Help us make our film about America's amazing public libraries and the urgent need to keep them open, innovating, and free for all.
It’s not to late to support to FREE FOR ALL! Tax deductible can be made HERE.
Don't want to use a credit card?
You can mail in a check instead. Please make your check out to our 501c3 fiscal agent, VIDEO VERACITY and put FREE FOR ALL in the check's memo line. Checks can be mailed to:
Video Veracity, 572A Wisconsin Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, Attn: Lucie Faulknor
THANK YOU FOR CARING ABOUT THIS PROJECT AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
Your contribution is tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Those valued over $1,000 will receive credit in the film. Free for All: Inside the Public Library is a fiscally sponsored project of Video Veracity, a 501(c)3 charitable organization (FEIN 72-1246350). We'll make sure you get a receipt for your tax deduction. Questions? Write to us: info@free4allfilms.org.
Free for All: Inside the Public Library is the first major documentary project about our nation’s most beloved and most threatened public institution. It captures dramatic personal stories from library users across America, highlighting the diverse communities that depend on public libraries and the surprising ways libraries are reinventing themselves to serve more people than ever.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Big decisions about the future of the American public library -decisions that will resonate for generations - are being made NOW in local communities across the country. How these decisions will be made and who will make them are questions at the heart of our documentary.
We're an experienced team of award-winning filmmakers who are passionate about public libraries and their role in our democracy. Many people think of libraries as quaint book repositories growing obsolete in our digital age. We're on a mission to dispel that myth.
The reality is that people are using our local libraries more than ever before. If you haven’t been in a library lately, you’ll be astonished to discover what’s going on inside them. Libraries are providing digital media labs for youth, computer and internet access, literacy programs, job search resources, creative maker-spaces, baby yoga classes, senior technology training, romance book clubs, tools for genealogy buffs, rare databases for scholars, safe spaces for kids after school, and whew, much, much more. At some libraries, you can even check out fishing gear, cake pans, heirloom seeds, power tools, a painting or a laptop, along with the latest bestseller.
America’s more than 16,000 public library branches are a vital lifeline for millions of people. But in many communities that lifeline is in danger. Despite record-high usage, over 50% of U.S. public libraries have faced cuts or closures since the recession. Many are debating survival options like branch closures, severe reductions in hours, charging fees, or privatization.
Intended for PBS broadcast in 2016, FREE FOR ALL: Inside the Public Library will be a rollicking and visually stunning mosaic of faces, architecture and stories that brings to life the astonishing diversity of the American library experience and the urgent issues libraries face today. This feature-length documentary film chronicles “a day-in-the-life of the American library” from open to close in public libraries large and small. It features a handful of the millions of dramatic stories unfolding within them, including an Illinois immigrant teen struggling to understand her new country, a retired Louisiana fisherwoman in search of new adventures, a California actor who’s recently become homeless, and a young Nebraskan entrepreneur with big dreams.
OUR GOAL
Free for All: Inside the Public Library seeks to inspire, entertain, and spark dialogue and action about the future of public libraries. We feel it is urgent to complete production now, so the film can begin to have impact as soon as possible while critical decisions are being debated. That’s why we’re asking for your support now to complete shooting our film — and for your help in expanding the national conversation about the future of our public libraries.
WHERE WE ARE
We have received Research and Development funding awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, California Humanities, the San Francisco Foundation, the Creative Work Fund, the Eastman Fund, and others. With this support, we’ve been able to spend the past two years studying the issues, learning from library experts, traveling to libraries to discover stories and characters, and beginning to film them. We’ve formed key partnerships with Urban Libraries Council and other national library organizations who are helping us develop a comprehensive outreach strategy designed to maximize the film’s impact and engage audiences of all ages, community groups, and policymakers.
WHAT WE NEED
We urgently need $75,000 so we can finish filming library stories across the United States. As you can see from the trailer, we’ve already shot some compelling moments with our participants in several communities. But we’re not done yet. We still have to shoot over 60% of the film and traveling is expensive. We’ve applied for additional grants, but grant cycles take time, and funding is limited. Your support now will guarantee that we can continue filming around the country in libraries like yours, and complete principal cinematography in late 2014/early 2015, in time to meet our goals.
SF Chronicle columnist Leah Garchik
WAYS YOU CAN HELP
DONATE
We’re asking for your support now so that we can move quickly to continue production this fall and remain on track for a release date in 2016:
- Pre-Production and Early Production: January 2012 – August 2014 (completed)
- Final Production: November 2014 – April 2015
- Editing, other Post-Production and Distribution/Outreach Work: May – September 2015
- Release: 2016
HOW THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT
$75,000 will allow us to get back on the road around the country, starting in November, with our cinematographer and a sound person. It will pay for the rental of state-of-the-art equipment, air and ground transportation, hotel rooms, food, and other production expenses.
STRETCH GOALS
If we raise $85,000...we can pay our producing staff involved in our production phase. If we raise $125,000...it will help pay for all the above - plus critical archival film and photo rights and music rights.
Your contribution is tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Free for All: Inside the Public Library is a fiscally sponsored project of Video Veracity, a 501(c)3 charitable organization (FEIN 72-1246350). We'll make sure you get a receipt for your tax deduction. Questions? Write to us: info@free4allfilms.org.
Other Ways to Donate: Prefer to send a check? Please make it our to Video Veracityand put Free for All project in the check's subject line. All monetary and in-kind donations will be thanked on our website and those valued over $1,000 will receive credit in the film. Checks can be mailed to: Video Veracity ℅ 572A Wisconsin Street; San Francisco, CA 94107 Attn: Lucie Faulknor
SPREAD THE WORD
In addition to your contributions, we urgently need help reaching as many people as possible during our campaign. Please, tell your friends, co-workers, congregation members, and other fellow library lovers! And please tell your local librarians- as well as your library trustees/board members! Send them the link to this page, along with a short personal message about why you hope they’ll join you in supporting Free for All and the future of public libraries. Please post this link on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or whatever social media you use and let folks know why you love public libraries and support this film.
STAY IN TOUCH
Please visit our website to sign up for our mailing list, and invite your friends to sign up too! That way we’ll be able to keep you in touch with important updates, new short videos and photos from our journeys, alerts for when we’ll be filming in your area, and important information on where you can see the finished film. We’ll also be posting news and footage on social media, so “like” and “follow” the links below to share in these experiences.
We want to have a two-way conversation, so please send us your own comments about what we’re doing, and/or suggest library stories that may not yet be on our radar.
KUDOS TO OUR OUTREACH PARTNERS
We are thrilled that many library and other organizations from around the country are supporting the film and our Kickstarter campaign as Outreach Partners! You’ll hear more about our partners and sponsors in future updates, but for now we want to give a shout out to the groups who have joined us so far — especially our lead partner Urban Libraries Council – thank you! We could not do this without your support!
American Library Association's United for Libraries, EveryLibrary, Firelight Media, Friends of San Francisco Public Library, Library History Roundtable, The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, Urban Librarians Unite, Urban Libraries Council, 826 Valencia,EveryLibrary, Robert Dawson Photography and The Kitchen Sisters
To see more click here.
If your organization would like to join our campaign as an Outreach Partner, please email us at info@free4allfilms.org.
Noel & June a learner/tutor team from SFPLs Project Read adult literacy project.
MORE ABOUT US
Free for All: Inside the Public Library is a production of Serendipity Films, under 501(c)3 fiscal sponsorship from our partner Video Veracity, Inc. Producer/Director Dawn Logsdon and Executive Producer Stanley Nelson (Freedom Summer) are leading the project, along with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Vicente Franco, co-producerLucie Faulknor, editor Veronica Selver, consulting producer Janet Cole, and other award-winning colleagues, whose films have received wide exposure and acclaim over the past thirty years. Read more about our team here.
Any extra monies raised above $75,000 will go to paying our tireless and dedicated producing staff - especially Lucie Faulknor who believes in this film and public libraries so much that she’s been working pro bono for the past year, while working a second job at night to pay the bills.
Here’s Lucie’s own library story:
“I grew up as the youngest in a family of seven kids -plus many dogs, cats, and miscellaneous other critters. The library was the only place where I found peace and quiet. I went to the SFPL West Portal branch library to study all through high school. Without it I know I wouldn’t have become the first person in my family to graduate from university.”
Thanks for considering our project!
Sincerely,
Dawn & Lucie
Risks and challengesLearn about accountability on Kickstarter
HOW IT WORKS
Kickstarter is all or nothing. We must reach our goal of $75,000 in 39 days in order to receive any of the pledges at all, which means your credit card will not be charged for the amount you specify unless we get all $75,000 or more in funding by midnight on October 26, 2014. If you have problems with the payment system here, please email us atinfo@free4allfilms.org and we'll figure out an alternative payment method. Our 501(c)3 fiscal agent is Video Veracity. You will see this on statement.
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