Interview with filmmaker Heather Leach: winner of Sheffield Doc/Fest's Current Crowdfunding Pitch

This month Current travelled to the Sheffield Doc/Fest for the Current Crowdfunding Pitch, the only one of its kind at any film festival in the world.

Five documentary or interactive projects competed in front of a packed audience (and those watching live online at home) to win a pot of money donated by the funders who really know what makes for a quality film - that's all of you.

And the winner? 

Heather Leach with 'Dancing For Hugo Boss', a poignant film about her struggle with cancer and her subsequent pledge to live life to the full. 

We caught up with Heather this week to find out more about crowdfunding, her excellent documentary, and the talented woman behind it. 

For anyone who doesn't know, what is IndieGoGo and crowdfunding?

HL: IndieGoGo is a digital platform where anyone can create a campaign to raise money quickly and securely for a project that they really really believe in! You can create a campaign for yourself and your project and ask people to support it financially to help you get it off the ground. The people who pledge money generally get a reward from the producers, but in this case because the rewards were part of Sheffield Documentary Festival they're are sadly not available anymore. Oh, and thanks to everyone who supported the campaign. Have a virtual high five and hug from me and glow inside knowing that you have helped someone in need!

How did you get involved?

HL: I applied to the amazing Current Crowdfunding Pitch through the Sheffield International Documentary Festival. 5 projects were selected (all inspiring filmmakers and digital entrepreneurs) who had the chance to stand and pitch their project to an experienced panel, an audience and it is was also streamed live online through partners the Cuban Hat project. People then voted for the project they wanted to award the funds to at the end, and I am very proud that people voted for my project.

Trailer of the films in 2011's Current Crowdfunding Pitch:

Tell us a bit about your film!

HL: My project is a long-form mischievous and peculiarly uplifting documentary (with ambitions for a hyper theatrical release, broadcast versions and a backend web series) that chronicles my personal experience having been diagnosed with thyroid cancer in my early 30's. Filmed over 3.5 yrs you meet my old friends, my family (including my clumsy sound recordist toddler nephew, and my mother, a talented camera operating pensioner), ex and potential lovers, and you'll experience what its like to face one's mortality with a mixture of intimacy insight and fun. At the core of the film is my “life to-do list” a mechanism that I used to realize my hopes and dreams, and the list acts as a sword, a shield and sometimes a magic carpet in some of my darker moments.

Dancing with Hugo Boss from heather leach on Vimeo.

For more informations see gingerarmy.co.uk; and here.

If people pledge money, where does their donations go? 

HL: This experience reinforced my belief that creativity can be a tool for coping with life’s traumas. So my film will be part of a wider online campaign that aims to support and help others. If people donate to this campaign the fund will go toward launching an interactive website that initially collects and publishes other people’s “life to-do lists” too. So far people have been filling in the list in person and also on an emailed flyer revealing a spectrum of human ambition from “wrestling a grizzly bear’ to “going to a nudist beech" and "finding one's soul mate”. Any donation would help to grow and support an online community before the film is finished.

Tell us more about the concept of "bucket lists". How do people fill out their own?

HL: I created my "life to-do list" or "bucket list" just three days after my cancer diagnosis whilst waiting for numerous test results to see the severity of the cancer (three weeks is a very long time when time has suddenly stopped too). I had no idea whether it would reduce the length of my life and so I wrote a list instigated by a recurring vision I had where I would see myself line-dancing in a pair of amazing cowboyesque boots made by Hugo Boss, so I decided I would get the boots, learns some routines and, when well enough, dance my ass off! The list became a mechanism that allowed me to really engage with living, be honest to myself and start to do everything I ever wanted to! Please share your own list by filling in the attached flyer and sending it back to the email address on the top.
 

Where should people go to find out more about Dancing With Hugo Boss?

HL: To find out more about the film you can go to my website or watch a trailer but an exiciting, innovative website will be launching soon! 

And finally, what's next on the horizon for you?

HL: Next on the horizon for me is to complete my list, complete the film, launch the digital portal and other elements of the cross platform project, start my next webdoc series and have a jolly good time!