Wednesday, October 31, 2018

"Ask Me How I Feel," a documentary film about a singer's return to the stage after music broke his heart, named a "Project We Love" by Kickstarter

The vision for "Ask Me How I Feel" was born in Philadelphia, PA in February 2016 when filmmakers Marie Hinson and Thomas Daniel Dwyer met Frank Bey and decided to follow him to the Blues Music Awards in Memphis where he was nominated for two awards that year. Over the next two years the filmmakers followed Bey around the world, capturing moments from Bey's shows and life off the stage. During this time, Bey went to Nashville for the first time in his career to make an album about his life, "Back in Business", with Grammy award-winning producer Tom Hambridge. "Ask Me How I Feel" culminates with this creative and emotional high-point of the 72-year-old singer's life.  The official documentary trailer can be viewed here.

The development of the film has brought together a uniquely-special crew, diverse in backgrounds but strongly united in their mission to share the urgently needed voices of the film.  The director, Marie Hinson, is an emerging artist and cinematographer whose films have screened at galleries and festivals all over the world. Her roots as a queer transgender woman from rural Appalachia bring to all of her work topics of identity, place and creative voice. Producer, Thomas Daniel Dwyer, is a musician and former public school teacher who entered the film business through acting.  Executive Producer, Jamila Paksima, is an Iranian-American documentarian and TV producer. Her recent work includes the award-winning documentary "Until 20" and the eight-part series for PBS "The Contenders."

The making of this independently-produced documentary has been a local, community-engaged effort. Now that the filming is complete, the filmmakers are reaching out to the audience beyond their home and Bey's stage. They are inviting audiences from around the world to join them in a grassroots effort to finish the film through a crowdfunding campaign. Their campaign is running on Kickstarter until Oct 25 and was just picked as a "Project We Love" by the popular crowdfunding platform.  For further details, visit the Kickstarter campaign.

2 comments: