INDIAN SUMMER is the first of the trilogy. It follows a group of Indian American kids during the two-week camp session at the Hindu Heritage Summer Camp located twenty minutes outside of Rochester, NY. Click here for more info, to see a short trailer, and to make your 100% tax-deductible contribution.

“Indian Summer” (tentative title) is the first episode of the trilogy and follows a group of Indian American kids during the two-week camp session at the Hindu Heritage Summer Camp located twenty minutes outside of Rochester, NY. They begin each day with yoga, learn Hindu chants, and attend philosophy classes in which they demystify the basic tenets of Hinduism, express their deep need for community, and tell us what it takes to be a Hindu in America.

These films are intended for international film festival exhibition and for television broadcast.  The series has earned the support of the IFP (Independent Feature Project) and several individual and foundational donors amongst the Indian American community.

3 minute trailer

QuickTime Player is required to view this trailer, which you can download here. Or click here for a low resolution PC compatible version.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

This is an independent project that has been developed outside of institutional media support.

We shot the Hindu Heritage Summer Camp documentary in July 2009 and are currently seeking funding to hire an editor, an animator (for some stories of the Mahabharata) and to cover many of the fixed costs of completing this film and of preparing it for distribution.

100 % tax-deductible contributions to this project can be made through our fiscal sponsor, IFP (Independent Feature Project).

Any amount is welcome but contributions of $500 or more will receive a credit at the end of this first episode about the camp as follows:

Special Thanks for donations of $500 to $999

Contributor for donations of $1000 to $2499

Patron for donations above $2500

-To make an online donation, click here and click the DONATE NOW button on the RIGHT side of the screen. Please make sure the page says “India In America: A Trilogy” as the Project name.

-To make a check donation, please download and fill out this form.  You would send a check made payable to “IFP Fiscal Sponsorship” and with the name of my project “India In America/ Mridu Chandra” on the MEMO line of your check.  If you are unable to download the form, contact me and I can email it to you.

-Matching grants are also accepted by IFP, so if your company does this, that is a great way to DOUBLE your contribution!

Feel free to contact me about this project and about how you can support this film:

Mridu Chandra, 917-312-2204 telephone

mriduchandra [at] gmail.com    [I do not accept unsolicited scripts]

Thank you for supporting this important documentary!

]]> http://www.mriduchandra.com/?feed=rss2&p=65 0 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?p=34 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?p=34#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:35:56 +0000 admin http://www.mriduchandra.com/wp/?p=34 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?feed=rss2&p=34 0 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?p=35 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?p=35#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:13:36 +0000 admin http://www.mriduchandra.com/wp/?p=35 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?feed=rss2&p=35 0 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?p=28 http://www.mriduchandra.com/?p=28#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:11:48 +0000 admin http://www.mriduchandra.com/wp/?p=28 SYNOPSIS: A feature length documentary portrait of Jeanette Maier, the Canal Street Madam of New Orleans. An FBI raid on her infamous family-run brothel in New Orleans destroyed her livelihood.  Stigmatized by felony, fearing recrimination from powerful political clients and determined to protect her children, Jeanette sets out to reinvent herself. You can read more about our project here.

CREDITS: Director: Cameron Yates; Producer: Mridu Chandra; Co-Producers: Esther Robinson, Basil Tsiokos; Editors: Sakae Ishikawa, Shannon Kennedy, Mary Manhardt; Composer: T. Griffin.

HOW TO SEE IT:  Our film is currently traveling the festival circuit, with the WORLD PREMIERE in the documentary competition category at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX (March 12-20). Our premiere, with Jeanette Maier in attendance, will be Monday March 15th, at 4:30 PM.  Additional screenings are on Tuesday, March 16th, at 1:45 PM and on Friday, March 19th, at 2 PM.

DONATE:  Tax-deductible contributions to this project can be made via our fiscal sponsor, FILM FORUM, here.   This is an independent film that has been developed outside of institutional media support, and your contribution would be invaluable to keeping an open society discussion of moral political hypocrisy and selective prosecution of the law  alive.

Thank you for supporting this important documentary!

3 minute trailer

THE CANAL STREET MADAM from Cameron Yates on Vimeo.