Poster for Tickling Giants, documentary on Bassem Youssef (Photo: courtesy of Indiegogo)
Tickling Giants, a documentary featuring Egypt's famed and controversial satirist Bassem Youssef and his show Al-Bernameg, is directed by Sara Taksler, senior producer at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and is sponsored by the non-profit arts service, Fractured Atlas.
The team behind the documentary launched a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo with a goal of raising USD 150,000 by 10 March. Since the campaign launch three days ago on 7 February, news is spreading on social media websites very quickly.
139 funders already raised a total of over USD 21,000 representing 14 percent of the final goal.
With Tickling Giants completing the filming, the proceeds generated through the crowd-funding campaign will go into funding the transcription, translation, subtitling, and editing of the film.
Once the goal is bypassed, funding will be invested in graphics, animation, color correction, sound editing, music, legal costs and archiving.
Some of the footage was released on Indiegogo which shows Youssef on his visit to Jon Stewart’s show though most of the material for the documentary was filmed in Egypt.
The campaign has shown transparency in regards to the difficulties the team faces filming on the streets, and the possibility of the film not being screened in Egypt after its release.
With Youssef’s show being suspended from airing in May 2014, the documentary sheds light on the power of comedy and exploring how non-violent expression can make a rippling impact.
According to the campaign’s description of the documentary, Tickling Giants follows Youssef’s attempt to remain on the air, keep his staff safe, not get arrested, and let those in power know they're being held accountable.
“Once you go after a joker, that is a joke in itself,” Youssef says in the fundraising trailer.
The crowd funding campain on Indiegogo can be accessed here
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