CAMBOFEST: Film, Video, and Animation Festival of Cambodia--Cambodia's only internationally recognized independent movie festival, continues its fundraising drive after narrowly avoiding a financial shutdown.

** BUT we still have a long way to go to meet our goals, and we need your support! **

Thanks to the following new supporters as of May 20, 2009 during our Spring fundraising drive for CAMBOFEST!

As an independent effort in an emerging democracy, CamboFest was (and continues to be) an essential venue for independent media in a part of the developing world where such media forums are still not common. The linkages between independent media and a viable civil society are well established, and CamboFest is happy to be a part of this in Cambodia.

International filmmakers all over the world have eagerly submitted and shown their work to entirely new audiences (some of whom have never seen a documentary, for instance)...cross-cultural understandings have been greatly enhanced...a new generation of film and media makers have been turned on to the possibilities of sharing stories and ideas through film and video.

In short: CamboFest has opened a lot of eyes already!

Now in our third year, CamboFest stands alone as the only film festival in Cambodia and one of the few in all of Southeast Asia which is truly independent and 100% IP-friendly as well: we get all permissions to screen films, from every single filmmaker, in writing. We're extremely diligent in this area--we want to set an example in a region where IP standards are currently not strong and piracy is common.

Previously, we've done this largely out of pocket, as a grass roots effort. We also utilized revenue from the sales of previous titles by Camerado, including our first award winning documentary, "BookWars", and put this towards the festival as well.

To supplement self-generated revenue, last year we undertook a modest fundraising outreach, and individuals generously contributed amounts ranging from $5 to $500 dollars. We also received some basic support from the US Embassy here in Phnom Penh, which enabled us to just about meet our costs.

This year, things are different.  The bad news is, the global recession has reached us here in the developing world too, and this is having an enormous impact on our ability to generate additional sustaining revenue locally as we have before.

The good news is: CamboFest is now being fiscally sponsored by the Media Alliance of Oakland, CA. This means that, while we're still a grass-roots effort, we're now able to offer a 501 (c) 3 tax deduction for all contributions made towards the festival, with those contributions being processed through our fiscal sponsor.

*We're now undertaking a crucial fundraising effort to sustain CamboFest through its 2009 season* (See Our Fundraising Blog for More info at http://cameradosocialissue.blogspot.com/)

Our 3rd festival will be held December 4-6 in the capital of Phnom Penh, and via mobile units in areas of the surrounding countryside.

Our goal is to raise an additional $5500 by the end of September, 2009, in order to ensure our operational capacity through the 2009 season.  This money will go to essential festival operations including: staff compensation and meals, postage, venue rental, shared office space, and stable dedicated internet for the next 7 months.

All contributors will be gladly listed on the CamboFest website, and all contributions are 501 (c) 3 tax deductible. Folks making a contribution of $50 or more will receive a special DVD of a selection of films which screened at CamboFest 2008.

To make a tax deductible contribution, please visit our contribution portal on the Media Alliance website: http://media-alliance.stores.yahoo.net/restoolandte.html

If the tax-deduction isn't needed, but you'd still like to make a contribution, we'd then suggest the following secure PayPal gateway; we'd receive the funds almost instantly, which is incredibly important now as we fight to meet all our costs (apologies for the long link, but...):

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=GoTBQapvZ_0CzrAi9KAtwG87Y7nfclukAsS_3Sjr4Ka0hyfvt3rHGa4SZ1m&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f998ca054efbdf2c29878a435fe324eec0031f109add79ef7

Any amount is welcome and will be put to good use: a $10 donation will cover one local staffer and meals for a day; $20 will cover local transportation for a week; $50 will pay for reliable broadband Internet for a month. Even $5 will cover a working lunch for two staffers at a local Khmer restaurant, or a mobile phone card with an hour of speaking time.

Many international professionals, including Julie and Roger Corman for instance, have applauded our efforts. We're striving to create a bona fide independent film festival in a nation which is still rebuilding itself from years of civil war and oppression under the Khmer Rouge regime.

In many ways, though, we're starting from scratch: the film culture and other arts in Cambodia were completely destroyed, with most students and trained professionals fleeing the country or being killed off.

Help support independent media in an emerging democracy; help us reaching our new fundraising milestone for CAMBOFEST, Cambodia's independent film festival!

On behalf of Mr. Tol, Vuth Tep, Narith Hoo, and other CamboFest staff, helpers, volunteers and participants, I'd like to thank you for your contribution.

Ar'kun Ch'ran,

J Rosette & Phun Sokunthearith (aka, "Mr. Tol")

CAMBOFEST: Film, Video and Animation Festival of Cambodia

www.cambofest.com