Ahmed Khawaja
Describe your idea.
I’m currently writing my second feature film and plan on shooting it starting in July. It’s titled Green Card Club or Maggie Makes Mesmile! It’s about a recent college graduate/international student who within a week assembles a book club made up of women a few years out of college. There’s also his roommate/best friend who helps him moderate discussions in their living room. This young man’s sole aim is to secretly date them all, over the course of four months, so that one of them might want to marry him, out of pity, or love, but for the sake of a green card. We’ll be shooting the movie in the area with non-professional actors, using a documentary/fiction hybrid style.
The book club meetings will be segments of the film. Between now and the end of the summer i plan on having at least four meetings. This book club will start with either Nicholson Baker’s Vox, a book about phone sex, or maybe Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Anyone interested in joining this club is more than welcome to join in and take part in the shooting. Again, remember, it’s for the film, but it’s also real; not the dating part, but the book club.
My co-director, Andre Puca (roommate/best friend), with whom i made my first feature effort, Kassandra With A K is an adjunct film professor at Emerson College, where he’s been able to meet some recent graduates who will be working with us on this project (I’ve also gotten to know them through being an usher at the Harvard Film Archive). This project will serve as a test run for filmmakers coming out of different film programs who haven’t had a chance yet to work together, giving young filmmakers in Boston a chance to collaborate. In the past, Andre and I have had to rely on friends living in NYC, which kills our spontaneity and it would be great to make this project happen with a local crew instead.
How will you use your grant?
If my project is rewarded with this grant, I will use it specifically towards the sum needed to purchase 10 rolls of 400ft 16mm Kodak Vision 3 stock (approximately $1,200).
What is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?
There will be a website available in august with a short film about each book club meeting, and when the movie is finished, hopefully by end of august, I will do a screening at the Harvard Film archive. The greatest thing about receiving funding, especially from a community source, is that however joyful the endeavor of making a film can sometimes be, the task of committing my time and loyalty is incumbent now not only because I feel the need to make a film, but because everyone here tonight might be willing to see it, can, given we all live past this night of the 21st.
Showing posts with label 21 May 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 21 May 2011. Show all posts
Proposal: Adult Tickets
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Posted by
Alex
Ben Ewen-Campen & Pennie Taylor
Describe your idea.
In an illogical attempt to reduce the frustration felt by parking ticket recipients, the city of Cambridge has started including yoga exercises on the ticket envelope. it goes without saying that this is condescending and infuriating.
It is time to break the web of unhappy associations that emanate from each parking ticket we receive. What better way to do so than to create a series of erotic photographs in which Cambridge and somerville parking tickets are flanked by the fully unclothed bodies of diverse members of our community. The photos not be safe for work, but we’re all grown-ups, right? They’ll be funny and hot, they will not be tasteful at all, and they won’t be creepy—just beautiful naked guys and girls with parking tickets. They will be just what the doctor ordered. They will be shot on color film, with a flash.
Since it wouldn’t be “legal” to leave these photos on the windshield of every car we see with a parking ticket on it, we propose to help submerge this parking ticket-themed pornography into our collective subconscious through an art show and smut give-away. The approximately 10 filthy images will be displayed in a small gallery spot, and will be available as a free photocopied zine to those who attend the opening of this show.
These zines will spread like happy vines. in addition, we will use the internet to invite everybody around to make their own funny parking-ticket themed art (erotic or non-erotic (aka boring)) to hang up in the same gallery.
To anybody who has seen these smutty pictures or made their own, their next parking ticket (which they’ll probably get outside the art show if it’s held in somerville) will conjure not just anger but also hopefully some cooler feelings. These feelings will then be transferred to that person’s next interlocuter, and onwards. and thus, through smut, the net weight of unhappiness in the world will be diminished by one ounce.
How will you use your grant?
This project is simple and cheap: get a lot of parking tickets (which we’re great at) and then make 10 naked photos (we’re well-qualified), then advertise the show on the internet to get lots of other folks to make parking ticket-related art.
12 rolls of Kodak color film ($38.20); film processing ($108); printing 10 prints for the show ($50); printing 250 zines online ($140); refreshments for the opening ($100).
Total: $436.20. And that’s flexible.
What is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?
The smut will be generated and ready to display in a gallery.
Describe your idea.
In an illogical attempt to reduce the frustration felt by parking ticket recipients, the city of Cambridge has started including yoga exercises on the ticket envelope. it goes without saying that this is condescending and infuriating.
It is time to break the web of unhappy associations that emanate from each parking ticket we receive. What better way to do so than to create a series of erotic photographs in which Cambridge and somerville parking tickets are flanked by the fully unclothed bodies of diverse members of our community. The photos not be safe for work, but we’re all grown-ups, right? They’ll be funny and hot, they will not be tasteful at all, and they won’t be creepy—just beautiful naked guys and girls with parking tickets. They will be just what the doctor ordered. They will be shot on color film, with a flash.
Since it wouldn’t be “legal” to leave these photos on the windshield of every car we see with a parking ticket on it, we propose to help submerge this parking ticket-themed pornography into our collective subconscious through an art show and smut give-away. The approximately 10 filthy images will be displayed in a small gallery spot, and will be available as a free photocopied zine to those who attend the opening of this show.
These zines will spread like happy vines. in addition, we will use the internet to invite everybody around to make their own funny parking-ticket themed art (erotic or non-erotic (aka boring)) to hang up in the same gallery.
To anybody who has seen these smutty pictures or made their own, their next parking ticket (which they’ll probably get outside the art show if it’s held in somerville) will conjure not just anger but also hopefully some cooler feelings. These feelings will then be transferred to that person’s next interlocuter, and onwards. and thus, through smut, the net weight of unhappiness in the world will be diminished by one ounce.
How will you use your grant?
This project is simple and cheap: get a lot of parking tickets (which we’re great at) and then make 10 naked photos (we’re well-qualified), then advertise the show on the internet to get lots of other folks to make parking ticket-related art.
12 rolls of Kodak color film ($38.20); film processing ($108); printing 10 prints for the show ($50); printing 250 zines online ($140); refreshments for the opening ($100).
Total: $436.20. And that’s flexible.
What is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?
The smut will be generated and ready to display in a gallery.
Proposal: Depressing Dinner
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Posted by
Alex
Tony Pham
Describe your idea.
In the likely event of a global post-apocalyptic food crisis, I propose an educational leftovers potluck. To attend, guests must provide whatever free food they come across before the event. No limitations specified. Example ingredients may come from office kitchens, school lounges, or Costco sample Tables to name a few and may include abandoned bread, sugar packets, and cheese plates among other items. The host will prepare dinner on the spot with the only rule being that he use everything. The event will play upon participant creativity and the ever increasing potential for free food within an ever decreasing economy.
How will you use your grant?
I’ll need to buy proper cooking equipment, decorations, silverware, red table cloth, candles, and other utensils for guests. Beyond that I’ll require money to create a website and rent event space.
What is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?
Depressing Dinner will happen before the next Feast Mass.
Describe your idea.
In the likely event of a global post-apocalyptic food crisis, I propose an educational leftovers potluck. To attend, guests must provide whatever free food they come across before the event. No limitations specified. Example ingredients may come from office kitchens, school lounges, or Costco sample Tables to name a few and may include abandoned bread, sugar packets, and cheese plates among other items. The host will prepare dinner on the spot with the only rule being that he use everything. The event will play upon participant creativity and the ever increasing potential for free food within an ever decreasing economy.
How will you use your grant?
I’ll need to buy proper cooking equipment, decorations, silverware, red table cloth, candles, and other utensils for guests. Beyond that I’ll require money to create a website and rent event space.
What is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?
Depressing Dinner will happen before the next Feast Mass.
Proposal: Vanitas Showroom
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Posted by
Alex
Amanda Antunes & Autumn Ahn
Describe your project.
This is an exploration of self-portraiture. Taking the moral undertones of vanitas paintings, we are working to choreograph a pilgrimage through the stages of emotional indulgences we encounter in human growth: despair, rebirth, lust, solitude and anxiety. We plan to build five stations to guide and illustrate the narrative through a visual sermon about material impermanence and of vanity’s closeness to rotting—to death. These illustrations reflect the ephemeral nature of our emotions. Through simple actions—dressing and undressing, the model will take herself through this cyclical progression of development, as it is for most growing individuals. Confusing, erratic, lush and temporary, this is a celebration of human error. The remaining installation can be shown as the exhibition.
There will be no dialogue, there will be sound. This performance will have live accompaniment. This will most likely be documented via photography & video. This project is a collaboration of multiple creative individuals who are participating for the sake of being involved in something inspiring. The 'labor of love' to provide the visual community with our questions on the adjusting human psyche is a constant underlying tone throughout this project. We believe that the process of reflection is crucial to the continuation of artistic exchange--and as all artists know, you can't really understand your idea until you've seen it coalesce in real life. Even then, it is in flux. Please help us celebrate this beautiful cyclical tradition!!
How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?
Materials// Latex/acrylic paint ($50); props ($50); textiles for dress fabrication ($50); pay for transportation ($50); pay for space if necessary (we are applying to various locations we have scouted as appropriate: Mills Gallery, Fourth Wall Gallery, and others); any rentals & purchases necessary for performance (chairs, postcards, refreshments) ($100); printing costs for documentation ($100). etc.
If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time the next Feast Mass rolls around?
Describe your project.
This is an exploration of self-portraiture. Taking the moral undertones of vanitas paintings, we are working to choreograph a pilgrimage through the stages of emotional indulgences we encounter in human growth: despair, rebirth, lust, solitude and anxiety. We plan to build five stations to guide and illustrate the narrative through a visual sermon about material impermanence and of vanity’s closeness to rotting—to death. These illustrations reflect the ephemeral nature of our emotions. Through simple actions—dressing and undressing, the model will take herself through this cyclical progression of development, as it is for most growing individuals. Confusing, erratic, lush and temporary, this is a celebration of human error. The remaining installation can be shown as the exhibition.
There will be no dialogue, there will be sound. This performance will have live accompaniment. This will most likely be documented via photography & video. This project is a collaboration of multiple creative individuals who are participating for the sake of being involved in something inspiring. The 'labor of love' to provide the visual community with our questions on the adjusting human psyche is a constant underlying tone throughout this project. We believe that the process of reflection is crucial to the continuation of artistic exchange--and as all artists know, you can't really understand your idea until you've seen it coalesce in real life. Even then, it is in flux. Please help us celebrate this beautiful cyclical tradition!!
How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?
Materials// Latex/acrylic paint ($50); props ($50); textiles for dress fabrication ($50); pay for transportation ($50); pay for space if necessary (we are applying to various locations we have scouted as appropriate: Mills Gallery, Fourth Wall Gallery, and others); any rentals & purchases necessary for performance (chairs, postcards, refreshments) ($100); printing costs for documentation ($100). etc.
If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time the next Feast Mass rolls around?
By the next Feast gathering the first installment of this project will be complete and documented.
June: The drafting of specific props (resin cast body corsets, plaster masks, preparing various other sculptural elements). We hope to have a confirmed space by the mid- June as well.
July: Dress fabrication will happen. Gathering of props, finishing specific space measurments & planning (site-specific drafts, rehearsals)
August: Final installation & performance will happen.
We'd like to repeat this project various times. We believe that this platform for visual narration can be infinitely evolving; with use of more materials or even paring down materials we'd like to experiment with how this can effect the outcome. These are finessed experiments with results that are tangible and ephemeral. Because of the nature of performance, we are excited to explore the project's development with each presentation.
June: The drafting of specific props (resin cast body corsets, plaster masks, preparing various other sculptural elements). We hope to have a confirmed space by the mid- June as well.
July: Dress fabrication will happen. Gathering of props, finishing specific space measurments & planning (site-specific drafts, rehearsals)
August: Final installation & performance will happen.
We'd like to repeat this project various times. We believe that this platform for visual narration can be infinitely evolving; with use of more materials or even paring down materials we'd like to experiment with how this can effect the outcome. These are finessed experiments with results that are tangible and ephemeral. Because of the nature of performance, we are excited to explore the project's development with each presentation.
Proposal: Freedom Art Theatre Retreat
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Posted by
Alex
Ilana M. Brownstein — 2nd place $300
Describe your project or idea.
The Freedom Art Theatre Retreat for Boston Area Artists will pluck 9 emerging theatre makers (3 each of playwrights, designers, and dramaturgs) from the hot, humid urban jungle that is Boston in August, and transport them to a lush, green, woodsy cabin in the Maine woods for a week. While there, they will be encouraged to think outside the box; to innovate through unexpected collaborations; and to let their relocation into a natural space provide fertile ground for new artistic growth. The participants will be drawn from the ranks of Boston’s young, hungry fringe theatres, who are eager to produce new work by emerging playwrights, but who have few formalized infrastructures for supporting that work in development. The goal of the Retreat is to let loose the bonds of production budgets, and encourage these teams to create the boldest, bravest work possible.
How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?
Considering the number of artists this project will sponsor, and the amount of time we get to spend in the woods, the total budget for the Freedom Art Theatre Retreat is surprisingly low. For under $3000, I’ll be able to rent a vacation property for a week in August, rent a van to transport the artists, and pay for gas. Art + travel + housing = not too shabby. Also, a grant from Feast Mass would be a huge help in the growth of our grassroots funding campaign, providing seed money, and sparking confidence and excitement in a growing network of supporters.
Most importantly, if you choose to fund us, your few hundred dollars translates into specific and tangible support of 9 other artists, and all their collaborators at their home theatres.
Describe your project or idea.
The Freedom Art Theatre Retreat for Boston Area Artists will pluck 9 emerging theatre makers (3 each of playwrights, designers, and dramaturgs) from the hot, humid urban jungle that is Boston in August, and transport them to a lush, green, woodsy cabin in the Maine woods for a week. While there, they will be encouraged to think outside the box; to innovate through unexpected collaborations; and to let their relocation into a natural space provide fertile ground for new artistic growth. The participants will be drawn from the ranks of Boston’s young, hungry fringe theatres, who are eager to produce new work by emerging playwrights, but who have few formalized infrastructures for supporting that work in development. The goal of the Retreat is to let loose the bonds of production budgets, and encourage these teams to create the boldest, bravest work possible.
How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?
Considering the number of artists this project will sponsor, and the amount of time we get to spend in the woods, the total budget for the Freedom Art Theatre Retreat is surprisingly low. For under $3000, I’ll be able to rent a vacation property for a week in August, rent a van to transport the artists, and pay for gas. Art + travel + housing = not too shabby. Also, a grant from Feast Mass would be a huge help in the growth of our grassroots funding campaign, providing seed money, and sparking confidence and excitement in a growing network of supporters.
Most importantly, if you choose to fund us, your few hundred dollars translates into specific and tangible support of 9 other artists, and all their collaborators at their home theatres.
If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time the next Feast Mass rolls around?
10–12 weeks after the next meeting of Feast Mass coincides exactly with the timing of the Freedom Art Theatre Retreat, which is currently scheduled for the 2nd week of August.
By that time, I will have completed total fundraising efforts to meet my $3000 goal (or I will pay for it out of pocket), I will have solicited and vetted applicants to the Retreat, and will have met twice already with the participants as a group.
Then, we go make art in the woods!
Finally, in September, Playwrights’ Commons will throw a bash where Retreat participants will get to present their work to other local art makers and fringe theatre producers. Ideally, this will seed multiple new projects at theatres around Boston.
10–12 weeks after the next meeting of Feast Mass coincides exactly with the timing of the Freedom Art Theatre Retreat, which is currently scheduled for the 2nd week of August.
By that time, I will have completed total fundraising efforts to meet my $3000 goal (or I will pay for it out of pocket), I will have solicited and vetted applicants to the Retreat, and will have met twice already with the participants as a group.
Then, we go make art in the woods!
Finally, in September, Playwrights’ Commons will throw a bash where Retreat participants will get to present their work to other local art makers and fringe theatre producers. Ideally, this will seed multiple new projects at theatres around Boston.
Proposal: Contain This: How Your Urban Garden Grows
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Posted by
Alex
Erika Hess — 1st place $600
Describe Your Idea.
At a time where prices are high and incomes are low, most of us have become champion comparison shoppers. We navigate not only the streets of the city but the aisles of the grocery store. Unfortunately for many, the first thing to go is high quality produce. Last year I began my adventure into urban gardening. From window containers, a 3 foot plot of land, to kid's swimming pool: growing your own produce is simple and cheap when you know how to do it. I want to help others save money while not having to sacrifice eating high quality food. Good food shouldn't just be for those who can afford it.
Along with teaching others how to grow their own produce, I want to teach how to compost on a small scale (trust me, it's way cleaner and easier than you think) and how to use recycled containers such as water bottles, coffee cans and jars to keep costs low. Education is not only power but saved cash and nutritious!
For one month, (or longer if money allows) I will bike around to different areas with my goods in tow and set up a table to teach/demonstrate what I have described above. I will demonstrate how to make containers out of recycled bottles, how to grow lettuce and herbs in these containers, composting and giving out mini how-to booklets illustrated by yours truly. Those that want to get dirty can plant with me and leave with their own seedling! How cool, right? Your own little plant, THAT YOU CAN EAT!
How Will You Use Your Grant?
The money supplied will be used to buy soil, seeds, seedlings (I will be able to supply some of my own) and print mini how-to booklets. The rest will be used to buy extra tools for participants: gloves, hand spades, scissors. I have the bike, bike trailer and table. I plan on doing this every Saturday for one month.
If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time the next Feast Mass rolls around?
I will have gone out and given demonstrations in Boston and Brooklyn and will have documented the interactions in photos and video. I will also have set up a blog where I will encourage people I interact with to post pictures of their own urban gardens, DIY ideas, and contact me with questions.
Describe Your Idea.
At a time where prices are high and incomes are low, most of us have become champion comparison shoppers. We navigate not only the streets of the city but the aisles of the grocery store. Unfortunately for many, the first thing to go is high quality produce. Last year I began my adventure into urban gardening. From window containers, a 3 foot plot of land, to kid's swimming pool: growing your own produce is simple and cheap when you know how to do it. I want to help others save money while not having to sacrifice eating high quality food. Good food shouldn't just be for those who can afford it.
Along with teaching others how to grow their own produce, I want to teach how to compost on a small scale (trust me, it's way cleaner and easier than you think) and how to use recycled containers such as water bottles, coffee cans and jars to keep costs low. Education is not only power but saved cash and nutritious!
For one month, (or longer if money allows) I will bike around to different areas with my goods in tow and set up a table to teach/demonstrate what I have described above. I will demonstrate how to make containers out of recycled bottles, how to grow lettuce and herbs in these containers, composting and giving out mini how-to booklets illustrated by yours truly. Those that want to get dirty can plant with me and leave with their own seedling! How cool, right? Your own little plant, THAT YOU CAN EAT!
How Will You Use Your Grant?
The money supplied will be used to buy soil, seeds, seedlings (I will be able to supply some of my own) and print mini how-to booklets. The rest will be used to buy extra tools for participants: gloves, hand spades, scissors. I have the bike, bike trailer and table. I plan on doing this every Saturday for one month.
If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time the next Feast Mass rolls around?
I will have gone out and given demonstrations in Boston and Brooklyn and will have documented the interactions in photos and video. I will also have set up a blog where I will encourage people I interact with to post pictures of their own urban gardens, DIY ideas, and contact me with questions.
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