The crowd has spoken and it says namaste. The 15th River to River Indian Film Festival will take place in Florence from December 5 to 10, 2015, thanks in part to the $15,791 raised through crowdfunding on Indiegogo this fall. This is the first large, successful crowdfunding for a film festival in Italy as far as we know, and it’s a huge vote of confidence for what is the world’s first festival devoted entirely to Indian film.
The crowdfunding campaign, with the media partnership and consultancy of The Florentine and its sister communications company Flod, ran for just over two months and attracted 171 backers. Although the festival is a local one, not all the donors hailed from Florence as one might expect. 56 percent of the donations came from Italy, many from Tuscany but others from Rome and Milan, while an important 24 percent came from the Indian community: 8 percent of donations from India and 16 percent from Indian residents in the United States.
Money raised online will be used to make this festival even more special than in previous years by paying for transportation of special guests, subtitles and more. Held at the 1920s Odeon Cinehall, the cafeteria serves chai and samosas to fuel festival-goers through about 30 shorts, documentaries and feature films, as well as Q&As and talks.
The 2015 programme includes special guest Deepa Mehta, globally acclaimed for her crossover films. In Beeba Boys, which has its Italian premiere on December 6 at 8:30 pm, she takes on the predominantly male gangster genre, challenging stereotypes in telling the story of a ridiculously fashionable immigrant Sikh gang that takes over the drug scene in Vancouver, Canada.
The festival’s opening night feature, Dum Laga Ke Haisha (December 5), is a classic comedy of a mismatched couple. On December 6, following a free morning discussion on arranged marriages, an afternoon series of shorts focuses on couples and relationships. On December 7, the gripping Umrika by Prashant Nair screens; the story of the collision of the American Dream and Indian family won the Audience Award at the Sundance film festival this year.
On December 9 at 6 pm, the documentary Letters to the City Yet to Come confronts the future of New Delhi, followed by the evening’s feature film, Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, about the 1984 environmental disaster that still affects the population today.
Although she’d never admit it, the success of the campaign and of the festival is largely due to its energetic founder, Selvaggia Velo. ‘It’s been an enormous challenge that has taken up a lot of time and energy, but it is also a confirmation, and positive surprise, that so many people believe in and support us,’ Velo says. ‘I am already thinking about 2016, though: you can’t do crowdfunding for two festivals in a row, but how will we raise money for next year?’
See the full festival programme at www.rivertoriver.it/en/programme.
