GoFundMe LOVE & VODKA Update!

Hello Everyone! I

t's been a busy week, full of ups and downs, and so I'm writing to you all to catch you up. We finished our Final Cut -- our Ukrainian editor, Yakiv, finished the last cuts to LOVE & VODKA and it felt like a major accomplishment.

Those GoFundMe contributions made helped me to pay him another installment of the $7000 that I owe him as editor. Thank you!

I still owe him around $3000, which for some people may not be a lot of money, but for me right now, after not being able to work due to the film industry union strikes, and after already spending so much of my own money toward this passion project, feels like a lot.

We still also need to get the sound post done, as well as color grading and pay for some stock footage.

This past week, I felt a bit down, to be honest.

​Many established producers will tell you that its harder to make a micro-budget passion project with unknowns than it is a multi-million dollar, packaged picture with bankable stars -- and though I haven't experienced that myself, I can say that when you are taking a chance on unknown actors and you, yourself, are not yet considered "known" as a director (even IF you DO have one feature under your belt that has done very well... in my case, "Darcy") -- all I can say that pushing this project forward has felt, at times, as if I'm pushing a bolder uphill with gale-force winds blowing straight at me.

The one thing that keeps me going is that it's turning out to be a lovely little film. The performances are delightful. It's full of good laughs. It's honest. And it makes me cry during the heart-felt moments. So I'm very proud of it. If I weren't, I couldn't put myself out there.

Look, if I had the right organizations to back me and push this picture along, I know it would do well. And I'm definitely working toward that end. But it takes constant work and the ability to put yourself out there again, and again.

I'm including this video of our Associate Producer Ariel Wan who is someone on my side. She's believed in me from he get go and recorded this video before we had our first film production crowdfunding campaign.

I'll come back soon with an updated version because - just recently - Ariel viewed the Final Cut and is extremely excited to see what we've made. It's a wonderful feeling to show what you've made to the very people who believed in you from the get-go and hear their encouraging and satisfied feedback.

They took a chance on you and you didn't disappoint them. To that end, I'm asking you to take a chance on us and this film.

Even if you don't have funds yourself, perhaps you know of the right Ukrainian organization that is looking to support a film about the American-Ukrainian transatlantic friendship.

By supporting #LOVEANDVODKAMOVIE ... you are supporting activism in the form of a movie. We've done our best to provide hope to Ukrainian refugees and give them something to be hopeful and happy about... Thank you. Heidi