On Look Films - Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo

Now Supported by National Geographic

National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project has awarded On Look Films a generous seed grant for
Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo.

OLF LATEST NEWS

The On Look Films team continues to meet weekly to work on the script and on fundraising event possibilities. We have been actively pursuing local and national investors and grantmaking organizations, as well as contemporary veteran filmmakers with whom to discuss creative and logistic concerns on funding and scripting.

ON BBC, NOVEMBER 2009

On Thursday, November 5, BBC correspondent Christian Fraser reported that the Ministry of Religious Endowment in Egypt is changing the 1400 year old tradition to a single recorded voice projected over Cairo by January of 2010.

“In a few months' time, the call to prayer will be both centralised and synthesized.
The same Adhan will be transmitted from a state radio studio to every mosque.
across Cairo, from the Great Pyramid to the smallest of shacks.

The slick uniformity of the call to prayer will be in stark contrast to the chaos that
lends Cairo much of its character.

Some critics of the plans also worry that the Egyptian government will in future
seek overall control of Friday sermons too - a charge that ministers reject.”

“One Voice for Cairo's Call to Prayer,” by Christian Fraser

Grants:

In our efforts to gain funding from local, regional, national and international organizations, we have learned that while the global economic downturn plays a significant role in our contribution prospects, there are other factors hindering our potential. Although many charitable organizations are interested in the subjects of our film (among them the Middle East, ancient traditions, sacred sounds, ethnography, religion, audio archiving and film), 18 days before he left office, President George W. Bush ordered a freeze on the assets of hundreds of such organizations which are now incapable of keeping up with their own operating costs, let alone supporting projects like ours. The litigation process ensues while On Look Films continues to submit grant proposals and approach a wide range of organizations for support.

Time:

While we wait for letters of inquiry to be read, grant proposals to be reviewed and some of our future grantors' hands to come untied, we are struggling with the issue of time, especially now that the BBC has uncovered that the Egyptian Ministry of Religions plans to enforce the Adhan Unification Project by early 2010. In the next year, the daily symphony of countless diverse voices which has called people to prayer five times each day for the last millennium is to be replaced by a single pre-recorded call that will be broadcast throughout the entire city of Cairo using wireless receivers.

Help us by donating what you can. To begin principal photography we need $100,000. Please direct all larger and tax-deductible donations here. As a special thank you, donations of over $2,000 will receive a donor credit in the film. Please contact us here with inquiries on how to receive a producer credit and for information on additional benefits when making sizeable donations.

We appreciate all of your support. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you!

With Your Help,
In the Last Ten Months
On Look Films Has:

• Grown from one person with a dream to an internationally renowned team of eleven filmmakers and artists
• Held several benefit events in Chicago
• Raised over $3,000 in production funding through events and Internet donations
• Received a seed grant and became fiscally sponsored by The Hartley Film Foundation
• Become an LLC
• Taken a research trip to Cairo which yielded nine hours of footage and 20 hours of audio from various Cairene mosques
• Cut Voices of Cairo, an 8 minute short film intended to act as a fundraising piece – a calling card – for the next stage of the project
• Launched our new website, soon to feature a multimedia library
• Received a seed grant from National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project

Make 2010 not only
the year when adhan unification takes place,
but also the year that documentation occurs!

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Pledge Today and Make a
World of Difference

As we actively pursue private and corporate foundations, we are clear that without your contribution, nothing is possible.

Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo is proudly sponsored by the Hartley Film Foundation

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