Give A Damn

Update 5/2/12: GAD? in LA & Nigeria May 5th, WTS trivia night

Give A Damn — Wed, 02 May 2012 01:01:08 -0700

Been a busy few months since you last heard from us!! We were occupied with screenings/presentations at Overflow Coffee Bar, the Africa World Doc Fest, SLU, Univ. of Oklahoma, Omaha Film Fest, Broadway Bean Coffee shop, LES Film Fest, Maryville Univ., MIIIE Conference, St. Louis Christian College, Univ. of Evansville, and Southeast MO State. With our new agent, Contemporary Issues Agency, we hope to continue to do many more next school year!! Let us know if you are interested in booking an event!

We want to invite all our LA friends to come out to our screening at the Awareness Film Fest in LA on May 5th at 7pm. Dan will be in town for the Biola Media Conference and will be at the screening for Q&A and merch sales. Check out the facebook event. Also that day our film will be screening at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Excited to hear how an African audience responds!

May 5th is a big day for the whole team because David's organization, When the Saints, is having a Trivia Night to raise money for their safe home in Malawi. They are almost halfway there and need your help. The event is at Good Shepherd Church, 327 Woods Mill Rd, Ballwin 63011,
6:30pm Silent Auction. 7pm Trivia. Tickets are $15 before and $20 at the door. To RSVP send an email to Info@WhentheSaints.com. Also let them know if you have ideas for silent auction items. Facebook event.

I don't know if you have seen it, but we have redone our website with the helps of Give A Damn?'s co-editor and associate producer, the incredible Mark Hallett and our AMAZING graphic designer Katherine Miller. Check it out!!

"Ask yourself 2 questions: what breaks your heart and what makes you come alive? Now figure out a way to put those together" - The Give A Damn? guys

GAD? Update 2_9_12 - New Festivals, screenings, Awards and updates on side projects

Give A Damn — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:53:32 -0700

Our Spring tour is kicking in to gear and we have a ton of cool events and festivals coming up. We our official selection for the "Africa World Documentary Film Fest" and the "Omaha Film Fest." Here is our upcoming schedule:

Feb 23rd Overflow Coffee Bar in Chicago at 7pm (details here)
Feb 24th Africa World Documentary Film Fest, 7pm at St. Louis History Museum (details here)
Feb 29th University of Oklahoma 7pm
March 10th - Omaha Film Fest, 2pm (details here)

March 29th - Midwest Institute (Private Event)
April 13th - University Of Evansville (TBD)

Let us know if you are interested in setting up a screening this Spring.

BIG NEWS: I (Dan) am really honored and HUMBLED to be awarded the 2012 Biola Distinguished Young Alumni of the Year Award. I will be there for the Chapel Ceremony on Feb 17th at 9:30am. "If you know anything about Biola, then you would know how many incredible young alumni that could have chosen instead of me who are doing amazing stuff for the Kingdom of God. Not taking this thing lightly:)"

Side Projects

Hit Man to Hero: We had our Kickoff Party on Feb 3rd at the Regional Arts Commission (pic attached.) If you are interested in learning more, go to our website http://www.hitmantohero.com, Like us on facebook and follow us at twitter.com/hitmantohero. We are still seeking donations for the film, and there are details on giving a tax deductible donation on the website.

When the Saints: David and his team are continuing to seek funds for the Rehabilitation Center in Malawi and he is currently seeking monthly donors. If you are interested in supporting that incredible project, email David at info@whenthesaints.com or visit the website.

Overall, we are really enjoying screening the film around the country and hope to continue to do so as we pursue distribution on TV, NetFlix, etc.

"Man...sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived." - Dalai Lama

-Dan

GAD? Update 12_28_11

Give A Damn — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:50:14 -0700

Happy Holidays! It's almost 2012!! Just wanted to follow up on our last update, tell you some cool facts about our 2011 Fall Tour, and some new exciting news about my next film!!

First, as we mentioned in our last update, we had three more big screenings left. Missouri state was the 1st. They treated us really incredible, fed us, and then about 100 students showed up to the film and we had our usual 30 min Q&A. On Dec 15th, we also had an great screening at the St. Louis Scholarship Foundation and they served some authentic African food to the group!

The big screening was our screening at Skepticon, the 2nd largest Athiest conference in the country. About 400 people came out and we received a standing ovation and had a lively Q&A. Check out the video for yourself:) http://bit.ly/u9U3v9

Overall, in the last six months, 3700 people saw the film during one of our two dozen screenings (20 of them being in a 2 month span from Sept 17th - Nov 19th) We are shooting to reach at least 10,000 people in the next six months as we tour more colleges, high schools, churches and whoever will have us. Please email us if you have any contacts where we can have future screenings!

When the Saints broke that $30,000 dollar mark from their November Fundraising Banquet as suspected, and David and his team are currently looking for monthly supporters because they still have a long way to go before reaching their goal of building a rehabilitation center in Malawi. Email David at info@whenthesaints.com with any questions.

Last of all, after our big screening at the Tivoli, Sarah Bernard and Barbara Madison of Boulevard Pictures approached me about doing a documentary in Nicaragua about a former Hitman who now rescues girls from sex trafficking. I am honored to say that I am now officially attached as Director & Editor of 'Hit Man to Hero'. You will surely be hearing more about this soon. We are officially sponsored by the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) of Saint Louis, and are currently looking for donations and potentially investors. If you are interested in giving a tax deductible donation before the end of the year, you just need to send checks postmarked before Jan 1st to:

Regional Arts Commission
Attn: Dan Tierney
6128 Delmar Blvd
St. Louis, MO 63112-1204 (Put "Hit Man to Hero" in memo)

Thanks for all your support over these last five years of working on Give A Damn? What a ride!!

-Dan

Big Update!! 11_15_11

Give A Damn — Wed, 02 May 2012 00:37:35 -0700

This last Saturday was a big day for GAD? and When the Saints. We had about 250 people come out to our morning screening at the St. Louis International Film Fest. All three of us were there for the Q & A .

Even bigger news was the success of the 'When the Saints' banquet . David had set a goal to raise $30,000 in one night towards the rehabilitation home in Malawi, and I wasn't sure if it was doable. The banquet had about 300 people show up, and at the end of the night David and his team had raised $28,368 and in the last few days has almost hit the $30,000 mark! What a night, this home is definitely getting built in Malawi to rescue young girls who are victims of sexual exploitation. Go to http://www.whenthesaints.com for more info...

Now an update from my LA trip. From Oct 31st - Nov 7th, I spent a week in Los Angeles, mostly with Biola University, doing various events. A couple of the highlights were speaking to a chapel of over 200 students about my spiritual journey with Give A Damn? On the 4th, we screened GAD? to about 150 students, alumni and faculty. It was so exciting to see some of my film school buddies and old professors come out for the event. Also, I got the chance to be on a couple of blogs, both rated top 10 in The Podcast Awards in their specific categories. Check out More than A Lesson & Battleship Pretension!

Coming up screenings:
Missouri State University - Nov 16th, 6pm in Carrington Hall (Springfield, MO)
Skepticon 4 (2nd largest Athiest/skeptics conference in the U.S.) - Nov 17th, 6pm in Gillioz Theatre (325 Park Central East, Springfield, MO)

Let us know if you have any screening ideas!!!!

"Your life should be about finding the intersection of the world's greatest need and your greatest passion" - Gary White of Water.org

-Dan Parris

Give a Damn? Kicking A** and Taking Names

Give A Damn — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:49:09 -0700

Rob here,

So it's been awhile since I've posted so I figured I'd write an update. So much has happened in the last two months and we are all excited with the film's progress. We are proud to announce that we won "Best Documentary Feature" at the Stella Artois Cinema STL Filmmakers Showcase, due largely to the enthusiasm of the fans that attended our sold out festival WIP(Work in Progress) debut.

The production of Give a Damn? over the last four years has been a roller coaster of accomplishment and disappointment which has tested our resolve on multiple occasions to complete the film that we set out to make. There was a period of 3-4 months that I completely withdrew from the project due to frustration and the financial opportunity cost that were a byproduct of chasing our dream. After watching the film with 440 people and receiving a standing ovation, I was overcome by a feeling of much needed closure and excitement. For the first time in many years I felt that sacrifice and struggle were finally overshadowed by success of the film. Dan and I were in attendance for this showing, however David was unable to attend because he was in Malawi working on his non-profit "When The Saints".

Although Dan and I very much enjoyed the screening, it did not feel complete with David not in attendance. Soon after the Tivoli screening, David returned to the country and now it is amazing to have had the full team present for the most recent screenings of the film. Although we are all very different, we are starting to merge very well as a presentation team and the Q and A section of the film has been very strong because of that.

After years of begging the public to take notice, people are starting to pay attention and interest in the film seems to be exploding. Although the film has not had it's official red carpet premiere, we are currently touring the WIP cut around the STL area at college and high school campus's. The first two screenings at Washington University and Florissant Valley Community College were very well received and we are excited for the handful of dates that we have lined up in the next month or so.

The other big news that I have is that we were excepted into Heartland International Film Festival as well as the St. Louis International Film Festival, taking place in October and November respectively. Both are major film festivals (St. Louis is an Oscar qualifier) and needless to say we are extremely excited to be a part of these festivals.

Recently we reached an agreement with an agent that will help us book showings around the country, that will most likely be happening in the Spring of next year. If you would like to start the process of bringing Give a Damn? to your campus, please send an e-mail to giveadamndoc@gmail.com.

In my next blog I will be presenting some of the most common questions that we received during the Question and Answer section of the movie as well as my general responses. If you would like to ask a question, please leave it in the comments for this blog and I will respond in the next one.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
-Rob

Give A Damn? Update 8_9_11 (Lots of GOOD news)

Give A Damn — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:56:12 -0700

I will jump right into whats going on! Since the last update, we have put most of our focus into making our Advanced Screening on Aug 14th, 2:30pm at the Tivoli (considered by many the best independent theater in Saint Louis) a success!

Thus far we have over 200 people committed on facebook and have been all over the local news. Today I was live on Ch.2, yesterday Rob and I were on Ch.5, and yesterday we also had a fabulous article in the local paper. This Thursday we will be on Ktrs 550AM with McGraw Milhaven at 9am and then on Friday we will be on the local NPR news station around 11am. Follow our twitter if you want to know the exact details when we find out more!! Thinking we might come close to selling out the 400 seats:)

Also, we have decided on our new name, but want to wait til we have all our graphics figured out so we can unveil it in a stylistic fashion. Next update, we will fill you in!!

We are still working on our tour and our different events. Currently working on the details for Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Phoenix, Vegas, LA, Columbia, MO and a number of other places. Let us know if you want us to do something in your city! Locally, we will definitely be screening the film at Meramec on Sept. 28th and at Washington University on Sept 17th.

A couple goodies for you guys. I have attached a sample of our composer Ian's music in a previous blog. It adds so much to the film and we are so thankful to have him on the project.

Last of all, I have included a blog that shares more of my heart over this past year as we have kept dodging waves of obstacles in this project, and have come up stronger each time. Thanks so much for you support over the last few years!!!

Thanks,
Dan Parris
Director of Give A Damn?
http://www.giveadamndoc.com

Sample of Our Composer Ian Perry's Music

Give A Damn — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:40:13 -0700

A Blind Man Learning to Dodge Waves

Give A Damn — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:19:43 -0700

There is a story in the Bible about a blind man that Jesus comes across and his
disciples ask why was the guy like that? Was it because of his own sin or the sin of his parents?

Sometimes people ask me similar questions. So do you think the film didn't go as planned because you didn't make it explicitly about God? Some people may think its my fault or other people on the teams fault that we didn't raise the money we originally planned to raise, got in the crash, or have not gotten into any major festivals. We always wonder when someone doesn't succeed whose to blame, just like the disciples did. Jesus response to the disciples question about the blind man always blows me away:

"This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." - Jesus

Jesus cut through all the blame and focused on the moment and said, "He is like this because of this one moment in history and how his healing, him coming out of this struggle, will lead to my glory."

I'm convinced that Give A Damn?'s destiny was to not be a story of pure success, where everything seemed to go our way. The way we were to glorify God was through overcoming the struggle...

So here how the things have gone: We had a sharp business plan, cool website and fun videos hoping that an investor would jump on board and fund our trip. No go. Then we decided to grassroots fundraise, and after 36 fundraisers and nearly a year, we just barely had enough money to do the trip. By that time I am burnt out on everything and the first month of the journey is a chance to decompress from the last few years and have a tangible practical goal to accomplish.

By the night of July 31st, 2009, I was finally in Africa and had the biggest adventure of my life right in front of me. I couldn't have been more excited. The next day, August 1st, Rob and I survive a deadly plane crash that derails our trip and leads me to be sick for the next 9 months and missing the entire Africa trip. On March 25th, 2010, I have 10 inches of my intestines removed and start to get back to normal, gaining weight to make up for the 45 pounds I had lost. In May 2010, I start editing the film and by September, we just barely get the film done in time for the Sundance film festival. Sundance ends up being the first in a series of rejections from film festivals and grants. Overall, we were rejected from seven festivals and three grants with not a single one giving any reason for our rejection because they have too many applicants to be able to give each one feedback.

So here we are now, with what we think is a powerful, life changing film and no one in the 'biz' interested in distributing the film. I, Dan the director, am working at an old job where my life consists of stacking and wiping off fertilizer bags and selling bug and weed killers to people at Home Depot. Don't get me wrong, I'm just thankful to have a job, but I can't help spending every day thinking..."God, what I'm doing here? None of this was supposed to happen this way!"

However, the more I think about all that has happened as I stock shelves and lift heavy bags of fertilizer, I can't help thinking that maybe this is all how it was supposed to happen. Maybe our film was supposed to teach the world about perseverance. Maybe our story was the one of struggle and one of not giving up.

An analogy of body surfing comes to mind. When you first get in the ocean, each wave seems to almost topple you over. Eventually though, after getting knocked around a few times, you learn how to dive under them. When you dive under the coming waves, you see the waves crash over you and you feel them some, but after they pass you come up out of the water hopeful that the next wave will be the one you ride. Basically, I feel like our struggles have made me a much better body surfer:) No longer do the coming waves of disappointment send me in a tailspin struggling to grasp for air and too disoriented to miss the coming wave. I've learned that each dissapointment is just a step along the path, just like every wave you dodge puts you one step closer to the one you ride.

In my opinion, Give A Damn? has been a complete success because we manage to make the film and finish it despite all the obstacles. Everything else is bonus. Currently we are planning a nationwide tour with the film, and I can't wait to see all the 'bonuses' we have set out in front of us.

In the end of the story about that Blind Man and Jesus, he is brought before the leaders of his people and he tells the story of coming out of his blindness, his struggle. He, a nobody in his culture, has the chance to speak to them and say "One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see." (John 9)

I'm coming out the water and trying to clearly see that next wave!

-Dan

GAD? Update 2_20_11

Give A Damn — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:42:40 -0800

Sorry it has been so long since you have heard from us, we have been focused on doing test screenings of Give A Damn? and our composer Ian Perry is hard at work creating an original score for the film. Its sounding awesome!

There has been a lot of waiting to hear back from festivals. We did not get into South by Southwest, and are waiting to hear back from Tribeca, Hot Docs, & Sheffield. We plan to submit to Silverdocs and the Los Angeles Film festivals. From there, we will start expanding to enter into a wider array of festivals. If you are the praying type, we could definitely use some help in this one!

We have done more than a dozen test screenings with some awesome results. I have attached a picture from one of our screenings. If you would like to be apart of our next screening or organize one yourself, just shoot us an email. The picture we attached were some friends who contacted us and took the initiative to get some folks together. On Feb 27th, we will have one of our largest test screenings at a coffee house out in Pacific, MO at 6pm. Let us know if you are interested!

A good friend of ours, Katherine Miller, drew up a few different designs for posters for our film. I attached the one we are leaning towards (above), curious to hear some thoughts on it.

I was honored to recently be featured on Plywood People's blog (bit.ly/hxa0Lf). Every Friday they feature an activist on their site, and its humbling to be amongst some of the incredible people they have interviewed. Check out the cool stuff their organization is doing.

We are currently looking for individuals who could use their influence or financial power to get this film to a larger audience. If you have any connections that you think could help get this film out to a larger audience, please let us know.

Overall, we are in high spirits concerning the potential of Give A Damn? Here is some of the feedback we have received:

"I'm leaving here inspired. I feel like I could drop everything and just go." - Leela

"I think its a phenomenal message. I felt this joyful sense of 'what more can we do'." - Sam

"You guys wouldn't stop at anything to get this message across." - Sara

"As a Christian, I think God is really going to use this video." - Lindsey

"As an Athiest, I think Christians need to see this film." - Richard

"Makes me see that I can do something even as a college student" - Nick

We are chugging along, and hope you are in your dreams as well,

dan parris

director of Give A Damn?
http://www.giveadamndoc.com
http://www.twitter.com/giveadamndoc

Pepsi Refresh Results & GAD? Update

Give A Damn — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:02:29 -0700

So after three months in the competition, thousands of votes from you and all our friends, we are officially out of the Pepsi Refresh Competition:( At the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank all you who stuck by us these past few months and put up with our repetitive messages. Our supporters are incredible, everywhere I went people were letting me know that they were voting for us daily. It was so encouraging to see everyone's support. Honestly, thank you!!!!

The focus right now is to finish this film. It is close to done and we have been doing a number of test screenings in St. Louis and getting excellent feedback and encouragement, but have also seen that we still have a little ways to go.

As far as Sundance, we submitted the film by Sept 25th deadline and we don't hear back if we are accepted into the competition or not until early December . Many of the festivals require that you premiere your film at their festival, so it will be a while before we do a public premiere with red carpets and all, but we do hope to do one of those someday. First, we are going to be entering the film into a number of the major festivals. It will be long process but sure to be a rewarding one and hopefully a way to secure some form of distribution.

“My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished 2 bags of M&M's and a chocolate cake. I feel better already.” - Dave Barry

-Dan
director of Give A Damn?

http://www.conversantlife.com/giveadamn

--
Give A Damn? is a feature length documentary about two idealist activists who convince their friend, who is uncertain about his responsibility to care for the poor, to immerse himself in poverty by traveling through the U.S., Europe and Africa living on a $1.25 a day. The goal is to make a humorous, adventurous and compelling film that will "connect those who need something to live for with those who just need something to live." This film is being made by Speak Up Productions LLC (http://www.giveadamndoc.com for more info)