Save Slam Planet!!

The poetry slam community has a tradition of being a tight-knit bunch, and when a tragedy like this befalls one of our own, especially people who have poured as much time, love, and energy into this crazy artform as these guys have, we help them out as best we can.

If you can help Mikey and Kyle at all, please do. They deserve it, they've earned it.

LOCAL FILMMAKERS, DIGGING OUT FROM TRAGIC FIRE, ESTABLISH FUND TO HELP SAVE PROJECT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2005

AUSTIN – Local documentary filmmakers Kyle Fuller and Mike Henry, whose editing suite was heavily damaged in Monday's fire at the Guadalupe Arts Center, have established a fund to help save their documentary film, Slam Planet: War of the Words, which they've been working on for the past year and a half. Proceeds from the fund will go toward massive data recovery efforts, beginning this week, to help salvage equipment and essential computer data heavily damaged in the two-alarm fire.

The movie, which follows the fortunes of Austin and New York poets as they prepare for and compete in last year's National Poetry Slam competition, was slated for completion this April before Monday's fire. The fire caused an estimated $500,000 damage to the arts complex, at 1705 Guadalupe, which serves as a home for numerous Austin arts groups and individual artists.

"It couldn't have come at a worse time," said Fuller, Co-Director / Producer for the film. "We had just moved out of another production office that weekend, so almost all of our gear and some of our footage was in the suite when the fire started."

Though much of the computer equipment housing edited sections of the film suffered extreme heat and smoke damage, technicians are hopeful that data on the hard drives can be recovered.

Despite what Co-Director / Producer Henry's euphemistically calling "a hurdle," he's still determined to see the movie through to completion.

"This is such an important story to tell," Henry said. "If you've seen slam poetry, you know what an incredible art form it is. Nothing else out there today allows the kind of freedom of expression that slam does. Anyone can walk into a Poetry Slam, step up the mic, and, in the space of three minutes, share their stories with an energized audience."

In interviews to be included in the film, Poetry Slam's founding father, Marc Smith, characterizes the slam movement as more than just a great show. "Those of us who have been in it for a long time have seen the wonders that slam brings to people," Smith explained. It's a life journey we've been on." Legendary TV and film producer Norman Lear goes on to say that slam will be "the next big social movement."

Henry and Fuller, in addition to their work on Slam Planet, maintain an industry-leading website, slamchannel.com, containing information on slam, flash animations of performances, and downloadable files featuring the work of poetry slam artists.

Bank One has set up the Slam Planet Support Fund (Account Number 68462875, Routing Number 1110006); donors interested in helping Henry and Fuller can either visit a Bank One branch, mail checks to the Slamchannel offices at 1113 South Third Street, Austin, TX 78704, or contribute via PayPal at slamchannel.com (PayPal option available next week).

Additional benefit events are being planned; check slamchannel.com for updates.