No Dumb Questions: 5 Years Later
Funds Needed for Completion: $ 100,000.00
Estimated Completion Date: 02/28/2009
Synopsis
Uncle Bill became a woman! How is Aunt Barbara doing? And how has her transition impacted her brother, mother, and three young nieces?
Are you a boy or a girl? A woman or a man? Neither? Both? What does gender identity mean to you?
No Dumb Questions is a 24-minute Sundance award-winning documentary film about 6, 9 and 11 year old sisters whose Uncle Bill is becoming a woman. No Dumb Questions has appeared on Oprah, HBO, LOGO and PBS, and is being used to fight ignorance and bias around gender and sexuality in schools, colleges, workplaces and churches. The film is also a recognized resource for understanding childhood development, parenting, family, and difference of any sort.
Inspired by the heartfelt response to No Dumb Questions and its unique, gentle, non-threatening, through-the-eyes-of-children question-asking approach, I am excited to now build on the film's ability to change hearts and minds and spark frank dialog.
This 3-year project will leverage the brand equity, installed base, and proven social change power of No Dumb Questions to address the urgent national need for widespread gender diversity education and tolerance by creating an innovative peer-education and ally/activist network that includes:
1) A new film - No Dumb Questions: 5 Years Later. Recent interviews with the family explore the impact of Aunt Barbara's transition on her family, friends, and workplace.
2) An online community where anyone can ask their own "not dumb questions" about gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. Visit a beta version of the site: http://nodumbquestions.org/
Budget:
$ 100,000.00
Project's Financial Needs
Most of the shooting is complete. Funds will be primarily used for editing, sound/picture post-production, DVD design and production, online community development, and an initial outreach launch.
We may raise funds for additional online content development and community development after this initial launch phase.
The film’s unique informal question-asking approach is being used as the backbone for an innovative online question-asking and storytelling community where anyone can use video, audio, text, and social networking tools to ask – and answer – their own “not dumb questions” about gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. A beta/development version of the community can be seen here: www.nodumbquestions.org
The new film and online experience will be promoted through a national outreach campaign with national and local partners, community screenings, and an online question-asking and storytelling community that includes viral grassroots peer-to-peer education and networking, celebrity guests and national media exposure. The campaign will blanket the United States, especially schools, churches, workplaces, and policymakers, with the No Dumb Questions example of frank dialog about difference.
Other financial Support
No Dumb Questions received awards from many film festivals, including Sundance, and has appeared on Oprah, HBO, LOGO and PBS. The No Dumb Questions: 5 Years Later film has been invited for preview/rough-cut screenings at a number of conferences and corporate events. The online community project was accepted into the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) Producer’s Institute for New Media Technologies.
Current stage of production
Post-Production
Estimated Completion Date
02/28/2009
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