ENONGO - The Sammus Documentary

Fri Nov 22 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago – Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 11:40:23 AM

Early concept artwork for Enongo by animator Anaiyah Tatiana.

Hey everyone,

First of all: Welcome to our newest backers!  We're thrilled to have you on the Enongo team, and can't thank you enough for your generosity!

Lots of exciting little updates for you lovely supporters...

Still from Enongo, storyboard/layout by Christa Carr, animated by Jessica Honore.

If you haven't seen our Indiegogo campaign trailer in a while, you should definitely check it out!  We have several new and updated shots, showing you just how far we've come in six short weeks! 

Enongo Animation Fund Indiegogo Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/enongomovie/videos/2336834153314043/

Additionally, congratulations to one of our amazing animators, Ariel Paxton!  She just acquired her Master's of Fine Arts in Animation at the Savannah College of Art & Design last week!

Still from Enongo, scene by Ariel Paxton.

Onto our very biggest news: Introducing our seventh animator, Anaiyah Tatiana!

Born and raised in The Bronx, Anaiyah is an emerging character animator with an astonishing skill at personality-driven, fluid animation. She has worked on animated TV shows including Livespots and Astronots and Monologue. She was also the lead animator on the documentary-animation hybrid short, Ballet After Dark, which had its world premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and was presented by Queen Latifah and Dee Rees. Anaiyah is working on a sequence about the relationship between Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo and her fiancé, author Lanre Akinsiku.

"I’m really excited about this project because I love traditional animation and for a while I was afraid the hand-drawn style would die out. It’s so exciting being part of a resurgence in appreciation for this style. I’m also looking forward to participating in this new wave of filmmaking where, not only are people of color being represented on screen, but we also have the chance to work behind the scenes, too, and help with the accuracy of that representation."

– Anaiyah Tatiana

See more of Anaiyah's fantastic artwork here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anaiyahtatiana/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anaiyahtatiana/

We are just about two-thirds of the way to our minimum goal, but have just over two weeks left to get there!  Time is running out, but all is not lost!  This means it's more important now than ever before to help us get the word out to make this movie into a reality!  Every single dollar counts, and no donation is too small.  Follow us on these social media platforms, invite your friends, and tell them to DONATE!!:

Indiegogo Fundraiser: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/enongo-animation-fund

Vimeo Campaign Trailer: https://vimeo.com/365043886

Official Website: www.EnongoMovie.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/EnongoMovie
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/EnongoMovie
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/EnongoMovie

#Enongo

@EnongoMovie

We are ecstatic to bring this moving, relevant, urgent story with you all.  But we can't do it without you!  Keep this project alive and spread the word.  In the meantime, let's make a movie!

Wed Nov 20 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago – Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 01:55:55 PM

Hey, everyone!

We're back in town from filming a vital point in the documentary's narrative in beautiful New England, and have lots of exciting new updates for you all!

First of all, welcome to our new backers!  We're thrilled to have you on the Enongo team, and honored to have your support.

One of our amazing animators, Leah Coleman, shot this little video to help get the word out!  Please watch it, like it, and share it at the links below!:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enongomovie/videos/744022009430019/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5GMf2yAgk6/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/status/1197214356481679366

Also, Leah and another of our fantastic crew members, Christa Carr, will be in attendance at this year's CTN Animation eXpo in Burbank, California this weekend.  It's one of the biggest animation conventions in North America, but if you're there and see them, say hi!

Onto our recap of Week 6 in our Indiegogo fundraising: We are currently at 66% of our goal!  Thank you to all who have contributed so far!  150 amazing people from around the world have chipped in to make this exciting, history-making passion project into a reality.

Most urgently, however, are the numbers.  We have only 17 days left to make our minimum goal of $20,000.  While the past week brought in $630 from 19 wonderful people, that's an average of just $90 per day.  In order to make our goal, we need to bring in at least $394 every day.  But the campaign is stagnating more now than ever before: in the past two weeks, we had two days with zero donations.  Ouch.  

But all is not lost!  This is when The Power of the Internet comes in, and YOU help unlock that!  We need each and every person who believes in this project to help spread the word.  Follow us on these social media platforms, invite your friends, and tell them to DONATE!!:

Indiegogo Fundraiser: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/enongo-animation-fund

Vimeo Campaign Trailer: https://vimeo.com/365043886

Official Website: www.EnongoMovie.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/EnongoMovie
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/EnongoMovie
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/EnongoMovie

#Enongo

@EnongoMovie

This is an incredibly special project.  If we can get it finished, Enongo will be the very first feature-length film of any genre in which all animation has been created exclusively by a team of talented Black women artists.  This is history in the making, and you are a part of it!  It's also a tremendously moving, relevant portait of a genuinely unique artist.  We are honored to help share Sammus/Enongo's journey with the world.  We're close to the finish line, but we can't get there without your support!  No contribution is too small, and every single dollar counts.  

Thank you once again for your amazing generosity, everyone!  We have one of our biggest announcements yet coming up in just a few days, so stay tuned...!  In the meantime, let's make a movie!

Sun Nov 17 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago – Sun, Nov 17, 2019 at 07:45:03 PM

Hey, everyone!

A few updates for you all: First off, welcome to our newest backers!  We're thrilled to have you onboard this exciting project, and can't thank you enough for your kind generosity!

This past Friday was Enongo animator/story artist Ariel Paxton's birthday!  Ariel is hard at work on animating the film while simultaneously wrapping up her Master's of Fine Arts in Animation at the Savannah College of Art & Design, but we assembled this little collage of her art (seen above) and sent her well wishes!

Another of our amazing artists –– animator / story artist Christa Carr –– generously shot some footage of her bringing her sequence to life and encouraging folks to donate to our Indiegogo campaign!  You can see the video at the following links, and we highly encourage you to like and share it as much as you can to help her (and us!) get the word out!:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enongomovie/videos/426169738005373/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B42o8m2DuGK/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnongoMovie/status/1195028218333552640

Additionally, we FINALLY made it to $13,000 / 65% of our minimum goal!  Thank you to all who donated so far!  This is a tremendous milestone, and would have been impossible without your help.  But we still have a long way to go, and contributions are becoming less and less frequent.

But we are also officially behind schedule now.  We have less than three weeks left to make our goal, and we are two-thirds into our Indiegogo campaign.  But we are just under the two-thirds mark of reaching our minimum goal.  With only 20 days left in the campaign, we'll need to bring in at least $344 each day to get to our goal (and hopefully surpass it).  This is a significant change from just five days ago, when we needed $275 each day to make our goal.  

However, we can still get there with YOUR SUPPORT!  Please follow us on social media, encourage your friend, allies, followers, maybe even frenemies to spread the word, help us make history with the first feature-length film featuring animation entirely created by Black women animators, and DONATE!:

Indiegogo Fundraiser: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/enongo-animation-fund

Vimeo Campaign Trailer: https://vimeo.com/365043886

Official Website: www.EnongoMovie.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/EnongoMovie
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/EnongoMovie
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/EnongoMovie

#Enongo

@EnongoMovie

We have plenty more exciting updates in the remaining days ahead!  Live-action documentary footage is currently being filmed in Rhode Island, and our animated sequences are rapidly being polished up.  The evolution from our initial campaign trailer to the progress that we have made so far is staggering, and made possible by your generous contributions!  Thank you so much again, everyone.  But don't get complacent yet!  Let's keep this project alive!  Let's make a movie!

Tue Nov 12 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 06:26:08 AM

Hey, everyone!

First, welcome to our latest backers!  We're honored to have your support!

The final two Ink & Paint Girls Podcast episodes from their generous six-part Enongo series have been released!  (If you missed the first four interviews with our animators, definitely check out our previous Indiegogo updates!)

Jessica Honore's episode is here, in which Jessica talks about being an actor through animation (even while being shy in real life), working as an animator in New York, her genuine shock when she learned who was on our team (animation legend Dan Haskett!), and much more!:

https://inkandpaintgirls.podbean.com/e/ipg-084-jessica-honore-2d-animator/

Last but certainly not least is the episode with Enongo animator / storyboard artist, Christa Carr!  In this interview, Christa discusses living and studying in Tokyo, the importance of representation in media, her passion projects, and much more!:

https://inkandpaintgirls.podbean.com/e/ipg-085-christa-carr-2d-animator-character-designer/

In addition, Audere Magazine published our fifth article on the animation phase of our project during our fifth week of fundraising.  The article is an in-depth interview with Enongo director/producer, Kevin Schreck, in which the filmmaker discusses everything from using animation in a documentary, to the importance of hiring a diverse team, to the future of filmmaking:

https://audere.chickadeeprince.com/2019/11/09/filmmaker-kevin-schreck-on-his-enongo-documentary-these-dreams-are-worth-fighting-for/

Also, here's the statistical recap on Week 5 of our Indiegogo campaign: Thanks to a few very generous folks, we have reached past the 60% mark and are now at 63%!  As of this update, we are just $375 away from our next huge milestone of $13,000, or 65% of our minimum goal!  Thank you again to all who have helped us so far!

However, the campaign is still moving sluggishly.  This past week, we were averaging about two donations per day.  We also had one of our worst days this past week, with no contributions occuring on Sunday the 10th.  With just 25 days left, we need to make at least $295 each day in order to reach our minimum goal.  From last week's $275 per day for the remainder of the campaign, this means the project's momentum is continuing to slow down. 

We also need to keep in mind that while $20,000 covers most of the animation we need, we're hoping to bring in even more to cover the necessary funds for background elements, shading, and other finishing touches to really bring our animators' beautiful artwork –– and Enongo's vital story –– to life in the best way we can. 

This is all the more reason to get the word out and support us online!  Seriously, we cannot accomplish this without YOUR HELP!  We have seen some truly amazing domino effects on social media this past week, and it has been genuinely inspiring.  You never know who might support our cause, so tell the world and invite them to create some amazing filmmaking history with us!:

Indiegogo Fundraiser: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/enongo-animation-fund

Vimeo Campaign Trailer: https://vimeo.com/365043886

Official Website: www.EnongoMovie.com
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/EnongoMovie
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/EnongoMovie
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/EnongoMovie

#Enongo

@EnongoMovie

Thank you again to all who have supported us so far!  It truly means a lot to see such enthusiasm and generosity toward this passion project.  This has been a thrilling journey, but it's far from over.  We have lots of big, exciting updates coming your way, and perhaps even a chance to get an exclusive look at some brand-new animation... In the meantime, let's make a movie!

Thu Nov 7 '19 Announcement
over 6 years ago – Thu, Nov 07, 2019 at 05:24:31 PM

Hey, everyone!

First of all, welcome to our newest backers!  We're honored to have you on our team.

We have a couple more interviews with our crew for you, courtesy of Cassie Solliday's The Ink & Paint Girls Podcast!  Our third interview is with Enongo animator / storyboard artist, Ariel Paxton!  In this episode, "Ariel discusses how she works on her graduate thesis while working a job while animating on this documentary, how she researched Sammus before diving into the project, and how she applies her passion to work": https://inkandpaintgirls.podbean.com/e/ipg-082-ariel-paxton-2d-animator-and-storyboard-artist/

The fourth episode interviews Enongo animator / story artist, Leah Coleman!  Leah discusses how she finds inspiration from real life (including studying Sammus' performances and mannerisms in detail!), the surprising parallels between her life and Enongo’s, and much more: https://inkandpaintgirls.podbean.com/e/ipg-083-leah-coleman-animator/

We have two more episodes coming up in this week-long celebration of our film, so stay tuned!

The other big news is our Enongo Animation Fund Indiegogo campaign is now officially halfway over!  However, we're also just barely past the halfway mark of reaching our minimum goal.  Furthermore, for nearly a week, we're averaging only one donation per day, and we'll need at least $290 per day to reach our minimum goal.  This means we're in a high-stakes race to get to the finish line, so we need all the help we can get –– YOUR HELP! 

Don't let this project die –– help get the word out and encourage people to donate!  No contribution is too small to make a difference!!: