WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EATING DISORDERS FILM?

Unfortunately, the documentary Better the Devil You Know simply did not receive enough funding. We needed $50k and we raised $7k. With that money, I purchased the camera and paid my cinematographer for the time she invested. The April '08 bellydance fundriser is available on video for all who performed, and my cinematographer Alice is donating a portion of the funds raised to an eating disorders treatment scholarship charity.

It is still my dream to make this documentary, and I believe there will eventually be a change in the dire state of the American economy. Someday we may even have government arts funding again! (Ya gotta have a dream, right?)

SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

I am taking my camera to Oaxaca, Mexico to make a short, inexpensive film about a dance and yoga journey. I will also be writing the proposal for my next book, a memoir of studying Danza Folkorico (Mexican traditional dance) and teaching Tribal Fusion Bellydance. The proposal I write in Mexico will be sent to my editor at W.W. Norton in the hopes that this will become my second published memoir. I will also create a documentary blog with short videos and Super 8 films.

The producers of Better the Devil You Know were the mother-daughter team of Cher Lewis and Emma Lewis Feigenbaum. Cher is a traveler and lover of the arts, a fearless woman realizing her dream of seeing the world. on her own. An American who now lives in Italy, Cher is an inspiration to me, the kind of woman I want to be "when I grow up." At a loss for what to do with my life now that my first book was turned in and the film wasn't happening, I looked to Cher as an example of how to face one's fears and live one's dreams. As such, I have decided to do as she has done and live as an expatriate for a while.

But of course donations are needed to get myself there. I have a donation page at kickstarter.com where I am attempting to raise $2000 toward this purpose. Please consider helping me undertake this very important spiritual and creative journey! Oaxaca is a magical place, a wildly colorful, bizarre cartoon world hidden in the mountains. For a perfect example of what I'm talking about, look up "Noche de Rabanos."

CREDENTIALS
I'm legit, I promise: I am a writer with a forthcoming memoir from W.W. Norton called LOUD IN THE HOUSE OF MYSELF. I am represented by Penn Whaling at the Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency. I hold an MFA from the University of Cincinnati College of Art, with a concentration in film and video installation.

CONTACT INFO
Stacy Pershall
c/o The Ann Rittenberg Literary Agency
30 Bond Street
New York, NY 10012
pershall@hotmail.com

Website by Omar Contreras at Hipgnostica .