Project genesis
More than one year ago I participated in common meeting with acquaintances. We were drinking coffee, talking and during that meeting one of local investors shared the story, which inspired me to organize something like cinema on the island. That man told us how he organized one-day trip to his employees to the other island. They planned to relax a bit, drink beer together and finally, in the evening, go to cinema to watch a good movie on a big screen. I don’t remember movie title, but I do remember the fact half of the people participating in that trip visited real cinema for the first time in their entire life!
I was thinking about that for a long time, talked with local friends and I learnt that most of kids on the island never went to the cinema. Many of them probably never go. And the idea came – to buy decent equipment and start showing cartoons for the kids here. Free of charge, visit different barangays to make sure all interested in can join and enjoy.
Difficult start
There is meaningful quotation coming from one of the movies I saw: “ If there is no possibility to do things, you need anybody who doesn’t know it’s impossible, comes and does”. It was quite similar with me and this project. I said to myself: it is necessary to start doing something, doesn’t matter the workload and doesn’t matter others will approve and like it. I shared the idea with few friends and feedback I received was very positive. Everybody was ready to support or donate. I’m also extremely happy Monika and Marych, the authors of poluzuj.pl blog, got the idea immediately and said LET’S DO IT! Their support made the project alive quickly, as they are people who simply need to act and help.
First of all we had to make decision which internet platform use to collect money. None of us wanted to do it through our blogs to avoid suspicions that we embezzle or steal money. There are always such suspicious people reading our stories. Finally we decided to create an event on one of the most popular crowdfunding portal in Poland: PolakPotrafi.pl. There is full visibility how much money was offered, collected and how it is spent. Of course, before we published the project, we analysed carefully equipment offers, to make sure the one we buy will not be too expensive, but still good quality with necessary functionalities. We spoke with many people who had required knowledge about this kind of technical solutions and the choice was finally made. Here I would like to thank Witek from Dubai, whose advices were very valuable.
And the machinery started
Just after we published the event on PolakPotrafi.pl it appeared not only previous and current feedback was positive. Also speed we collected money from many people who liked the idea. It was unexpected, really. We were happy of any kind of support, doesn’t matter one donated money or not, also verbal support helped us believe our idea was great. In fact, congratulations should go to all of you who trusted and supported us. You should get big „salamat kaayo”, meaning “thank you” from Filipino kids.
Thanks to you we collected not only minimum amount of money to ensure any event happens. Your hearts were so big so we have enough money now to organize once off “cinema tour” not only on Siquijor island, but we can visit other small islands, where habitants do not have cinema, but also do not have electricity 24/7.
First show
Honestly, THAT day brought huge stress for us. We were afraid of everything and most of all if there are any kids interested in who will come and spend time with us and cartoons. We were unsure if locals accept and like this kind of activity, we didn’t know parents let their children come. That was something new for them. Four days before we met Barangay Captain and he was very positive. Promised to prepare place, connection to electricity, collect chairs etc. But parents? Kids? You never know…
On the day of the show we came an hour earlier and noticed local authorities kept promise: the space was ready, chairs were waiting for those everything was organized for. And that was also great to see groups of kids waiting for the show. I started to feel more relaxed, there were more and more positive emotions around!
Each minute new spectators were coming with big smiles on their faces. They fulfilled all the area of the basketball court, which turned out to cinema venue that evening. It seemed we made them interested in this event! I’m sure there were over hundred young people with us. Many of them, after 3 hours show ended, were crying they didn’t want to go home. Despite their tears we were extremely happy and pretty sure we made something really, really good and kids never forget that evening.
Next steps
There are still some open issues ahead. We need to buy power generator and – as it is in real cinema – we want to offer fresh popcorn to all kids who come. The only difference between our cinema and the real one would be popcorn for free 😉 We also try to negotiate with several cartoons producers and convince them to start cooperation with us. However this is very complicated problem and will take time. So far we use old cartoons with no active copyrights. Only these movies we can legally show to the public.
Project needs constant support and money
Despite the fact our event announced on PolakPotrafi.pl portal ended with success, we are still very happy to receive some financial support. That will allow us to organize events in a systematic way. Our dream is to offer film projections each weekend in different place and this requires additional funds.
If you want to support the idea, please contact me ( Rafal ) or Monika and Marych (poluzuj.pl). We will share proper bank account number with you. info@siquijor-island.com
Special thanks goes to companies, which supported us so far
