Dutch film duo Bas Ackermann and Emiel Martens have far exceeded their target of €9,000 in their crowdfunding campaign for Gifts from Babylon. With the help of nearly ninety donors, the filmmakers have raised a total of €10,000 to realize their short fiction film about illegal migration from Africa to Europe. At the end of December, they will travel to Gambia to shoot the film together with the Gambian media production company State of Mic.

Last year, Ackermann and Martens achieved their first success with Welcome to the Smiling Coast, a feature-length documentary about tourism in Gambia. Together with State of Mic, originally founded by Ackermann but now led by the Gambian brothers Alhagie and Babucarr Manka, they made the film with their own funds and without any form of subsidy over a period of eight years. Ultimately, Welcome to the Smiling Coast had its world premiere at the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) in LA, the largest Black film festival in the Americas, and subsequently, the documentary toured more than forty international film festivals and other events worldwide.

Ackermann and Martens' new film project can be seen as the 'sequel' to Welcome to the Smiling Coast. Gifts from Babylon is a short fiction film about the impact of illegal Africa-EU migration seen through the eyes of Amadou, a Gambian return migrant. The film depicts the personal and cultural conflicts that arise when Amadou returns to his native country after having lived illegally in Europe for a long time. Earlier this year, Ackermann and Martens won the 'Your Movie Matters' pitch competition at Movies that Matter, the well-known human rights film festival in The Hague. The prize consisted of €3,000, provided by the Municipality of The Hague, and guidance with a crowdfunding campaign on Cinecrowd to raise the remainder of the budget.

Last month, Ackermann and Martens launched their crowdfunding campaign for Gifts from Babylon, and within a month, they raised the target amount. Last weekend, when the campaign ended, the counter stood at exactly €10,000. Together with the contribution from the Municipality of The Hague, the filmmakers now have enough money to shoot the film in Gambia in December.

Ackermann: 'Almost ninety people from home and abroad have donated. We are incredibly happy with so much support. It also indicates that the subject of our film is topical and urgent. The human impact of the refugee crisis, both here and in the countries where the migrants come from, is often forgotten. We want to change this with Gifts from Babylon. We look forward to going to Gambia in December with a small Dutch crew to shoot another beautiful production there together with State of Mic.'

More information about the film, including a teaser, can be found at www.giftsfrombabylon.com. Donations are still welcome. The makers expect to have Gifts from Babylon finished in March 2018 and to premiere it at Movies that Matter.



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