Welcome to the Crowdsourcing Mornings segment! Every weekday morning, Geek Alabama talks about and features one crowdsourcing project from crowdsourcing sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and others. The hope with Crowdsourcing Mornings is to feature and help a project be successful and reach its fundraising goal. Please enjoy today’s featured project!
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Join our Courage Campaign to finish and release the only feature documentary on the true story of Reality Winner, a young woman who courageously exposed Russian interference in U.S. elections. At just 25, she stood up for democracy and truth, and was jailed for it. This is Reality… in her own words.
On June 3, 2017, eleven FBI agents raided Reality Winner’s home in Augusta, GA. During the search, two armed agents led Reality into a tiny backroom and interrogated her for hours without an attorney.
Then they arrested her.
Two days later, Reality was charged with espionage for sharing one single classified document with The Intercept publication – facing ten years in prison. The 5-page NSA report detailed Russian cybersecurity threats to U.S. election systems and – for the first time – informed many government officials about foreign interference. The information Reality disclosed was crucial: It gave state election officials key information on foreign threats to our voting systems, ultimately leading to reforms.
And yet, the young woman who warned the public was behind bars.
We were the only documentary team that captured Reality’s story in real time as it unfolded: We filmed the harsh prosecution, personal attacks, fear, silencing and shock when Reality Winner received the longest sentence ever imposed on a whistleblower in federal court, 63 months in prison. We extensively interviewed Reality Winner, Edward Snowden, Thomas Drake, John Kiriakou, and even The Intercept Editor-in-Chief Betsy Reed for this film.
But more than anything, we documented the incredible courage, love, and perseverance of a supportive family that rallied behind their truth-telling daughter and sister.
And there is more: In 2020, we partnered with lawyers from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and successfully sued the FBI for the actual audio recording of Reality Winner’s interrogation. Our film will include these exclusive FBI files and surveillance materials that we have fought years to get, and we cannot wait to share them with you.
As we were editing, bombshell news dropped in August 2022: Donald Trump, who went after Reality Winner with the full force of the Espionage Act, was suddenly a target himself. In the most unexpected twist, the FBI searched the former president under the same law as Reality Winner, and the ongoing revelations are keeping us on the edge of our seats.
This will be the one and only documentary film that shows the full and true story of Reality Winner told through the voices of Reality and her family, while covering a historic period in our lives. This film is for the truth-tellers.
The public needs to see this film as soon as possible to finally learn Reality’s full story and witness the power of a transparent democracy. We are close to finishing the documentary, and if we raise the funds, we can release the film in theaters and online by mid-2023. In short: We need your help to finish and get the film out!
We are looking to cover costs for:
- the final few weeks of editing, including powerful testimony from Reality
- licensing of news footage and music
- sound mix
- color grading so the film looks perfect
- a trailer and a film poster
- a publicist to make sure this film gets the attention it deserves.
We are on track to release the film in 2023, but for those new to Kickstarter, if we fall short of our goal by the January 6 deadline, we unfortunately lose all of the money raised and the opportunity to finish and release this film.
As of December 8th, this project has raised $58,000 of their $60,000 goal. This project has 29 days left to raise the $60,000 or it will not be funded. For a pledge of $25, you will get a theme song download. For a pledge of $50, you will get to stream the film. To learn more and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/763111976/reality-winner-the-documentary?
Categories: Crowdsourcing Mornings Stuff
