Film festivals cost money to submit your film. Because festivals receive so many submissions and each has different criteria for what they are looking for, it can be difficult to get into festivals, even when you target the ones that are most likely to appreciate your film. So regardless of the quality or subject matter of an independent film, it has anywhere from a 0.2% to a 10% chance of being accepted. The entrance fees are anywhere between $15 and $125 with the average being about $50. So I would be lucky to get into one out of every ten I submit to. The average filmmaker will spend a few thousand dollars on the entrance fees alone, that doesn't include shipping, media (DVD screeners), press kits, and photo stills of the movie, which are all required as part of the submission. Once a filmmaker gets accepted into a film festival, then he/she usually needs to pay for airfare and lodging at the festival so that they can represent their film, and also pay for posters and postcards to promote their films while they are at the festival to help get the theater full of people to watch their film.

I am fundraising to help offset the cost of making BELLY available for people to see, and also to help pay back for the production costs, most of which are still outstanding.

It is not typical fund-raising, however, because I am not asking for donations, I am selling quality, original costumes which I have spent the last year and a half making while my editor edited the film. The thing is, all the money from the costumes (after paying back the cost of the fabric and notions) goes to pay for some part of the film's production and/or promotion.

I have personally funded BELLY. I did meet with a big producer/investor/promoter in Hollywood at the beginning of the project and he was interested in the idea but only if I could (in his words) "find a belly dancer that turned to stripping and then a life of drugs and prostitution-now which would be a marketable story". I have been dancing for almost 15 years and that isn't the "story" of belly dance that I have ever seen, let alone is it the usual story. So I decided to fund it myself, so that I can tell the true story as I see it. The documentary lets the dancers interviewed tell the story of being a belly dancer in their own words, which ended up covering the topics of family, body image, sisterhood, female empowerment, and spirituality.

My husband Chad and I are just everyday people, raising our 2 sons, working our dreaded day job and making art anyway that we can. Even after selling the DVD, which we intend to, it will most likely not payback the $15,000 out of pocket expenses of the film. And that s not even considering the time and talent of the people who worked on film for 3 years.

I feel strongly that it is important that everyone has a voice, not just the wealthy. Like belly dance, which is a dance form everyone can do, independent filmmaking has become a communication that everyone can do. But it costs a lot and is seldom ever as glamorous as it seems. I sincerely believe BELLY can touch many people and have a positive effect on its audience, and I am committed to bringing it to the largest audience possible.