A Kickass Short Film

Text by
Matthew Lowe
Photography by
Bradley Schurman

Mention arts funding in the past few months and without fail Kickstarter, the online ‘crowd funding’ platform, will come up. It’s on everyone's radar. While some are quick to denounce it as a false utopia, others swear by it. And in the US where public arts funding is scarce, it can be a real lifesaver. So what does this mean for the aspiring homosexual artist, writer, musician or filmmaker?

Unlike Facebook (and a certain web host that will remain unnamed), Kickstarter appears to be pretty friendly towards nudity and gay content. BUTT photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya used the online service to successfully fund his Studio Work project and found it to be quite tolerant. ‘The fact that the Kickstarter rep stressed that my project and its content could be as queer as I wanted, really impressed me,’ says Paul.

Longtime contributing editor to this site Adam Baran is using the platform to help realize his short film Jackpot. His film tells the story of a 14-year-old boy who sets off on a quest to find a porn stash before he’s found out. Everything is going fine until he runs into a pack of bullies. Adam plans to tell his story in the the style of his favorite ‘80s teen comedies, something like a gay John Hughes film. ‘In a way, those films were my saving grace,’ says Adam.

To contribute to Adam’s Jackpot campaign (which nets some seriously gay rewards like limited edition prints by Bruce LaBruce, Benjamin Fredrickson and Cody Critcheloe), and read more about his film, click here.

Published on 04 October 2011