SAN DIEGO: Local filmmakers snag Oscar for documentary short

(CNS) – The Oscar-winning team behind the documentary short
“Inocente” gave a shout-out to Kickstarter, a funding source for the coming-
of-age story of a homeless and undocumented San Diego teen who's determined to
become an artist.

“It really helped galvanize a community,” Sean Fine said of the
funding platform for creative projects, including films, games, music and art.

“It helped fund a bunch of the film and kept us going through the post-production process,” the documentarian told reporters backstage at the Dolby
Theatre on Sunday night.

Going to regular investing sources for the amount of additional cash
they needed would have been tough, Andrea Nix Fine said.

“That's a huge ask. It's a hard ask,” she said.

The married couple works out of Washington, D.C., and said that has its
advantages.

“It's the seat of a lot of power,” which helps bring attention to the
subject of their film — homelessness, Andrea said.

“One in 45 kids in this (U.S.) population is homeless,” she said.
“That's a hell of a lot of kids.”

The Oscar will bring even more attention, her husband said. That a
“young homeless girl could stand on the stage in front of a billion people
(watching worldwide) and show people that homeless kids can have a voice” was
a wonderful benefit of the win, he said.

Last nominated in 2008 for “War Dance,” a documentary set in war-torn
Northern Uganda, the couple still started to “feel butterflies” when the
award was announced, Sean Fine said.

“I still have nail marks in my hands” from his wife squeezing them, he
said.

But they were convinced that their Kickstarter investors at home were
even more excited.

“You know they flipped out,” she said.