ABOUT THE PROJECT

 

Our Film

WITHOUT SHEPHERDS is a documentary film that looks inside the real lives of those who are fighting for a different tomorrow in todays Pakistan.

 
From the streets of Karachi to the Afghan border, the film crosscuts between six people wrestling with a country in turmoil and defiantly standing for change: a cricket star building a new political party, a female journalist working behind Taliban lines, an ex-mujahid seeking redemption, a trucker crossing dangerous territory to feed his family, a supermodel pushing feminism through fashion, and a subversive Sufi rocker using music to heal.

Together their stories give context to a crisis that has dangerous consequences for the region and the world, and lift the veil on the progressive face of this misunderstood country.

 

Join Our Mission

A note from Cary McClelland: I traveled to Lahore two years ago as a freelance filmmaker and journalist, and the image of Pakistan I had been presented in the daily news was shattered. Pakistan was hardly a defacto terrorist state struggling in civil war, but was a complex soup of different voices competing to determine the countrys identity while under enormous internal and external pressures. More than anything, I was moved by the people their diversity, depth and sense of purpose was staggering. It seemed the real work of changing the country was happening, not in the capital city, but at the grass roots level, and I wanted to celebrate the essential bravery of the Pakistani people at a time when they werent being given their due.

 

With each passing month, Pakistans presence in the headlines becomes all the more frequent, its image more terrifying, its future reevaluated as bleaker by the day, and diplomacy with the US growing ever more precarious in the balance. WITHOUT SHEPHERDS is an attempt to bridge the gap between our cultures by giving international audiences empathetic, proactive, and engaged portraits of the people in Pakistan making a difference today

 

Now is a critical moment, where WITHOUT SHEPHERDS can offer balance and context to this debate before it spirals out of control. We want to encourage a paradigm shift in perspective and policy towards Pakistan and the Muslim world at large by celebrating the real people who are making a difference. These are the people we should be investing in, making allies of, and fighting for.

 

How We Plan to Use These Funds

WITHOUT SHEPHERDS is an enormous undertaking the product of three years of research and production, travel across every region of the country, collecting a library of 500 hours of gorgeous and powerful material. $25,000 is just a small part of our budget, designed to bring us to the next stage of post-production:

1. Our hardworking editors Connor Kalista and Faisal Azam have been working tirelessly for months, cutting hundreds of hours down to the six key narratives.  They have dedicated the coming months to weaving these together into the final cut of the film.

2. Our post-production team assistant editors, translators and interns have been dutifully helping process the 7-10 dialects and regional languages that comprise our material, coordinating archival and stock footage sourcing, and our outreach efforts to date.

3. Our office where three editing stations are dedicated full-time to the project.

4. Outreach materials so we can contact festivals, distributors, and ensure the film has a final home.

5. Finishing the film after we reach our final cut, we need to do color correction, mix the sound, add final music, and polish things up.

 

Our Timeline

We are at the mid-point in post-production, moments from a rough cut and poised to reach the finish line this spring. We should be submitting this project to festivals this summer, with eventual premier in the late summer or early fall. Your contribution will allow us to run full tilt to the finish-line and ensure we finish on schedule.

 

No time is more urgent to get this film out. Pakistan has recently emerged from ten years of military rule, and democratic voices need our support and need to be heard. Populist revolutions across the Middle East point to the difficulty the international community has in understanding the true priorities of the people themselves. WITHOUT SHEPEHRDS is a chance to forge new connections and foster deeper understanding between Pakistan and the rest of the world.

Without Shepherds Online

Check out our website: withoutshepherds.com

Join the discussion: www.facebook.com/withoutshepherds

Watch our bonus videos: www.vimeo.com/channels/withoutshepherds

Flip through some production stills: www.flikr.com/photos/withoutshepherds

Meet the Team

At every stage of the project, we have partnered with close Pakistani friends top documentary artists in the country. As a result, our team traveled deeper than any foreign crew had traveled before, into spaces unseen, to hear voices unheard.

 

Project Founders, Cary McClelland (Director/Producer) and Billy Smith (Producer): Cary and Billy are filmmakers dedicated to the use of film to connect America with the rest of the world. The two of them pride themselves on connecting US production resources with top-notch emerging international talent, and they believe that cross-cultural collaboration is the key to creating successful work. Cary is a director and writer, as well as a consultant on the use of media in international development. He has worked with Search for Common Ground, the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, PBS, Witness, and SABC, and his career has taken him across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Without Shepherds represents their culminating opportunity to use the arts to building bridges between cultures and shed light on the important international untold stories.

 

The Crew Films and eyeBee Films (Pakistan Production): The Crew Films is the trendsetter in commercial production and production management in Pakistan. Over the past decades, they have been an invaluable partner to organizations from multinational corporations to non-profit groups, and feature filmmakers. EyeBee films is one of the premier documentary teams in Pakistan. They have a passion for recording their heritage, havetraveled all across the country with a natural ability to connect with people and get close to his subject.

 

Toy Closet Films (US Production Support): An award winning NY-based production company whose films have been recognized at the Oscars, Sundance, the Berlinale, HBO, Telluride, MoMA, the Tribeca Film Institute among others.  HOLY ROLLERS (Sundance 2010), co-produced by Toy Closet principals, was awarded with Gotham Awards Breakthrough Director award and stars Oscar-nominee Jesse Eisenberg. They are developing several features, and in post-production on the thriller THE GIRL IS IN TROUBLE exec-produced by Spike Lee and represented for sales by Wild Bunch.

 

People Are Starting to Notice

The Asia Society recognized WITHOUT SHEPHERDS as a trailblazing project, using film to build bridges between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds. Read about us in their recent publication!

http://asiasociety.org/arts-culture/performing-arts/music/making-difference-through-arts

 

We screened two short films at this falls Engendered iView Film Festival, dedicated to presenting groundbreaking film on gender and sexuality in South Asia. Check out the listing here and see the films on Vimeo.

http://www.ticketinguide.com/iview2010/Women_of_Without_Shepherds.html?c=y&3301=170236&curView=browseDetail&sortBy=title

 

 

HOW THIS ALL WORKS

 

About Indiegogo

Indiegogo is a tool for anyone in the creative world to gather the support necessary for their projects. Indiegogos platform allows filmmakers like us to share our project with the infinite community on the internet, as well as with friends and longstanding allies of our work. We create a profile, set a fundraising goal and a time frame to meet it, and offer the rewards/incentives to bring donors into the family.

 

What Are the Perks?

We couldnt do this without you, and to show our appreciation, we have lined up some great gifts in return for your generosity. All of our rewards are designed to give you a window into the world of WITHOUT SHEPHERDS, to honor your indispensable role in this production, and to take advantage of the films upcoming release:

     A personal thank you note from the director, Cary McClelland

     A shout-out on the website for all to see

     A collection of stunning desktop wallpapers designed by editor, Faisal Azam from our production photography

     A digital download of the film's soundtrack featuring the incredible live music of Pakistan

     An invitation to the New York post-production wrap party, this summer

     A copy of the finished film

     Your name listed as a "special thanks" in final credits of the film

     An invitation to the NYC premier of the film

     A private screening of the film and cocktail party, hosted by the creative team

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter where well periodically announce new exciting rewards as they become available.

 

Is My Donation Tax-Deductible?

Yes, it is. WITHOUT SHEPHERDS is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions to WITHOUT SHEPHERDS are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

What Else Can I Do to Help?

KEEP SPREADING THE WORD ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, EMAIL BLASTS, BLOGS & MORE!!! After donating, the next thing you can do is announce your support of our campaign to your friends. Share our trailer [withoutshepherds.com/trailer]. Check out the tools at the top of this page to link our Indiegogo campaign to your website, Facebook profile, and Twitter feed for all friends and family to see. Also, please join our Facebook group - www.facebook.com/withoutshepherds - and follow us on twitter @woshepherds. We all need to rally together to get this film off the ground and show the world the true face of Pakistan. Were all in this together!

 

Can We Raise More Than Our Goal?

YES! And YES! $25,000 is just A PART of our budget, and Indiegogo allows us to raise as much money as possible before our deadline. The more money we raise here, the easier it will be for us to focus on making the film, and less on raising money.

Ive Made My Pledge But Would Like to Add More

This is a question we really like to answer. Just go to our campaign page, click Manage Your Donation. From there, you can enter a new amount and choose a new perk! ?Thanks for your abundant generosity!

If youd like to contribute more than $5,000 to the film, please get in touch with us directly, and we can discuss other incentives directly.

 

How Can I Contact You?

Wed love to hear from you! You can contact us directly at cary@withoutshepherds.com, or by phone at +1 212 673-9600. We will get back to you as soon as possible. We promise!