Fundraising to Finish.

Our team has shifted from Production into Post-Production. That means we have finished (most) filming, and we’re shifting to the long, difficult road of editing these pieces together, hiring musicians, colorists, and paying for archival material.

Most independent documentaries take substantially longer to film because the filmmakers spend much of their time raising funds instead of filming. When you join us, you help keep our filmmaking team in the books and behind the camera.

Our fundraising goal to complete the Post-Production of The Body Of Christ Has AIDS is $82,000.

So far, we have raised about $7,000 of that 82,000. And we’re just getting started!

DONATE

Want to know more about how tax-deductible donations to The Body Of Christ Has AIDS work? They are received by The Film Collaborative, our fiscal sponsor. Click here for more information!

What We Aren’t Asking For

In-Kind Donations

We are committed to putting every dollar on the screen. The filmmakers are donating their labor for the most expensive parts of post-production.

• Editing: Donated (Value: $60,000)

• Assistant Editing: Donated (Value: $12,500)

• Color Grading: Donated (Value: $5,000)

By handling these roles internally, we have reduced our fundraising needs by over $77,000.

Where Will This Funding Go?

  • To bring this history to life, we rely on more than just interviews. We are licensing historical news clips, stock footage, and photographs that visually transport the audience back to the height of the AIDS crisis.

    While some archives are public domain, high-quality historical assets require researcher fees and licensing payments to libraries and news organizations.

  • Film is as much about what you hear as what you see. This is our largest remaining expense, covering the composition of an original score, hiring musicians, and the complex process of post-production sound mixing.

    It also includes the necessary rights to use copyrighted music—potentially including iconic tracks from the era that are essential to the story.

  • Documentaries require rigorous legal review. This line item covers legal fees to clear rights for archival content and music, ensuring the film can be distributed without copyright issues.

    It also covers essential bookkeeping software to keep our project financially transparent and compliant.

  • Making the movie is only half the battle; we also need to ensure it is seen. This fund covers festival submission fees, promotional materials, and the costs associated with hosting community screenings. It ensures the film reaches the audiences who need to hear these stories most.

  • This covers the technical backbone of the edit: high-capacity servers for data storage, editing bay rentals, and specialized coloring equipment.

    We have secured a partnership with Capital Hope Media to access this equipment at substantially below-market rates, ensuring your donation goes further.

  • To show the film in theaters and festivals, we must create a Digital Cinema Package (DCP)—the industry standard for projection. This category also funds closed captioning and transcripts to ensure the film is accessible to all audiences.

  • The most expensive line item in most documentaries is often paying the editor. This person (or team) spends hundreds of hours assembling the film.

    For The Body of Christ Has AIDS, that expense is free. Margaret & Stephen are doing that.

    We’ll also do coloring, and AI software has provided a way to do (basic) transcriptions.

    Finally, we have gratefully received access to some archives for free.

    That’s a lot of services we don’t need to raise funds for!

Rev. Dr. Ed Hansen sits in front of film cameras

Join us on this Journey.

Any support you may be able to provide will get us one step closer to our goal.

Documentary films often take years to produce because the endeavor is filled with long hours of hard work, an all-in commitment to the story, and personal sacrifice.

The Body of Christ Has AIDS is no different. We promise you as filmmakers that we are fully committed to telling stories never told before onscreen.

We will not stop until we bring the stories of Christian rebels out of the shadows and into the light. The stories of daring and brave souls deserve to finally be told.

For it is in their stories that we see what compassion truly looks like in the face of silence. They believed as Christians, if one has AIDS we all have AIDS. This is their rally cry.

We will not stop until their stories are told. We will not stop until we bring to life this full-length documentary. Join us in telling this story.