I was looking forward to completing my ‘accordion’ documentary by the end of this year and I am happy to say I will have almost made it. There are a few things I had not bargained for, such as how much time it can take to acquire unanticipated licenses and permissions, let alone how to meet some of the associated financial obligations. Most films these days are made with the assistance of production and post production teams. Although I do rely on the services of others, all of my films are pretty much hand-crafted by me alone.

Given that choice and the factor of limited time, I could not imagine taking on the burden of launching a crowd-funding campaign because it would have consumed a lot of time, which I saw as time away from the actual making of the film. Over a 4-5 year period, the film is getting made from out of pocket funds. Since I am not rolling in money, my job supports my “habit.” Thus, it is a balancing act.


I am very thankful for the various notes of interest and support that I have received from this accordion newsletter-reading community. It is encouraging to know that there are any number of people out there enthusiastically “waiting the in the wings.” I will be relying on the patience of all regarding the film’s release. I hope it is understandable that I would rather complete it according to my vision as opposed to doing it in a way that is just to get it done.

To that end, I am putting out a call, here, for the one remaining missing item: video footage that depicts people dancing at a wedding, preferably polka dancing. If anyone can offer footage of that nature, please contact me. I only need about 30 seconds.

I am also interested in hearing from readers who might be interested in purchasing the finished film. I would like to know whether or not the preference will be for a hard copy (DVD) or, if, as I understand, Video on Demand has truly become the preferred offering. The more people willing to reply via my contact information, below, the better prepared I can be for that preference. Once that is known, I am going to consider the possibility of a pre-sale (offer it for sale in advance of its release), as a way to help support the final post production costs. But would there be any takers?

It is worth noting that some of the first tier and second tier film festivals disqualify films that have been sold on DVD in advance of that festival’s screening dates. This means that until it is known if the film will “make it” on the festival circuit or not, the film can not be offered for sale from a website. So far, the film does not have a website, only a facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheAWord). However, one of the ways around this will be through this forum and my personal email contact information which is:
rcantow@originaldigital.net. Of course, I would have to rely upon the discretion of the accordion community for this to “fly.”

I continue to be excited about the film and am grateful for all of the encouragement I have received from this community. – Roberta Cantow