Brighter Than Tomorrow -- Indiegogo

Our Campaign

Brighter Than Tomorrow is a fund raising campaign launched by documentary maker Estelle Hebert in partnership with Chizu Ishikawa, in response to her several visits to Miyagi Prefecture following the Great Eastern Japan earthquake. The campaign aims to support the local community of Funakoshi, a fishing village that was completely washed away by the tsunami last March 11th, by assisting to provide the local fishermen with much-needed fishing gear/equipment including storage space (refrigerators) and out boat motors. We also aim to inform the international community of the ongoing activities taking place in the village, in support of a reconstruction plan that has yet to be approved by the local government. In doing so, we are working on a feature-length documentary telling the remarkable journey of a small group of fishermen working tirelessly to keep both their businesses and hometown alive despite having lost friends, family members and their livelihood in the tsunami.

Who We Are

Estelles involvement with Funakoshi began in July 2011 during a 5-day post-tsunami volunteer trip. She ended up driving along the coast of Miyagi Prefecture one afternoon after meeting Chizu, a full-time supporter of all volunteers across the Prefecture and survivor of the tsunami. The long and winding road led her to the fishery village of Funakoshi, where she was amazed to see the fishermen continuing their business despite the entire village being in ruins. She was particularly touched by the fishermen's testimonies, including Tetsuo-san, who stood next to his son and grandson's gravestone, trying to find words as he glanced at what was left of his hometown: just a few standing houses amongst immense piles of rubble. After listening to a few testimonies, observing the beautiful landscape, and witnessing the fishermens positive spirit and relentless efforts, she decided to hop on board and make use of her documentary media background to help share the story of Funakoshi to the world.

Inspired by the fishermens strength, patience, and kindness, Chizu often travels to Funakoshi, her mothers hometown, from Ishinomaki (where she currently resides) in support of the local community. Like many others living in the area that survived the tsunami, she doesnt want to be forgotten, nor does she want the community of Funakoshi to be left behind. She hopes that the story of Funakoshi will reach many across the globe, and that the locals will be able to return to their village in the near future. She also likes to quote her mother's cousin, one of the fishermen, Even though the ocean is responsible for giving us such a hard time, were still surviving thanks to its resources evoking what many Japanese believe the ocean to be: a true blessing of nature.

The Impact

We offer you the opportunity to help a small community of people directly. By contributing to our cause and to the making of our documentary, your donations will have a direct impact on the fishermen and the community, providing them with much-needed resources and the hope to carry on. In addition, the documentary will help generate attention of the ongoing activities in the village, pressuring the government to accept a reconstruction plan.

What We Need & What You Get

Our goal is to fund raise $10,000 by December 31st, 2011.

$5000 is needed for the production of the documentary, including:

additional required equipment such as hard drives, microphone, HD cards, etc.
transportation costs to and from Miyagi Prefecture and Funakoshi, including car rentals

$5000 will be used directly for the purchase of the fishermen's most pressing needs, including:

storage space including refrigerators
out-boat motors
fishing gear

In the case that we don't reach our goal of $10,000, 50% of the money will go towards the documentary, and 50% towards the above list of items.

By making a contribution, you can receive exclusives! Please take a look on the right for our perks, including hand-made painted stone slates from Funakoshi! Funakoshi and its surrounding area is renowned for stone slate tiles. Currently, a group of women have set up a small workshop room on the third floor of the only school located in the small village where they scrape and hand-paint hundreds of different stone slates found amongst piles of rubble. They are selling them to help raise funds in support of the fishermen and their community.

(A volunteer who spent a few weeks assisting the women of Funakoshi in painting the stone slate tiles)

Other Ways You Can Help

Spread the word! Please inform your friends and family members about Funakoshi, and share this page with them! We are relying tremendously a lot on word of mouth.

For individuals residing in Japan: a charity photo exhibition will be taking place in Hiroshima City in December. Photographs will be sold individually and auctioned off. More details coming soon.

For ALTs/JETs living in Japan: If you would like to make a contribution but are unable to via credit card, please contact Estelle via email for details on how to do a furikomi: brighterthantomorrow@gmail.com

Please visit our website for additional information: www.brighterthantomorrow.com.

Questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us at brighterthantomorrow@gmail.com. We will be more than happy to provide you with answers! :)

Created By:

Estelle Hebert
Producer / Director

0.148 Complete

$1,480

Raised of $10,000 Goal

0 time left

Flexible Funding campaign

This campaign received all of the funds contributed on Sat Dec 31.

Perks

for your contribution

$10 The Fan

A special thank you with a monthly electronic newsletter providing you with updates on the project & Funakoshi.
$25 The Supporter

Your name listed in the end credits of the documentary PLUS monthly electronic newsletter.
$50 The Enthusiast

Free DVD copy of the documentary upon completion PLUS your name listed in the end credits, along with a special thank you and monthly electronic newsletter.
$100 The Activist

Unique hand-made stone slate necklace exclusively from Funakoshi PLUS DVD copy of the documentary upon completion, your name listed in the end credits, along with a special thank you and monthly electronic newsletter.
$250 The Collector

Unique hand-made stone slate tile (exclusively from Funakoshi) PLUS stone-slate necklace (exclusively from Funakoshi), DVD copy of the documentary upon completion, your name listed in the end credits, along with a special thank you and monthly electronic newsletter.
$500 Corporate Sponsor

Your corporate logo in the end credits and webpage PLUS unique hand-made stone slate tile (exclusively from Funakoshi) AND stone-slate necklace (exclusively from Funakoshi), DVD copy of the documentary upon completion, your name listed in the end credits, along with a special thank you and monthly electronic newsletter.
$1,000 Executive Producer

Your name and company logo listed as EXECUTIVE PRODUCER in the end credits, the webpage, and on IMDb.com, limited edition printed photo book of behind-the-scenes images taken in Funakoshi, PLUS unique hand-made stone slate tile (exclusively from Funakoshi) AND stone-slate necklace (exclusively from Funakoshi), DVD copy of the documentary upon completion, along with a special thank you and monthly electronic newsletter.