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‘Timeless’ Movie Looking to Community for Financing

It’s a race to the finish now for local filmmaker Edward La Borde Jr., whose ongoing Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for his full-length feature film, "Timeless: A Virgin Islands Love Story," has only 51 more days to go.

"Kickstarter is an online site designed to raise money for different causes or projects that people are working on," La Borde told the Source. "It’s making it possible for people to finance things like movies, in particular, that would have a hard time otherwise getting financing. In the movie business, getting the money together has always been the toughest part, but with sites like Kickstarter, the process has become a lot easier."

The catch is that within the next 51 days, La Borde has to raise his entire $20,000 goal or risk losing whatever money has already been pledged. Since the campaign launched about a week ago, 33 backers have pledged a total of $1,350 for the movie, and La Borde, along with his cast, has been appealing to the public to donate whatever they can to get the film to St. Croix in January, where they will finish up.

La Borde said the St. Croix portion of the movie will be the most costly and difficult to shoot, as he plans to transport the cast, crew and equipment over to the island that will be the backdrop for several of the film’s opening – and most historical – scenes. In these moments, viewers will be introduced to characters Asante and Akwasi, a couple torn apart by slavery but whose love survives over time as their souls find one another again in the modern day U.S. Virgin Islands.

"The teaser for the movie is on Kickstarter,” La Borde said. “It’s the only place the community can see it right now, and we’re hoping that it will give our viewers a better idea of what the film is all about."

"We were able to raise over $1,000 in just three days, so we’re hoping that the momentum continues,” he said. “It’s still early in the game but we’re happy with the way the campaign is going so far, and we continue to ask the community to support us as much as they can."

So far, the movie has been filmed on almost no budget, La Borde said.

"All the cast and crew members are working on deferred payment contracts and everyone involved has given of their time and personal funds so that we can make a feature film of which our islands can be proud," he explained.

"The success of this film will not only benefit everyone who is directly involved but it will help to serve as kick-starter (no pun intended) for the film industry in the U.S. Virgin Islands, an industry that has fallen by the wayside," La Borde said.

Together with playwright David Edgecombe, La Borde owns and runs Cutting Edge Entertainment Inc., a production company specializing in digital film and video production founded in 2008.

In 2011 Cutting Edge bought Grip Flicks Inc., which had been operating in the territory for more than 30 years as a production support company for projects filmed in the islands. Its credits include movies including "Shawshank Redemption" and "Twilight," and music videos for country star Kenny Chesney.

For more information on the campaign, or to donate, visit
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timelessthemovie/timeless-a-virgin-islands-love-story-feature-film.

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