With the US presidential election heating up and foreign policies in the Middle East taking center stage at the presidential debates, relations between Iran, Israel, and the US remain as fraught as ever. Iran and other Muslim countries are being portrayed in Western media as dangerous, repressive, and potentially violent – but how far do these stereotypes reflect reality and everyday life? The Iran Job, is an independent film from Brooklyn husband and wife team Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder. It documents the real life story of Kevin Sheppard, a US Virgin Islander who accepted a job playing basketball in Iran, after being rejected by the NBA. This four year project was filmed in intermittent trips to Iran by director Till Schauder and was produced by his wife with no film studio backing. It has resulted in a compelling and often funny exposé of Western and Iranian images, the day-to-day lives of Iranian men, and crucially, a group of Iranian women who the basketball player befriends while in Iran.
The story of how this movie was realized is just as interesting as the movie itself: German born filmmaker Till Schauder and his American wife, Sara Nodjoumi, (who was born in New York to Iranian artist parents) have spent as much time thinking about the story as they have raising the money to get their film released.How did they do it? With a persistence that can often be found in international New Yorkers who are following their dream – and by taking unconventional measures to do so. With no studio behind them, and limited personal funds, the financial requirements of filming, producing and releasing a film would have been all but impossible, if not for one New York start up, called Kickstarter.Kickstarter, created in 2009, is an online crowd-sourcing platform for all kinds of projects. It is essentially a way of allowing artists to fund their creative projects through public contributions or “backings.” The backers, often individuals who pledge small amounts, will receive a reward or one-of-a-kind experience as thanks. Kickstarter works on a graduated pledge system: a pledge of, typically, $10 or more will be rewarded with a small gift from the project’s founders. Those who donate $50 may receive a t-shirt or downloadable content, while donations of over $100, or $200, or whatever amount is set by the project, receive increasingly exclusive thank you gifts. In the case of The Iran Job rewards included a DVD of the film or signed film posters. When these small donations are pooled together, they often provide impressive budgets. The emphasis is on community support and reciprocal arrangements between those who pledge to support a project and those who ask that their projects be supported.
The Iran Job was completed this year with the help of 740+ Kickstarter backers and raised an impressive $100,000.00 in the first round of the campaign. The second Kickstarter campaign aims to raise another $60,000 for the marketing and release of the movie – including publicity costs, poster creation, licensing fees, legal fees, theater rental, and the like. Sounds impossible? They’ve already received over $40,000 in pledged donations.Mind you, while it sounds easy, each Kickstarter campaign needs a lot of work and engagement for those seeking support. As an early supporter of the project (New York International learned about the project via friends in Brooklyn) we’ve seen more than 50 updates from the couple on the status of the project. Everything was sent out ranging from personal invitations for a celebratory dance party to heartfelt thank you notes to each and every person supporting the project – support starts as low as $1.Clearly, the system works. A Kickstarter project run by singer and artist Amanda Palmer – wife of novelist and artist Neil Gaiman – recently became the most successful project in the website’s history with almost $1.2 million raised – 1,192% of the originally requested amount.The movie has certainly gone down well. Following its official release right here in New York City, The Iran Job screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival where a special screening was put on due to popular demand, the Hawaii International Film Festival, The Minneapolis Twin Cities Festival, and this weekend will also see it shown at the New Orleans Film Festival and the Philadelphia International Film Festival. Add to that coverage in New York Magazine, CNN, TIME, and BBC Persia, and this “amateur” film really is punching above its weight.And now, the next part of the story is unfolding. Following such popular and critical praise, Sara and Till are eager to expand the film’s audience and release The Iran Job nationwide.The Iran Job’s unique portrayal of Iran and the often overlooked worlds of Iranian sports and US citizens who live in the country has caused a stir with movie critics; if their crowd sourcing project is successful, a national – and perhaps international – audience will be able to see this movie for themselves.