Kickstarter: 'Finding the Funk"--a film by Nelson George

About Finding the Funk

Inspired by an idea from legendary record producer Arthur Baker, Finding the Funk is a road trip in search of the past, present and future of Funk music. We start in Dayton the birthplace of so many of Funk's originators, then onto Detroit where from the ashes of Motown, P-Funk's Mothership arose and then to LA where a new crop of musicians, like Dam Funk, are creating their own Funk history. 

Among those featured in the film are Sly Stone, Bootsy Collins, Mike D of the Beastie Boys, D'Angelo, Marcus Miller, Mtume, Nona Hendryx, Vernon Reid, Maceo Parker, Bernie Worrell, Steve Arrington, Reggie Hudlin, Sheila E, Shock G, Sade's Stuart Matthewman and Diplo. Hosted by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of the Roots. Vh1 is hoping to air Finding the Funk next spring.

After a whirlwind summer of filming concerts, outdoor festivals and intimate backstage jam sessions with some of the Funk's most notable performers, Finding the Funk is headed into post-production. $20,000 is what we need to take our film to the next level.

We'll be posting two other trailers for the film, right here, on our Kickstarter page during the pledge period, giving you all a deeper look into what we've shot and why this film will be worth your time!

Support Here

Trailer: 'All We Need is Another Chance'--The Story of the Legendary Escorts

A music documentary following The Legendary Escorts' journey as a soul group formed and recorded behind bars in 1970s America. 

SYNOPSIS

The unsung story of The Legendary Escorts is that of the musical group, formed behind bars in the early 70s at Rahway State Prison. It carries the weight and wisdom of both their tumultuous and celebratory experiences from the past decades up to modern day. Through their successes, trials, and tribulations, the storyline will explore the soul generation, civil rights movement, and penal reform from the inside.

THE STORY

The car door opens. Reginald Prophet Haynes, the founder of The Legendary Escorts, twists himself out of the car to plant two feet solidly on the ground. This was where it all started. An armed robbery on this very spot sent Reggie to serve his first seven-year prison sentence in 1968. In the midst of deplorable conditions and never-ending days, Reggie’s true self persevered and broke through – he began to sing in the yard and caught the attention of other inmates that wanted to harmonize.   

Reggie waits as a garage door opens and reveals a cozy den with two men stand playing pool. Billy, an ex marine, and LaGrant, a retired police officer, partnered with Reggie in 1986 to keep the group alive. The three remaining members of the Legendary Escorts dive into shooting the breeze. While it’s clear both Billy and LaGrant have heard Reggie’s history countless times, they sit absorbing his narration, learning new details with each retelling. The conversation inevitably returns back to the beginnings of the Legendary Escorts, and how Reggie was transferred to the infamous Rahway Prison. It was here at an inmate variety show that the Escorts sound caught the attention of prolific record producer George Kerr. 

After two years of correspondence spent convincing the warden, Kerr was allowed to bring a mobile recording studio to the prison and laid down the vocals for the first album “All We Need Is Another Chance” in just 9 hours. With their quality sound and unique story, The Escorts became a hit enjoying success on the Billboard Top Soul charts. A follow up album "3 Down 4 To Go" received similar success and a newly liberated Reggie was beginning to enjoy the view from the mountain top. 

Read More @ KickStarter

Are You a Soul Food Junkie? Support Byron Hurt's Film @ Kickstarter

"Is African American Culture a Culture of Soul Food Junkies?"

Food traditions are hard to change, especially when they're passed on from generation to generation. In this PBS documentary, award-winning filmmaker Byron Hurt shares his journey to learn more about the African American cuisine known as soul food.

Baffled by his dad's unwillingness to change his traditional soul food diet in the face of a health crisis, Hurt sets out to learn more about this rich culinary tradition and its relevance to black cultural identity. He discovers that the love affair that his dad and his community have with soul food is deep-rooted, complex, and in some tragic cases, deadly.

Through candid interviews with soul food cooks, historians, and scholars, as well as doctors, family members, and everyday people, Soul Food Junkies blends history, humor, and heartwarming stories to place this culinary tradition under the microscope. Both the consequences and the benefits of soul food are carefully addressed. So too is the issue of low access to quality food in black communities, which makes it difficult for some black people to eat healthy. In the end, Hurt determines whether or not black people are addicted to this food tradition that has its origins in West Africa and the black south, yet is loved all over the world.

Byron Hurt is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, published writer, anti-sexist activist, and lecturer. Hurt is also the host of the Emmy-nominated series, "REEL WORKS with BYRON HURT." The Independent named him one of the "Top 10 Filmmakers to Watch" in 2011. His most popular documentary, "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" (BBR), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was later broadcast on the PBS series Independent Lens. In 2010, MSNBC's TheGrio.com named BBR one of the "Top 10 Most Important African-American Themed Films of the Decade." Byron's writing have been published in several anthologies and in the media he has been covered by The New York Times, O Magazine, AllHipHop.com, NPR, CNN, Access Hollywood, MTV, BET, ABC News World Tonight, and many other outlets. Byron's latest film, Soul Food Junkies, is scheduled to be released in 2012.

Support Byron Hurt's Soul Food Junkies @ Kickstarter





Byron Hurt on Left of Black | January 2011