THE PRAYER
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia | Film Feature
Horror, Drama
The uniqueness of THE PRAYER lies in its setting and characters: the Ethiopian culture is a place where possession is very real and exorcisms are relatively common. THE PRAYER opens a window into the dark spiritual underbelly of an Ethiopian community and its people.
THE PRAYER
Bahir Dar, Ethiopia | Film Feature
Horror, Drama
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $24,675 for development. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
110 supporters | followers
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The uniqueness of THE PRAYER lies in its setting and characters: the Ethiopian culture is a place where possession is very real and exorcisms are relatively common. THE PRAYER opens a window into the dark spiritual underbelly of an Ethiopian community and its people.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
The Story
I've been working on the script for "The Prayer" for years and it's gone through many iterations, titles, rewrites and locations.
What I find most exciting about this horror movie and what I expect audiences will be drawn to, is that we will be filming in Ethiopia: and it will be the first time anyone has ever filmed a horror movie there.
I've shot three features there between 2008 to 2012 with Teddy Teshome, who has been dubbed "the Steven Spielberg of Ethiopia", and has recently won several African Academy Awards for Triangle, a film we made together. He is going to help produce the movie with me in Ethiopia, a gorgeous place inhabited by beautiful people with a rich culture.
This exotic location will provide the perfect backdrop for the story. Two teenagers in love, an American boy and an Ethiopian girl, have their relationship severely tested when the boy becomes possessed by a demon. Ethiopia is a very religious country, where folklore and mysticism are an integral part of the day to day life and culture. This naturalism will help the topic feel raw and realistic, unlike any other film in the genre.
The first money into a project is always the hardest money to find. Although the film won't be made entirely with the requested $30,000, it is the the most important part of the budget. It allows for the film's framework to be built.
Where will the money go?
In order to raise the rest of the money (an estimated $200,000 more from private investors) we need to:
1. Hire a lawyer to set up the business and draw up all sorts of contracts. Lawyers become very expensive quickly.
2. Get an artist to draw storyboards. Investors like visuals. Before we make the movie, every shot and camera move has to be drawn out. It's like a comic book of the movie, with camera direction. It's essential to have this visual reference for the entire crew to be on the same page while shooting the movie.
3. Attach a casting director. The most important piece of the fundraising puzzle is attaching actors that promise financial returns. Who finds these talented thespians? The Casting Director.
4. Hire a Line Producer to breakdown the script and the budget.
5. Scout locations. The director and I will have to scout locations to finalize the script and make sure every scene is written to fully exploit the amazing locale.
6. Office Expenses: Photocopies of scripts, storyboards, breakdowns, investor's packages etc.
Finally, here is a short synopsis of the film:
Mick is an American teenager whose father is a doctor in the organization “Doctors Without Borders”. Living in Addis Ababa and attending an international high school,
Mick is subject to a great amount of teasing and physical abuse by the local boys. His loyal girlfriend Selam rushes to his defense. Selam decides that the best thing to do would be to say a prayer of protection to keep Mick from harm. To
increase the likelihood of the prayer’s success, she brings Mick to a special place outside of the city, a spiritual sylvan glade where exorcisms have been known
to take place.
It is here that Mick comes to be imbued by Asmodeus, the demon-god of lust. It does not take long before Mick enters into a fugue state and engages in more and more violent and sexually perverse behavior. Realizing something has gone
very wrong, Selam has to struggle with Mick’s erratic and dangerous behavior and the possibility that his condition may in fact be due to what she’s done.
The guilt she holds and the revenge Meklit seeks, carries the film through to its unpredictable climax, which suggests both the power of self-sacrifice and the
redeeming nature of love.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
I need a lawyer!
Costs $10,000
We need to form a business and set up the framework of the film. LLC formation, Investor's Packages, Copyrights, Contracts...
Storyboard Artist
Costs $3,000
We will need a great storyboard artist before and during production. Visuals tell the investors and the crew what's what.
Casting Director
Costs $5,000
Nothing is more important than a great cast. The cast leads to promised financial returns. The casting director is essential!
Line Producer
Costs $5,000
Over the course of pre-production, there will need to be endless breakdowns of the script, budget, locations and many more. It's a big job.
Let's scout!
Costs $5,000
We will have to visit the locations we wish to use beforehand. And we will need someone to find them first.
Office Expenses
Costs $2,000
It's boring, but office costs build up quickly. Script copies, storyboard copies, contract copies, ink, mailing...the list goes on.
Share this update!
About This Team
MATTHIAS SCHUBERT - PRODUCER, CINEMATOGRAPHER
Matthias has been shooting movies since the early age of 12, when he bought his first video camera. He made short films throughout his childhood and finally received his MFA in filmmaking from the Ohio University School of Film, where he also taught undergraduate film production.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 2001, he has shot 26 feature films of varying genres. In 2011, he received the Best Cinematography Award for a horror/comedy, "The Selling", at the Amsterdam Film Festival.
In 2014, Matthias went to Afghanistan, where he shot “Afghanistan Rising”, a documentary on the Afghan National Army (ANA) for Academy Award Nominated director, Sam French. The Film shows the army's strength and independence as the coalition forces prepare to pull out.
His work has also brought him to Ethiopia, England, Ukraine, Russia, Iceland, Armenia and more. An active member of the International Cinematographer's Guild, Matthias lives in North Hollywood with his wife and daughters.
TEDDY TESHOME - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Theodros Teshome Kebede, or sometimes spelt as "TEWODROS TESHOME" Nickname Teddy Studio, born on January 7, 1970 in Jimma, Ethiopia, is a Producer, Writer, Director, and Actor of films in Ethiopia.
Theodros, owner of Sebastopol Entertainment PLC and Teddy Studios, is known for resuscitating the Ethiopian film industry after the fall of the communist Dergue Regime that ruled Ethiopia for close to 17 years. Theodros, who produces, directs, writes and often acts in his own films, tends to produce films that deal with social issues such as HIV, immigration, violence against women, etc.
Through almost sixteen years of making films in Ethiopia, Theodros has established himself as a leader and trendsetter for an Ethiopian film industry that is currently booming inside the country, especially in Addis Ababa – the capital city of Ethiopia. To date, Theodros holds the two highest grossing Ethiopian films of all time, “Abay vs. Vegas” and “Kezkaza Welafegn”. Theodros is also the owner of Sebastopol Cinemas in Addis Ababa with additional movie theaters in Awassa, Mekele, Jimma and Ambo cities in Ethiopia.
TED KORSMO - WRITER
A Tisch School of the Arts Film/TV Production major from NYU with an emphasis in creative writing, Ted lives and works in Los Angeles primarily as an editor, but it is his passion for writing that allows him to get out of bed each day before noon. He continues to write screenplays, and completed his first novel—“Wayzata”—in 2014.
Ted is a three-time Chesterfield National Screenwriting Competition semi-finalist, and a quarter-finalist in the Nicholls Fellowship.
He is currently working in parallel on a collection of short stories, and toward the release of his fifth musical album under the aptly named artist’s moniker “The Ted Korsmo Experiment”.
THE PRAYER will be his first screenplay to be produced.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
The Story
I've been working on the script for "The Prayer" for years and it's gone through many iterations, titles, rewrites and locations.
What I find most exciting about this horror movie and what I expect audiences will be drawn to, is that we will be filming in Ethiopia: and it will be the first time anyone has ever filmed a horror movie there.
I've shot three features there between 2008 to 2012 with Teddy Teshome, who has been dubbed "the Steven Spielberg of Ethiopia", and has recently won several African Academy Awards for Triangle, a film we made together. He is going to help produce the movie with me in Ethiopia, a gorgeous place inhabited by beautiful people with a rich culture.
This exotic location will provide the perfect backdrop for the story. Two teenagers in love, an American boy and an Ethiopian girl, have their relationship severely tested when the boy becomes possessed by a demon. Ethiopia is a very religious country, where folklore and mysticism are an integral part of the day to day life and culture. This naturalism will help the topic feel raw and realistic, unlike any other film in the genre.
The first money into a project is always the hardest money to find. Although the film won't be made entirely with the requested $30,000, it is the the most important part of the budget. It allows for the film's framework to be built.
Where will the money go?
In order to raise the rest of the money (an estimated $200,000 more from private investors) we need to:
1. Hire a lawyer to set up the business and draw up all sorts of contracts. Lawyers become very expensive quickly.
2. Get an artist to draw storyboards. Investors like visuals. Before we make the movie, every shot and camera move has to be drawn out. It's like a comic book of the movie, with camera direction. It's essential to have this visual reference for the entire crew to be on the same page while shooting the movie.
3. Attach a casting director. The most important piece of the fundraising puzzle is attaching actors that promise financial returns. Who finds these talented thespians? The Casting Director.
4. Hire a Line Producer to breakdown the script and the budget.
5. Scout locations. The director and I will have to scout locations to finalize the script and make sure every scene is written to fully exploit the amazing locale.
6. Office Expenses: Photocopies of scripts, storyboards, breakdowns, investor's packages etc.
Finally, here is a short synopsis of the film:
Mick is an American teenager whose father is a doctor in the organization “Doctors Without Borders”. Living in Addis Ababa and attending an international high school,
Mick is subject to a great amount of teasing and physical abuse by the local boys. His loyal girlfriend Selam rushes to his defense. Selam decides that the best thing to do would be to say a prayer of protection to keep Mick from harm. To
increase the likelihood of the prayer’s success, she brings Mick to a special place outside of the city, a spiritual sylvan glade where exorcisms have been known
to take place.
It is here that Mick comes to be imbued by Asmodeus, the demon-god of lust. It does not take long before Mick enters into a fugue state and engages in more and more violent and sexually perverse behavior. Realizing something has gone
very wrong, Selam has to struggle with Mick’s erratic and dangerous behavior and the possibility that his condition may in fact be due to what she’s done.
The guilt she holds and the revenge Meklit seeks, carries the film through to its unpredictable climax, which suggests both the power of self-sacrifice and the
redeeming nature of love.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
I need a lawyer!
Costs $10,000
We need to form a business and set up the framework of the film. LLC formation, Investor's Packages, Copyrights, Contracts...
Storyboard Artist
Costs $3,000
We will need a great storyboard artist before and during production. Visuals tell the investors and the crew what's what.
Casting Director
Costs $5,000
Nothing is more important than a great cast. The cast leads to promised financial returns. The casting director is essential!
Line Producer
Costs $5,000
Over the course of pre-production, there will need to be endless breakdowns of the script, budget, locations and many more. It's a big job.
Let's scout!
Costs $5,000
We will have to visit the locations we wish to use beforehand. And we will need someone to find them first.
Office Expenses
Costs $2,000
It's boring, but office costs build up quickly. Script copies, storyboard copies, contract copies, ink, mailing...the list goes on.
Share this update!
About This Team
MATTHIAS SCHUBERT - PRODUCER, CINEMATOGRAPHER
Matthias has been shooting movies since the early age of 12, when he bought his first video camera. He made short films throughout his childhood and finally received his MFA in filmmaking from the Ohio University School of Film, where he also taught undergraduate film production.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 2001, he has shot 26 feature films of varying genres. In 2011, he received the Best Cinematography Award for a horror/comedy, "The Selling", at the Amsterdam Film Festival.
In 2014, Matthias went to Afghanistan, where he shot “Afghanistan Rising”, a documentary on the Afghan National Army (ANA) for Academy Award Nominated director, Sam French. The Film shows the army's strength and independence as the coalition forces prepare to pull out.
His work has also brought him to Ethiopia, England, Ukraine, Russia, Iceland, Armenia and more. An active member of the International Cinematographer's Guild, Matthias lives in North Hollywood with his wife and daughters.
TEDDY TESHOME - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Theodros Teshome Kebede, or sometimes spelt as "TEWODROS TESHOME" Nickname Teddy Studio, born on January 7, 1970 in Jimma, Ethiopia, is a Producer, Writer, Director, and Actor of films in Ethiopia.
Theodros, owner of Sebastopol Entertainment PLC and Teddy Studios, is known for resuscitating the Ethiopian film industry after the fall of the communist Dergue Regime that ruled Ethiopia for close to 17 years. Theodros, who produces, directs, writes and often acts in his own films, tends to produce films that deal with social issues such as HIV, immigration, violence against women, etc.
Through almost sixteen years of making films in Ethiopia, Theodros has established himself as a leader and trendsetter for an Ethiopian film industry that is currently booming inside the country, especially in Addis Ababa – the capital city of Ethiopia. To date, Theodros holds the two highest grossing Ethiopian films of all time, “Abay vs. Vegas” and “Kezkaza Welafegn”. Theodros is also the owner of Sebastopol Cinemas in Addis Ababa with additional movie theaters in Awassa, Mekele, Jimma and Ambo cities in Ethiopia.
TED KORSMO - WRITER
A Tisch School of the Arts Film/TV Production major from NYU with an emphasis in creative writing, Ted lives and works in Los Angeles primarily as an editor, but it is his passion for writing that allows him to get out of bed each day before noon. He continues to write screenplays, and completed his first novel—“Wayzata”—in 2014.
Ted is a three-time Chesterfield National Screenwriting Competition semi-finalist, and a quarter-finalist in the Nicholls Fellowship.
He is currently working in parallel on a collection of short stories, and toward the release of his fifth musical album under the aptly named artist’s moniker “The Ted Korsmo Experiment”.
THE PRAYER will be his first screenplay to be produced.