‘A Thousand Cranes’ extended Pitch Video (Duration 8:36)

6 years ago I was first introduced to the Vice Short Documentary ‘What a Nuclear Bomb Explosion feels like’. The harrowing descriptions of what these people experienced left a permanent itch to discover more on a subject so powerful to me, yet for some reason, so minimally covered by the media. Once myself and my team started our journey, we discovered the rabbit hole goes far deeper than we could of possibly known…

Behind the Scenes of an interview for ‘A Thousand Cranes’

Why the title, ‘A Thousand Cranes’?

While on our journey, we were constantly finding origami paper cranes in our subjects homes. Huge collections of them! Finally we had to ask why everyone had them…

Sadako Sasaki, a survivor of the atomic blast of Hiroshima. She was only 2 years old when the bomb hit. At age 10, she developed leukaemia due to the radiation, that would eventually take her life at age 12…

In her two years in hospital, she learned of the story of ‘A Thousand Paper Cranes’, an old Japanese fable that says whoever can fold 1000 paper cranes will be granted a wish. She went onto fold as many cranes as she could from any scraps of paper she could find. Before her death she managed to fold over 1300 paper cranes. 

“I will write Peace on your wings, and you will fly all over the World.” – Sadako Sasaki 

Sadako’s wish was one of Peace. The Paper Crane has become a symbol of Peace for the world ever since.

Myself and our team have spent the last year reserching and reaching out to first hand victims and scientists of the effects of Nuclear Weapons Testing. We broke these people down into 5 categories; Atomic Veterans, Hibakusha (survivors of the blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki), Uranium Minors, Downwinders, and the Marshallese, to create a global perspective of the entire issue.

 To date we have interviewed with 36 people across the UK and USA, including Hawaii, we have driven over 18,000km’s, and we have been graciously accepted into communities within the Spokane Tribe and by the Enewetak Elders of the Marshall Islands.

Finished filming in Hawaii with the local Marshallese children

To date, myself, Rodrigo Borda, Carl Oliveros and Ivan Madeira have volunteered our time  for this project, and I have personally invested over $40k CAD to get us this far into our production. Now we need your help to bring our filming to a close and get this project seen by the amount of people a subject like this truly deserves! 

A project like this requires skill and careful planning. Our team has been meticulous in how we spend every penny, and all costs to date have been for hard costs only, such as flights, accommodation, food, vehicle hire and equipment rental.

I have been fortunate enough to be sponsored by Panavision (www.panavision.com), who have been gracious enough to supply us with our second camera and accessories for a fraction of the usual cost, which has greatly helped our cause! 

To date we have spent just over $40k CAD, and to complete filming we need a further $164k CAD. This will allow us to continue our filming in our harder to reach locations, including the Marshall Islands, Hiroshima and Southern Australia, as well as bring on our editor to get us to a first rough cut. 

To keep costs as lean and as low as possible, only myself and Rodrigo Borda travel, leaving Ivan and Carl planning ahead from a distance. As you can tell from our current work in the pitch videos above, this has not impacted the quality of what we have been able to capture with such a small team, but has kept us light, intimate and able to adapt quickly!

Once we reach our first Rough Cut, we will be in a position to pitch the doc to already interested sales agents, and fund the remaining post production and rights costs to fully complete the film!

$128k CAD covers the costs of everything related to finishing filming, including accommodation, translators, food, flights, equipment, etc, for the remaining 10 weeks of filming. $15k CAD goes to our editor to compile everything we have into a first rough cut. The remaining $21k CAD goes towards Indiegogo fees and perks for our generous backers!

If we manage to REACH our goal, we will be able to continue forward as planned with capturing the most essential elements of this unbelievable story!

If we manage to EXCEED our goal, then we plan to further follow elements of our story that would take us to the indigenous tribes of Norway and to Kazakstan, to speak with peoples who were victim to the Russian Nuclear Testing Program. 

If we DON’T REACH our goal, unfortunately we will have to step back and reevaluate destinations and communities we will have to miss… Our ethos with this film has always been the importance of first hand accounts. Stories are what make changes in society. If we have to scale back, then we have to rely more on archival footage than first hand accounts. This will reduce the impact of our piece, but will mean we can still finish the film, in a worst case scenario!

REWARDS!

The main reward we believe is the knowledge that your money will be carefully spent on shining light onto an incredibly important and under represented subject matter. These communities have been fighting for decades for fair compensation and recognition, and you will be a major part of that! ….However, who doesn’t love gifts?!

Our rewards include;

• EARLY DIGITAL COPY OF THE FILM! – To be sent to you via private link, months before the official release of the film!
• SIGNED POSTER! – A signed poster from the creative team for you to take pride in your support!
• HIROSHIMA PAPER CRANE! – One of the most unique and beautiful gifts we received on our journey was a Paper Crane folded by a Hibakusha in Hiroshima. Now you can get your own of this incredibly unique symbol of peace!
• LABRATS CHALLENGE COIN! – a special medal style coin, in limited quantity, donated by the LabRats team!
• LABRATS ANNUAL MEETING VIP! – A very special chance to attend the LabRats annual conference as a VIP. Meet Atomic Veterans face to face and have the chance to hear these incredible stories in person.
• PREMIERE TICKETS! – Who doesn’t love a red carpet? 2x tickets to our World Premiere!
• ONE HOUR MEETING WITH THE CREATIVE TEAM! – Want to meet with the people that made the doc? Take your chance to ask us anything, pitch us on something, or promote your own work! For one hour, we are all yours!
• SURPRISE HIROSHIMA GIFT! – For those that like a unique surprise, on our journey to Hiroshima, we will be picking out something unique for each person who gets this reward. This will be a unique Hiroshima gift that comes direct from the town itself.
• GOLDEN CRANE! – …Made of brass. But looks incredible in any office space! Elevate your work space with the international symbol of peace! 
• ASSOCIATE PRODUCER CREDIT! – For those looking for a deeper involvement, you can become an Associate Producer on the film. This entitles you to updates as we progress through the film and will allow you your opportunity to have your say!
• EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CREDIT! – As good as it gets, not only your own title card in the opening credits, as well as the end, but the ultimate symbol of support for the film and the subject. As an Exec, you will be prive to all updates behind the scenes and have your say as we progress onwards. You will even have your chance to view the rough cut of the doc to give notes before we lock the film!

As we have learnt from our journey so far, the effects of Nuclear Weapons Testing have impacted millions of people throughout the world (and even to a low level, you and I!) The audience this subject matter is shown to, is minimal, as multiple governments hope to keep these issues away from public attention due to the atrocities they are responsible for. We are aiming to change that! Multiple documentaries have been made on individual elements of what we are covering, but nothing has been made on a global scale, something that takes in the true impact the Nuclear Age has had on the world.

Millions of people are still suffering today, with minimal or no compensation, without apologies or acknowledgment. With your help, we can make a change. We can show governments that they cannot get away with such poor treatment of their own citizens and we can have a positive impact on the current discussions on compensation for communities across the globe.

The Cold War may of seen no conflict between borders, but it became a limited Nuclear War that effected millions across the world, and not just confined to the USA and Russia.

From our time in Hawaii with the Marshallese Community. A daughter of the former King of the Marshall Islands.

Here are a selection of the 36 interviews we have shot so far:

As with every film endeavour, there are risks and challenges associated. We know this better than anyone with what filming we have done to date. We have faced car troubles, adverse weather, budget delays, sickness and even had a large portion of our equipment stolen! And even in spite of these issues, we have pulled through, and finished our filming on time and on budget.

With our Panavision sponsorship, we have global access to equipment if issues arise. With two of our team remaining at home in their respective countries, we have around the clock support for any issues that come our way. On top of all of this, we have a highly experienced team that are well versed in travel and filming abroad, with over 40 years experience between us!

We understand that these are tight times, and every penny counts. So if you can’t financially support us at this stage, not to worry! What’s the next best way to help? Share, share, share! Share this story with as many people as you can. Not just for our crowdfunding campaign, but to support the story of these communities and to get this injustice in front of as many people as you can. That’s what we are doing, and thats what you can do too!

Hit that share Indiegogo Share button now!

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@1000cranesfilm