Cannes 2011 Fund-Raising A-Go-Go

Hello, friends. 

I am writing to you today because I am trying to raise money for a trip to the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. For about a year now, it's been a goal of mine to go to this year's festival and in spite of a number of factors, I find I can't do without independently raising a bit of scratch. So yeah, I know this makes it seem like I'm aping that D'Angelo guy and for that, I'm sorry. 

But I do need the money, folks: I can't seriously pursue a dream project like this without draining pretty much all of my finances. I kinda live hand-to-mouth even after living at home mostly because of the cost of commuting, student loans and up until December, health insurance payments. 

But I do want to go to Cannes and I do think I can do this. I have three outlets interested in coverage and they will be paying me some. But not nearly enough to get there on my own steam. Keep in mind: I'm also looking to finally move out of my Great Neck home this year. Two years at home has been really helpful for me but it's also taken its own toll, too. So yeah, if I can do this thing without totally going bankrupt, I'd sure like to give that a try.

First, the good news: theoretically speaking, I have my flight plans taken care of. I don't want to say anything about this yet as I don't want to jinx it. There is nothing set in stone but I think I can manage to fly there and back for little to money with a lot of help from the wonderful and generous Rachel McCain and her douchebag boyfriend Jon Lanthier. 

S'more good news: I know I will be rooming with at least one person, Monsignor Glenn Heath Jr., and we have a hotel scoped out, one that offers a complementary shuttle.

Finally, the not-so-good news: in light of all this, I want to raise $1,250-1500. I tried to get Kickstarter to help me reach that goal but they told me that my project was just not a "Creative Arts Project," even though I have seen them previously finance similar endeavors. I cajoled them and insisted, "No, no, this is a creative arts project: I'll throw arts-and-crafts-type blog posts! With pictures! And a podcast! And make the project about documenting my first year at Cannes!" They encouraged that change in focus right up until they stopped communicating with me altogether; I didn't get an email back about my proposal in a little more than a week. So I resubmitted my idea, this time incorporating all the changes that I was told would make my proposal more viable. I got two generic, unhelpful and totally vague responses. We shan't be using Kickstarter now or ever again. 

Here's where you come in: for just pennies a day (well, hopefully several thousand pennies) you can support a starving freelance film critic. Or something. Look, honestly, I know this thing is highly unrealistic and I probably can't meet the goal I'd like to. But let's humor me and try for a bit. Right. So, you can give to my Paypal account using the "Donate" button to the right or below in this very post. Or you can go to Paypal and give (generously) to simonsabrams@hotmail.com. Any donation is a big help but obviously the more you give, the more I'll truly respect you as a human being. 

Ahem. 

I'll keep you posted as to how close I am to meeting my goal and hopefully, it'll happen sooner rather than later. Thanks.


 Note: As of 12:56am on 2/13/11, we've raised $325. I'd like to think our donors thus far: Phil Tatler, Bill Best, Kevin J. Olson, Dor Dotson, Kenji Fujishima, Zengkun Feng, "Two Sisters Crochet" and Tobias Ximenez. Thank you so much.