Sunday, April 30, 2017

Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am? Launched On Indiegogo



  


Joe Amodei, President of Virgil Films, today launched a funding campaign on Indiegogo, the world's largest crowdfunding platform, to complete production of CLARENCE CLEMONS: WHO DO I THINK I AM? The film, which reveals a little-known side of the legendary saxophonist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, was a personal dream of the late Clemons - a project that fans can now help bring to fruition.

The world knew Clarence Clemons as The Big Man. The Minister of Soul. The Secretary of the Brotherhood. Musician, singer, songwriter and a lifetime member of the E Street Band, his powerful sax became a vital part of Bruce Springsteen's signature sound. But there was also a deeply spiritual side to Clarence that took him to China in 2005. Filmmaker and friend Nick Mead documented what became a spiritual quest and search for meaning that began on the Great Wall and continued until Clemons' death in 2011.

"Clarence, who played alongside Springsteen for 40 years, had something beyond music that he wanted to share with the world. And he had planned to do it through this documentary film, which he was working on up until his death" said Amodei who is also producing the film.
After one of the many highly successful and energized long tour with Bruce and the E Street Band, Clarence wanted to go someplace he had never been, to the other side of the world - China. 

CLARENCE CLEMONS: WHO DO I THINK I AM?  shows the profound effect of a trip to northeast China, a place where no one knew who he was. Clarence explained: "I felt the need to disappear. To lose myself, in hope of finding myself."
This search for his true self took him from rural China to the streets of San Francisco. The film shows us his soulful mission and how it changed him, while it pays tribute to The Big Man, through recollections with his closest friends and family members.

The film is labor of love for director and acclaimed photographer Nick Mead, who spent six years filming with Clarence. Virgil's Joe Amodei came on board as producer after attending an early screening in New Jersey. It was there that he promised Clarence and Nick to help them finish and release the film.

CLARENCE CLEMONS: WHO DO I THINK I AM?  features interviews with President Bill Clinton; current and former E Street Band members Jake Clemons (Clarence's nephew), Nils Lofgren and Vini Lopez; photographer Danny Clinch, rock greats Joe Walsh, Willie Nile, Michael Narada Walden, Norman Selden; and many others, including family and friends who knew Clarence best.

The production team is looking to fans from across the globe to help them make good on a promise to complete the film, which was made to Clarence before his death. Contributions will support funding of post production, additional filming, music clearances and distribution.

Perks for supporters on Indiegogo will have early access to see the film prior to its release, currently anticipated for early October 2017. There are various levels of  perks, depending on amount pledged, including:

  • Early film streaming and download
  • "Thank you" credit in the film
  • Two tickets to the film's premiere and after party in or around Asbury Park, N.J. - birthplace of the E Street Band
  • Triptych posters created by director and photographer Nick Mead


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