David Ehrlich's 2023 Video Countdown Fundraiser

Hi, my name is David, I'm a film critic, and every year I cut together my 25 favorite films of the past 12 months into a very long video countdown for some reason. You can watch them all on this website if you want.

And hey, a crappy YouTube version of THIS year's video can be found right here, though it looks much swankier on Vimeo:

To help justify the (truly humiliating) amount of time it takes me to make them, I've also used these videos as opportunities to fundraise for a series of invaluable non-profits.

For each of the last three years, I've partnered with the director of my #1 film to decide where the funds should go.

For the 2022 video/2023 fundraiser, AFTERSUN director Charlotte Wells has kindly selected a New York City non-profit called Food with Fam, and I couldn't be happier that she did.

A former mutual aid group that began during the early days of the pandemic and incorporated as a nonprofit in 2022, Food with Fam is a small but extraordinary group that hosts biweekly food distributions and other initiatives throughout NYC to help feed families and individuals in need.

At each distribution, they give away bags of groceries, boxes of fresh produce, and hot meals for 300-500 families, a number that is determined by the amount of food they have to dispense, and thus the amount of money they have to procure that food (this Bon Appétit article helps explain how vital this food can be, and — despite Food with Fam's best efforts — how many people are still hungry when their distributions run dry). Those distributions cost between $3,000 — $5,000 dollars. Food with Fam also hosts food education programming and other meal opportunities for those in need.

According to a founding member of the group, Food with Fam's ultimate goal is to create a space with a community kitchen and food center where they can offer consistent hot meals and distributions They continue to operate in the spirit of mutual aid, with all funds going directly to feed families, and all work done on a volunteer basis.

Food with Fam is a small non-profit whose impact on the community I've been able to witness first-hand, and it's safe to say that $25,000 or anything close to it would make an ENORMOUS impact on what they're able to do for New Yorkers in need. Every dollar you donate will be passed along to Food with Fam (minus whatever fees GoFundMe slices off the top), and your contributions will quite literally provide meals for people who might otherwise go hungry this winter.

As a far less meaningful incentive, I'll commit to making another one of these videos for the movies of 2023 if we hit our goal of $25,000 (and my second kid is due to be born in February, so that's not a commitment I make lightly).

These are hard times all around, and I understand that soliciting donations — even to a valuable cause — is a lot to ask right now. But for those who can afford to give, these are also urgent times to help those in need, and these silly videos are the best leverage I have to marshal that kind of help. So here goes nothing! Again. …Again.

THANK YOU!