Send Allason to Congo for CIFF
Donation protected
Hey Everyone,
As most of you know I have been working with the Congo International Film Festival for the last seven years. It has certainly been an improbable journey for my life to have gone on and I am so grateful to have been a part of it from interning in 2011 to Assistant to the Directors today. What I presume less of you know is that my commitment to this project has been entirely self funded. Yole!Africa(the cultural center behind the Film Festival) and the Congo International Film Festival depend largely on a network of volunteers to continue to offer free and public programming to the 23,000 youth it serves annually. Considering the impact this organization has on the lives of people in Goma/DRC my involvement has continues to feel incredibly satisfying.
This year I am at a cross road in that I am in a very demanding graduate program at Columbia University in New York City and haven’t had the time to earn the extra necessary funds to travel to the festival in the summer.
Therefore I am turning once more to you, to help this very important work by supporting my presence at the festival this summer. I am reaching out to you as my wider community because your emotional and verbal support over the past years has meant the world to me. It has at some crucial points been the air beneath my wings to take this much less commonly traveled path and for that I am already indebted beyond words to all of you. Whilst the center there is able to support my stay, I need help to afford the ticket to Goma:
Flight breakdown:
Leave July 1:
Travel from NYC to Washington DC $150 (RT)
Fund Trip A: $75
Fund Trip B: $75
Washington DC > Addis Ababa $1500(RT)
Fund my way to Addis: $750
Fund my way back to the US: $750
Addis Ababa > Goma $500 (RT)
Fund the home stretch: $250
Fund the first leg back: $250
Visa: $300
Total: $2450
Let the festival madness begin in person!
My work with Yole! Africa has taught me about the power we have when we work together as a community. I hope you can help me and support the arts in Goma, DRC, the world.
Feel free to contact me if you want more specific details about my future plans or how Yole! Continues to inspire my vision for the future.
In the meantime: a couple highlights from my tenure at the Congo International Film Festival:
Brought Oscar nominated documentary Virunga along with the Director, Producers, cast and crew to Premiere their film at the Opening Night of CIFF.
Brought filmmaker Mathieu Roy with his film Surviving Progress (produced by Martin Scorsese) to the festival who has now returned several times to take part and is involved in the programming of the festival.
Here is also some relevant background information to help place my work in context:
A video about Yole (Side note: CIFF used to be called SKIFF!) See if you can spot me waaaay in the background at 4:22.
Another one I've watched on repeat when I need inspiration
Crisis in the Congo gives you some context for why this center is a crucial space.
As most of you know I have been working with the Congo International Film Festival for the last seven years. It has certainly been an improbable journey for my life to have gone on and I am so grateful to have been a part of it from interning in 2011 to Assistant to the Directors today. What I presume less of you know is that my commitment to this project has been entirely self funded. Yole!Africa(the cultural center behind the Film Festival) and the Congo International Film Festival depend largely on a network of volunteers to continue to offer free and public programming to the 23,000 youth it serves annually. Considering the impact this organization has on the lives of people in Goma/DRC my involvement has continues to feel incredibly satisfying.
This year I am at a cross road in that I am in a very demanding graduate program at Columbia University in New York City and haven’t had the time to earn the extra necessary funds to travel to the festival in the summer.
Therefore I am turning once more to you, to help this very important work by supporting my presence at the festival this summer. I am reaching out to you as my wider community because your emotional and verbal support over the past years has meant the world to me. It has at some crucial points been the air beneath my wings to take this much less commonly traveled path and for that I am already indebted beyond words to all of you. Whilst the center there is able to support my stay, I need help to afford the ticket to Goma:
Flight breakdown:
Leave July 1:
Travel from NYC to Washington DC $150 (RT)
Fund Trip A: $75
Fund Trip B: $75
Washington DC > Addis Ababa $1500(RT)
Fund my way to Addis: $750
Fund my way back to the US: $750
Addis Ababa > Goma $500 (RT)
Fund the home stretch: $250
Fund the first leg back: $250
Visa: $300
Total: $2450
Let the festival madness begin in person!
My work with Yole! Africa has taught me about the power we have when we work together as a community. I hope you can help me and support the arts in Goma, DRC, the world.
Feel free to contact me if you want more specific details about my future plans or how Yole! Continues to inspire my vision for the future.
In the meantime: a couple highlights from my tenure at the Congo International Film Festival:
Brought Oscar nominated documentary Virunga along with the Director, Producers, cast and crew to Premiere their film at the Opening Night of CIFF.
Brought filmmaker Mathieu Roy with his film Surviving Progress (produced by Martin Scorsese) to the festival who has now returned several times to take part and is involved in the programming of the festival.
Here is also some relevant background information to help place my work in context:
A video about Yole (Side note: CIFF used to be called SKIFF!) See if you can spot me waaaay in the background at 4:22.
Another one I've watched on repeat when I need inspiration
Crisis in the Congo gives you some context for why this center is a crucial space.
Organizer
Allason Leitz
Organizer
New York, NY