The Twilight Angel

Closing Note

As we wrap the campaign here on Indiegogo, you can continue to follow the development and progress of the film, and participate in the ongoing commentary at-  http://thetwilightangel.com

And, of course, we will be corresponding with our funders about fullfillment of the perks promised and continute to express our heartfelt gratitude for your encouragement and support.

Let's stay in touch!

Thanks,

-the Twilight Angel Team

Who We Are

I’m James Koskinas, an international painter, sculpture, actor, playwright and author of the one-man play, "Even if the Mountains Burn." It’s a fictionalized account of one soldier’s tour in Vietnam and it ran successfully in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I’ve been a film lover since childhood. I’m looking forward to working with my cinematographer John Witham to bring the second installment of my odyssey from soldier to artist to a larger audience through this film, "The Twilight Angel."

What We Are Doing

In "TheTwilight Angel" I’m telling my own story, literally. It’s about overcoming the traumas, the denial of everything that happened to me as a young child and then as a kid in the war - even the years of being a victim of my past. I chose to be an artist and became a powerful one. Yet even so, the healing was never really completed until, as an artist, I was eventually holding hands with the dead and speaking the stories of that past that have never been told. That telling, through my art, saved me.

That’s what this movie is about.

Our co-director Tanya Taylor Rubinstein has this to say:
"I have come to know solo performance as shamanic work. We (the performers) go into the darkness alone, slay our own dragons and bring the gifts and wisdom (embedded in our shows) back to our modern day tribe (the audience)"

These are the kinds of stories which I believe must be told, the transformation from bitterness and anger into healing and art. This movie is another, potent vehicle for that story.

I know films are expensive to make but I wanted to get THIS story to a larger audience than I had with the play. My collaborator, John, equipped with production gear, is also an artist.  He was always telling me we could do this project.

How We Can Do This

We got some seed-money to do pre-production, clarify the concept and refine the script. That’s how we got here. Now we need the money from this campaign to make this production a reality.  About $12K will be used for building the set, wrangling some props and doing the principal photography. We’d like to allocate $3K for post-production, editing, some color-grading and music - a lot of which we are doing ourselves at John’s studio. Then we would have around $3K for distribution fees to iTunes, Amazon, NetFlix, and so on.

It’s efficient. We could actually get this out there with that budget. This is a flexible-funding Indiegogo campaign, so if we don’t completely meet our goal, we will have to cut back on some of the photography and editing. We WILL still do the movie. Of course we are going to work hard to meet the goal. And, if we go over our goal, we have the option to shoot more and spend more time in post-production - making it an even better film.

If you can join us by helping, you are contributing to a piece of art, an art-film about art and an artist. Art can save lives. It saved mine. Art informs us where we’ve all been and we’re going.

Writing and performing my play was great, the intimacy with the audience and the connection was immediate and soulful. I’ve heard from my audience so many times over the past few years since the play that it CHANGED their lives. They asked when was I doing the next one. It was then I decided, if the play affected that many people here in Santa Fe, what would happen if I could get these stories out to more of the world? How many other people working through their traumas could get an edge up, find strength to see their way out?

Incentives For Your Patronage

We’ve got some of the treasures from the film lined up as perks, incentives for you making a contribution. There are going to be some nice fine-prints of our supporting cast: the Angels, some booklets, DVDs, and souvenirs, like my brushes. I’ll even paint you a painting! But you’re not just buying something with a contribution; you’re investing in this idea, opening a channel that reinforces the healing power of creativity; yours, mine, everybody’s.

Look, we all need to tell our stories, to find our voices, speak of our own uniqueness and talents and then listen to the other voices. The more unique stories we share, the more we find our commonality about how much we are alike. And we can get strength from the differences; knowing the bank of talents - what we all have and can offer to the world.

You can be part of this story

I have seen the power of art acting on people, when the wives and mothers of Vietnam vets have brought their sons and daughters to my play...  they waited and wept with me when it was over. At my art openings I have seen little kids try to climb into my paintings and find out what was in them. Art is powerful. Art can change you.

John and I would like you to come along with us. It’s going to be challenge for us to do this, but we’re all-in. You CAN help make this movie happen. Even if you can’t donate money, you can let people know what we're doing.

Send the “Share This Campaign:” link above

It’s above this post, just below the video. Please send it  to everyone you know and encourage them to check this out. Put it out there on Facebook, Twitter, or with your friends, your families. Say, "We’re helping these guys make a movie!" and it’s gonna be cool.

We will keep you informed, stay in touch. You can read our blog, we’ll post updates and news there and of course to our community here at Indiegogo. When you can, drop us a note of encouragement, a comment, or send an email, ask questions. Be part of the story.

Thanks!
James Koskinas and the team of The Twilight Angel