A friend writes about a crowd funding proposal to fund a new movie titled King of Peking

Some forty seven years ago I met Shelley Warner when she and I were members of a chaotic, fun-filled and rather extraordinary student tour of China that took us into the heartland of the nation and its then current Cultural Revolution. She recently wrote that she and her husband are helping their son, Sam Voutas and his partner, Melanie Ansley, "a pair of  creative, imaginative and hard working independent film makers", with a crowd funding campaign to help make their second China-based feature film: King of Peking. They aren't looking for investors (it isn't a big budget film), simply small scale supporters.

Shelley has written to say the young couple’s last China film, Red Light Revolution, which they made a couple of years ago, was set in Beijing, in Chinese, written and directed by Sam, produced by Melanie.”It is a light film, a little naughty but quite a lovely story.  It wasn't a big money-spinner, but did get some recognition, including a ranking last year by the British Film Institute as one of the ten best films about Beijing “ .

Now you can consider making a pledge to contribute (anything from US$2 up) to the making of their new movie, King of Peking. You can do it through this Crowd site: http://kck.st/1aKBFYT

Just as I received this I was sent a link to a webpage devoted to the new film and here's an extra bit of info about it: The story takes place during the introduction of video discs to the Chinese market in 1998, which fundamentally shifted the way people consumed movies. Suddenly the films one could watch in the Mainland weren't just limited to the handful released in cinemas. Movies from all over the world could be purchased "en masse" from street vendors hawking both new releases and classic films.

KING OF PEKING is the story of a struggling movie projectionist who, when faced with crippling alimony, uses brand new DVD technology to enter the pirating business. With the help of his young son he starts copying movies at home in order to keep custody. Think "Chef" meets "Cinema Paradiso" - but in Chinese.
 If you are now very curious and have some spare change have a look here for more information http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=6c12557c7bb5021a14951f206&id=f0983f478a&e=48fd2c59ff