Dear Friends!

Here we are.  'Sandgrains', the documentary showing the consequences of European unrestrained and illegal fishing on the small economy of Cape Verde is about to be realised.
Finally, after more than two years of work and research trying to complete production through the usual strategies, we adopted the experimental strategies of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. We are coming close to the end of our first campaign to raise the funds needed to go to Cape Verde and shoot the incredible story of Jose and his people.

During the past 6 months we have raised more than 5000 pounds through small donations from individuals, enabling us to buy the tickets to go. In January and February the crew of 'Sandgrains' will be living in Ribeira da Barca, a small town on the island of Santiago.
The production team will see Jordie and Gabriel as cameramen and directors, Mirco as sound engineer and Francesca as stills photographer. Andrew, the underwater cameraman, will join the production for ten days to complete the story, seen from under the water surface...

The visas for Cape Verde are ready and the departure is scheduled for January the 6th.

Recently major NGOs such as WWF and Greenpeace, have recognised the value of this story, and began a collaboration that will give visibility and credibility to the project. From now on we are joining forces to gather signatures for the 'More Fish' petition, a campaign asking for a change in European law. If you want to contribute, have a look at this section.

The same happened with RaiNews24 (Italian National Broadcaser), fascinated by the story, they gave us the opportunity to share it with the wider public in an interview that has been aired not long ago. Watch it here with english subtitles.
More interviews and articles have also been published on various online sites, check out this link to see what they write about us.

Next to the virtual presence we are trying to get to know our audience and to be as concrete as possible. We want to explain the potential of crowdfunding to the public, to friends, to authors, to creatives and to the curious ones. On Saturday the 17th of December we will be in Bologna (Italy) for an evening of celebration, to present the documentary and Matchbox Media Collective, to raise funds and have a direct relationship with people. More events like this are currently being planned in various other countries and we hope you will be able to join us.

A few numbers? 6 months of crowdfunding campaign, 68 donors, 1 broadcasted interview, 59 logistical supporters, more than 1000 'like' on the web page, 5591 pound collected, 5796 visits registered by google, 1 selection to Sheffield DocFest, 7 public appearances, 15 thousand hours of work in front of the computer, 5 interviews to various media, 3 sleepless nights ...

And the network is expanding more and more.

If you're curious to know how this adventure will end, support us, with what you can .... and this story can be told!
www.sandgrains.matchboxmedia.org