The filmmaking powerhouse behind the incendiary documentary Fracknation has a new story to tell -- that of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion provider currently serving life in prison after being convicted of multiple murders in his house-of-horrors clinic where the severed feet of dead babies were kept as trophies and newborns were executed with scissors to the base of the skull.
As if the project wasn't ambitious enough, Phelim McAleer, his wife Ann McElhinney and Magda Segieda are looking to finance the film through the largest crowdfunding initiative ever launched for a movie.
The natural home for that raise would have been Kickstarter, the world's largest crowdfunding platform and a website the filmmakers have successfully used before, raising over $200,000 for their last film, but at the last minute, Kickstarter refused to allow the team to use factual language about Gosnell's crimes in their post.
Says McAleer:
"They asked us to remove the descriptions of a serial killer committing his crimes but in the Belle Gunness [Kickstarter] project they allowed a picture of a dead body on the project page. In addition Kickstarter has hosted and promoted 16 projects about stabbing. Kickstarter has also hosted 5 projects about incest, one project with the "C" word in the project description, 44 projects about rape and 28 projects with the word F**k or F**king in the title. Some of these projects were based on true stories, some were works of fiction, but all were allowed onto Kickstarter,"
After a scathing letter from McAleer, Kickstarter did ultimately relent, but not without warning the filmmakers that their project could still be removed at a later date, even after they started taking in donations.
"This is unacceptable to us and it should be unacceptable to any filmmaker particularly on a platform such as Kickstarter which claims to be all about artistic freedom."
Since the filmmakers cannot risk losing their donations down-the-line, they have turned instead to another crowdfunding site to raise the money for their film: IndieGoGo.com. They are looking to raise $2.1MM, the most ever requested for a movie and $100,000 north of the previous record holder, the teen drama Veronica Mars which sought $2MM and eventually collected $5.7MM.
The film itself will be a narrative feature, not a documentary, and will focus on the Gosnell murder trial -- a trial all but ignored by the mainstream media.
"The mainstream media or Hollywood don't think this is a story. Even though Gosnell killed more people than Gary Ridgeway, John Wayne Gacey, The Zodiac Killer and Ted Bundy combined. In a 30 year killing spree, it is thought he killed 1000s of babies. And that wasn't a national story?"
To learn more about the filmmakers and their project, visit: http://www.GosnellMovie.com