Aflamnah

A big announcement to friends, and supporters of Searching for Saris: the interest the film has generated in the last ten days has surpassed my expectations, and I'm incredibly grateful to each and every one of you who donated, and who supported me in sharing news of the film and of this crowd-funding campaign.

Completely unexpectedly, Mr Tariq Al-Ghussein, a Palestinian living in Dubai, made an extraordinarily generous donation of $10,000. I want to personally thank Mr Al-Ghussein again here for his exceptional support and kindness.

When I began this crowd-funding campaign, I had chosen to set a target that felt attainable in the 30 day period, and so I opted for the bare minimum target needed to complete the film.

There are still 13 days remaining before the Aflamnah deadline is passed, however, and the way it works on Aflamnah, is that donations remain open until then. So I have added a "stretch target" to the project, which is a funding target set beyond the original goal. This will contribute to:

- More time cutting the film with an experienced editor
- A higher standard of color correction, sound work and motion stabilization
- Ability to pay for licensed archive material, as opposed to relying on the public domain
- Promotion, publicity & distribution (including submissions to festivals worldwide)

The campaign has been a fantastic way of promoting the film and building up a community of supporters. Please help me spread the word of the campaign's success so far! The more funds raised, the further the film will go, and you will all have been part of making that happen.

One last note is that I will be posting public thank yous to all of my wonderful contributors at the end of the campaign, and will be delivering on rewards after the film's premiere in December.

Many many thanks to all of you and to Aflamnah for their wonderful support, Jinan