New Coney Documentary: "Last Summer At Coney Island" As We Knew It

Back in 2007 when the film's director, JL Aronson (a.k.a. Sonny), invited me to his home to show me an early version of this documentary, I knew he had something wonderful. Having free roam in Astroland during its last two seasons and capturing almost every event in the last three years, Sonny has a real story to tell. A story of the last summer in Coney as we know it.

The director has partnered with Kickstarter to help this project obtain some more of the needed funds for its completion. You can see the trailer at Kickstarter here, and if you like also pledge your support for this project.

JL Aronson describes his project and needed funds:

Now, having edited a 106 minute rough cut from over 150 hours of footage, the end is in sight. But the end is the most expensive part! Independent filmmaking is a tricky business. Broadcasters and distributors rarely want to get involved before your project is completed and has premiered in a major film festival and yet getting to that point requires significant expenditures such as a sound mix, graphics, music licensing and color processing (or what we call "color correction" in the video world.) And that short list doesn't include the costs of applying to festivals and marketing expenses once your film gets into the festivals.

"Last Summer at Coney Island" has been supported by grants from the Brooklyn Arts Council and the Puffin Foundation, but those funds have been long used up. That's why I'm partnering with Kickstarter and a wonderful non-profit organization called The City Reliquary to try and bring this film to greater awareness. Kickstarter works with a limited number of projects at a time to provide a platform through which artists can raise money while being completely accountable to their investors. The project artist sets the amount he or she would like to raise. Individuals like you pledge any amount you'd like and then, to assure that donors are not spending their money on a project that will never get finished, the transaction is only completed when the funding goal is met.