Ethno Family - A Documentary

In the summer of 2018, 55 people from around the world came together to create an orchestral concert in 5 days. In the end, the sound operator for this documentary was already part of the concert.

Ethno Family is a documentary about the human relationships that form in the context of Ethno artist residencies. It is a film, estimated to last 120 minutes, which intensively follows the journey of 4 members at Ethno Portugal in August 2018 and six months later at Folk Marathon Portugal, in December 2018. Members who serve as a bridge between the emotions of the group of 60 people and the songs they bring from their respective countries.

There is a greater focus on songs from Greece, Argentina, Kurdistan and Portugal and on the participants who brought these respective songs from their country. The entire film will be narrated by Matilde Real, the film's sound operator. She will also be the voice and emotional connection of the documentary. As the story of the four protagonists of Ethno is being built, the image of Matilde, which at first is invisible, gradually emerges in an increasingly relaxed way, enjoying the residency while leaving her role as a documentary filmmaker behind.

At the end of the work, she completely stops making sound for the film, and becomes a member of Ethno singing in the choir, becoming the final protagonist of the film.

Since 2018 that I, Henrique Prudencio, as the director of this film, have been trying to finish it on my own, but unfortunately I have more than 60 hours of footage and I have not been able to arrange the conditions to fully concentrate on the very time-consuming process of editing a documentary feature film. That's why I'm creating this campaign, because I completely believe in the transformative power of this film. To be able to give you this gift that fell upon me in an extraordinary, human and pre-pandemic residence with a teammate who was enchanted by the environment and wanted to be a part of the music that happened there.

If Matilde fell in love with it, I believe the world can fall in love with it as well. That's what I want to show you. It's been 3 years that I've been wanting to complete this movie. I feel like it's now or never.

And without you, I can't do it.

About the author

• Henrique Prudencio | Director / Editor - Took two courses, one in acting at EPTC - Cascais Professional Theater School and one in Video and Documentary Cinema at Abrantes School of Technology. In 2011 he won the “Jovem Director” award at the Inatel short film festival with “Adeus Amor” . In 2014 he founded Onírico Filmes. He worked as video editor-in-chief at Play Harder, OnHD, Ispot Multimedia and Algarve Wedding Films from 2014 to 2018. In 2019 he finishes his most recent short film “A Portrait of Butterflies” having won the awards for “Best Short- Feature”, “Best Directing”, “Best Actor” and “Best Actress” at the Top Indie Film Awards in Tokyo, Japan and selected for Miami, France, Iceland and Mexico. Currently, he is in a European Volunteer Service in Romania to help children from the Roma community.

• Royal Matilde | Sound Operator / Narrator - Before joining Ethno's choirs and consequently, Henrique's film about it, she took a Masters in Applied Theater from the University of Goldsmiths in London. Since then, he has worked in schools, a prison, a refugee center and red fruit greenhouses in the municipality of Odemira with migrants from India and Nepal. She now lives in Alentejo where she has developed and integrated art projects in the area of writing, theater and movement with Lavrar o Mar.

• Ricardo Vargues | Colorist -   Between 2008 and 2011, he finished courses in Filmmaking and Camera and Lighting, at Restart - Institute of Creativity, Arts and New Technologies. In 2017, he finished his degree in Visual Arts, at UALG - Universidade do Algarve. Over the years he has worked as Director of Photography in numerous documentaries, music videos by prominent national artists, as well as advertising spots for brands such as Timberland and Details Hotels . Currently, he works as Director of Photography and Producer at the brand Onírico Filmes, while at the same time he works as a photographer.

• João Araújo | Audio Post-Producer - Born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1995. Since he's two years old he has lived in Montijo. He studied Cinema at the University of Beira Interior and soon realized that the audio that accompanies moving images was his greatest interest. For greater academic depth, he took a specialization in sound at the World Academy, having immediately started working in the area in short films, voiceovers and web series. Since December 2018, he has been the sound designer for Vodafone FM.

Budget and due dates

• Video Editing - 3,638.75 €            72.78%

To fully concentrate on editing the film, I budgeted for 5 months a monthly salary of €727.75. In this way, I manage to make my priority the editing of this movie. This is the main reason for this crowdfunding.

• Rewards for supporters - €500         10%

In order to secure a private cinema session in Lisbon for the beneficiaries of the €100 and above reward, I will have to pay a high rental fee. This amount is also used to ensure the printing and delivery of high quality autographed posters to the recipients of the € 50 and above reward.

• PPL Commission - 461.25 €           9.22%

The necessary and understandable commission of the PPL.

• Graphic Designer - 200 euros €         4%

The minimum amount in order to remunerate a graphic designer who will be in charge of the poster of the film, as well as promotional and distribution materials.

• Printing Graphic Material - 200 €       4%

As we are applying to international class A festivals, it is often necessary to print the posters and send them directly to the festivals. This budget ensures that we will not have unforeseen events at this level.

TOTAL = 5000

• BONUS - International Distribution - €3,000         +60%

If we are lucky enough to reach our base objective, we will have a very important additional objective. We want to bet a lot on the international distribution of this film and for that we need to pay film entry fees at each festival, secure submissions of physical and digital formats, as well as travel for me and Matilde, if needed! This is a very important objective for the film not to remain in a drawer and to be seen by the world.

It is important to note that the global budget for this film is set at € 13,282.50. However, I decided to omit some portions of the budget due to the difficult nature of crowdfunding in Portugal, hoping to get the rest of the funding through pitch contests or public funding.

In this sense, we have already applied to two pitching competitions at the Fest - Pitching Forum 2021 and at the Indie Lisboa Fundo de Apoio ao Cinema. That way, we get a seasoned perspective from industry insiders, and maybe a pre-distribution deal and the rest of the funding to complete the movie.

SCHEDULE

• 5 Months of Editing. From September 2021 to February 2022 to carve the 60 hours of footage captured into just 2 hours of film.

• 1 Month of Post-production. In March 2022, after locking up the structure of the film, we will start the color and sound post-production work.

• Preview Private: In April we plan to have a session in Lisbon for the documentary's members, the director's colleagues and beneficiaries of the reward in the range of 100 euros and above.

• Two years of International Distribution: We will independently distribute the film at international class A and B festivals, hoping to get a digital streaming or physical distribution deal if we haven't already.

Thank you for your attention.

I hope you want to be part of this Family.

Images