Nothing to Lose is the latest work by renowned dance theatre company Force Majeure. This remarkable stage production explores the personal and public obsession with size while creating space for the incredible cast of performers to explore their large bodies through movement. This live show was directed by celebrated choreographer and dance theatre maker Kate Champion who worked closely with Kelli Jean Drinkwater as Artistic Associate and the cast to create an evocative and powerful piece of theatre, never before seen on Australian stages. Nothing to Lose captured the imagination of sell out audiences at Carriageworks as part of Sydney Festival 2015 and at The Malthouse Theatre as part of Dance Massive Festival in Melbourne. You can read more about Force Majeure and Nothing to Lose here: http://www.forcemajeure.com.au/our-work/current-projects/nothing-to-lose/
Nothing to Lose director Kate Champion and Artistic Associate Kelli Jean Drinkwater
Some of the cast of Nothing to Lose (L to R) Scarlett O’Clare, Anastasia Zaravinos, Ally Garrett & Latai Taumoepeau
A collective of independent filmmakers has been filming with the cast and crew of Nothing to Lose since the project’s inception back in 2013. Nothing to Lose – The Documentary is an opportunity enjoy a behind the scenes look at the making of this phenomenal dance theatre production, as one of Australia’s most respected dance theatre makers Kate Champion collaborates with an entire cast of large bodied performers to explore the movement potential of the fat body. But this is not just a straight up “making of” style documentary, this film will also focus on the incredible cast of the production, who they are and how their relate to themselves and the world on and off the stage. Plus it will explore the life changing impact of the production on performers and audience alike. This highly anticipated film will also look at the political impacts of such a provocative production and why Nothing to Lose continues to gain unfathomable international media attention and audience acclaim.
To get a bit of perspective the average independent low budget feature documentary budget in Australia costs around $200,000 which, by industry standards is considered INCREDIBLY low budget ! Award Winning documentary Aquaporko! is a short film that was also a “no budget” production. This ended up costing a mere $15,000 to reach your screens, peanuts by comparison! In order to make this feature length film we need to raise at least $22,000 for Nothing to Lose simply be able to finish the documentary and get it out into the world. We are now at the stage where we can go no further without these crucial funds.
There are two main ways in which we will use the funds from this campaign:
First we need to finish the film ! Although the bulk of the footage has been shot and we are into the editing of the film, even with the crew working for free , we still have a long way to go before we have a documentary that will blow your minds, which is of course our aim in this adventure! . This post production phase includes the edit , picture grade in a dedicated facility, sound mastering and mix in a dedicated sound studio, music licensing , festival submission fees, marketing , distribution , rewards and Pozible fees to name the main expenses! This finishing phase will be where the bulk of the money will be used.
Second we would like to use part of the funds raised by this campaign to recover the already existing, out of pocket production debts that have added up during the production of shooting phase of this project. Although the crew worked for free and we borrowed most of the equipment we needed to shoot , there was still unavoidable minimum expenses. We had to pay location fee’s, transport costs , some filming equipment hire, external hard drives and essential computer equipment and software costs. Currently the existing debt of this film is around $6000.
We believe that this film is vital and needs to be made and we are all dedicated to making a feature documentary that will do justice to the live show. We have the passion . skills and drive to do this , the only hurdle is a relatively small about of money.
We are all artists working across many fields and disciplines bringing an electric mix of talent and experience to Nothing to Lose – The Documentary.
Kelli Jean Drinkwater is an interdisciplinary artist who works across performance and film. She is also a documentary editor in between her many creative projects. Her last documentary Aquaporko! won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Mardi Gras Film Festival 2013. You can see more of her work at www.kellijeandrinkwater.com
Cindy Rodriguez began her career in the theatre, teaching and directing whilst studying Performance at the University of Sydney. In 2009 she was fortunate enough to work on Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr Fox” and upon returning to Australia has worked mostly in documentary including “The People Under the Bridge” (2015), “Why Anzac with Sam Neil” (2015) “The Great Australian Race Riot” (2014) and on the feature film “Mad Max: Fury Road”. If Cindy is not editing then she can be found behind the lens shooting videos for various theatre companies including Belvoir, Milkcrate Theatre, Shaun Parker & Co, Performance Space, Alaska Projects and Shopfront Theatre.
Bev Shroot is probably the funniest woman alive , she is also a highly experienced documentary producer having worked for the BBC for years. Now Bev splits her time between film, art curating and experimental ceramics, yes it’s a thing.www.bevshroot.com
Kate Blackmore is a Sydney based artist who works across video, installation and performance. Since 2007 she has been a key member of artist collective Brown Council and her work has shown at institutions including Artspace (Sydney), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane), National Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul), New Museum (Beijing), and National Gallery of Indonesia (Jakarta). www.kateblackmore.net / www.browncouncil.com
Bec Stegh is a AFI nominated visual effects designer and director who has been working in the film and television industry for the past 12 years. Her video works have been screened at the MCA, ArtBank and Performance Space, Sydney. www.visualcreatura.com
Lachlan Vercoe is a Sound Recordist/Designer from Sydney. Frequently seen making noise with guitars and drums in loud bands such as Thorax, Naked on the Vague, Crux, Mandate and many others. He’ll also record or mix your band or sausage dog.https://thoraxxxband.bandcamp.com/
Michael Alexandratos started on the Nothing To Lose project as our on-set runner and data wrangler. Fresh out of high school, Michael is an avid record collector and film/art enthusiast. He recently curated an exhibition at Surry Hills Library on the local record industry during the 1920’s, titled “Sydney Goes Gatsby”. He can usually be spotted squirrelling through the $2 box in Vinnies in search of that elusive piece of wax.
Ideally we want to make this film look and sound as amazing as we can. We are aware that the time, skills and equipment needed to make that happen are expensive and unavoidable.
The main obstacles in getting this film to the screen is not having the necessary funds to pay for the finishing process.
We are also determined that this film reaches as many people as possible and as a result have a multi tiered distribution and marketing plan which includes international sales and broadcast acquisitions.