maya is a contemporary dancer, Andy, a graduating Actor at RADA; both of us are photographers and filmmakers.

When all drama school training was halted and the contemporary dance industry brought to a standstill, we were driven to self-produce and make a piece to articulate the times. With Sometimes They Sing we explored our fledgling relationship and the relatable effects of pressure, and constraint, which we found under quarantine.

This film is so important to us, as it serves as a marking of the beginning of our relationship. It also serves to describe the almost unexplainable pain and tension many of us were suffering from during April 2020, when the film was shot.

Your contribution would allow us the honour of sharing this short film with festivals within the UK and internationally. Travelling to some the 280+ festivals we may be selected for would provide life-enriching experiences, workshops and - crucially - present opportunities to form invaluable connections with other creatives and industry professionals.

 You can help to secure our future careers as filmmakers and performing artists, and importantly; offer members of the public an opportunity to empathise with us, and potentially a way of expressing their own experience during those times.


What we need and what you get

We need £5000, this will be split between various festivals, marketing and a subsidy of our travel and accommodation for when we need to travel.

Here's a breakdown:

£1450 BAFTA/OSCAR qualifying
£1800 Genre Specific
£850 Marketing(inc deliverables for festivals i.e posters, Blu-ray)
£800 Travel & Accommodation (subsidy)

Our deadline is only in 4 WEEKS TIME!

Why the short time? The more money we have earlier, the better, as we can incrementally adjust our festival budget with foresight. If we know how much money we have from the beginning, we can plan two years in advance and make the most of the donations.. If the donations come in slowly over the course of two years, the likelihood is that we will be applying for the later(vastly more expensive) final deadlines for festivals - therefore, applying for less festivals for the same amount of money.

The best part about our budget is that, once we raise £1650(marketing and travel/accommodation), its totally flexible. We can intuitively adjust our strategy based on the amount we have at any given time, and our predictions on how much we will have by certain festival deadlines. The only downfall is that in this case we will reduce the number of festivals which we apply to, however the flexibility means we will always put donations to good use!

We have various rewards available, including photos, private mailing lists, and posters! Check them out below/on the sidebar(if you're viewing on a computer)

Anyone donating more than 75% of the total budget (£3750) will be credited as an Executive producer and be invited to join the team as a business partner, given access to attend festivals where applicable and receive exclusive updates on the progression of the film on its journey through 2021/2022.


Impact of your contribution

£10 = 1-2 festival submissions
£50 = 1 - 6 festival submissions
£100 = 2-12 festival submissions
£200 = 4-24 festival submissions
£400 = budget return flight to USA/Canada for one person or 8-48 festival submissions
£500 = 10-60 festival submissions or sending us both to mainland Europe
£1000 =20-120 festival submissions

Ultimately, your donation/advocacy goes towards supporting two young emerging artists in advancing their careers, widening their networks and securing a future in a profession which they live for.

In a year that has taken so much from us all, this is a small opportunity to start to rebuild the future we will be stepping into after the pandemic; and ensuring that two less people are being excluded from the arts due to financial reasons.

Andy has a promising future as an actor as a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and has already been awarded for his short film Underground(2020).
Maya, likewise has a promising future as a contemporary dancer, and is becoming pioneer for screen-dance in a new generation of filmmakers.

This is a genuine opportunity for us to flourish, and speaking truthfully... we live for this.

 It would be such an honour and a privilege to attend any of the festivals we are applying to: and no matter how big or small your donation, it will be a valuable contribution towards our dreams.


What could go wrong?

The average rate of acceptance to any given film festival is 13% of total applicants. Of course we don't expect to be selected for every festival, so we must risk rejection from some which we apply to.

We are also still learning how to produce, so we face daily obstacles in that regard - and of course we run the risk of making mistakes.

However, we are applying to over 280 festivals and even if we are only successful with 5% of those, we would still be able to over attend 14 festivals over two years. In regards to producing, we have endless online resources and various personal contacts to learn about film festivals, producing, and marketing and we're committed to constantly building our knowledge so that we can overcome any obstacle we come to face.



Other Ways You Can Help

Please donate if you can, any amount will help us get closer to our goal, however donations aren’t the only way to support!

We know that some people cannot contribute financially, it's been a tough year, we really get it.

Spreading the message about our plan, advocating on our behalf within your personal networks and companies can be absolutely invaluable.

So please reach out to anyone who may be able to support us, and don't forget to share our campaign on Instagram (www.instagram.com/stsfilm/) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/sometimestheysingfilm)