The man who brought the Beatles to America, music promoter Sid Bernstein, is now the center of a social media campaign to help bring his story to the screen. The makers of Bernstein’s biopic, "Sid Bernstein Presents…", have teamed with social media fundraising site Kickstarter.com to raise money to get the film released.
"Sid Bernstein Presents…" is a 110 minute documentary film on the life of Bernstein, who, in addition to bringing the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to America and promoting the Beatles Shea Stadium concert, also figured in the careers of James Brown, Tito Puente, the Rascals, Duke Ellington, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, ABBA and organized concerts with Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Sinatra. The film features interviews with Shirley McClaine, Lenny Kravitz, the Rascals, the Moody Blues, Paul Anka, Steve Van Zandt, Dick Clark and Jerry Vale, plus the last film interviews with James Brown and Tito Puente.
The Kickstarter.com campaign for the film is trying to raise $100,000 for the music and film rights needed to get the film released. “Sid has done so much for music and public culture,” said the film’s co-director Jason Ressler. “The fact that his contribution to history is slowly being buried and forgotten is tragic. It’s our turn to fight for Sid, since he spent so much of his life fighting for a free and equal culture in America.”
The campaign will honor donors who give $30 with a pre-release Collectors Edition DVD of the film. Donors who give $100 will receive a limited edition poster signed by Bernstein. Digital distribution producer and associate producer credits will also be given to certain donors.
"Sid was doing what the Kennedys and Martin Luther King discovered later, but Sid had already begun to do it through music," James Brown says in an interview in the film. The Huffington Post also called Sid a “Founding Father” of modern music and pop culture.
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