AFEATURE DOCUMENTARYByRobi nMcKennaGIFT is a featurelength documentary and crossmedia project inspired by Lewis Hydesclassic bestseller The Gift: a brilliant defense ofthe value of creativity and its importance in aculture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities. Richly cinematic and politically provocative,GIFT interweaves characterdriven stories: on North Americas Pacifc Northwest Coast, the community undertakes the elaborate preparations for a potlatch. In Udaipur, India, pilgrims embark on cycle yatra, a moneyless bicycle journey from a radical institute inspired by Gandhi. In South Korea, with the newly branded Seoul, Sharing City, we explore the cinematic contradictions as a hightech Asian metropolis reinvents itself as giftbased city of the future, supporting the collaborative economy. At the Burning Man festival, a mutant bumblebee art car distributes honey in a post-apocalyptic desert landscape. Meanwhile, we follow Taiwanese, New York-based artist, Mingwei Lee through the creation of Sonic Blossomwhere classically trained opera singers approach gallery-goers, offering them a transformative gift of song. GIFT invites us to question our fundamental economic values, proposing the possibility of a new collective narrative. Following its characters and the challenges they encounter, it explores the questions and contradictions involved in giving and receiving and inspired by Hydes approach, asks what it might mean to share our gifts in more meaningful ways. As the flm unfolds, it explores the openness and receptivity required to receive our giftsthe things willpower alone cannot produce. Gift culture is already part of our culturefrom voluntary blood donation, to the hacker/opensource culture at work on the internet (starting with the Free Software Movement, during the early days of the web). Now, as traditional economic models collapse, concepts like the gift economy, sharing economy and collaborative economy, are gaining traction around the world.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The gift economy is based on the premise that transactions involving money separate people andpre-empt any relationship between buyer and seller.I give you something, you give me money. End of story. But in a gift economy, I give you something, you are grateful. You start thinking about ways you can help me. Or maybe, you pay the gift forward to someone else. Relationships form, and communities grow. This is how human society used to function, and still does in some places. The cash economy grows by monetizing transactions that used to be given freely.- Tara Carman, The Gift Economy ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GIFT takes a mythological, character-driven approach to these questionsweaving ideas from Lewis Hydes groundbreaking book through narratives which reveal new, contemporary perspectives. Potlatching doesnt advance us in the white mans culture, says Wayne Alfred, Kwakwakwak patriarch on the PaciIic Northwest Coast. In fact, it sets us back. But we do itbecause it feels goodto hold up our name,make us proud.Manish Jain, founder of Swaraj University and the cycle yatra bicycle journey in Rajasthan, India, helped build the Economics of Happiness movement gaining traction worldwide.Seeing how there are many more pockets of commons, and working vibrantly, in rural areas. So connecting to that, and experiencing it on a deeper levelto reveal what might be possible for our communities.Juxtaposing dramatically different stories, GIFT explores the complexity and contradictions that ensue. From rural India, asking questions about how much we really actually need, exploring the paradox of development and growthto opulent scenes at Burning Man (Welcome to the only 4-star hotel on the playa! Would you like a dust-off?) cocktail parties and head-washing salons and the indigenous potlatch: not only a feast of giving, but also a ritual for gaining social status. Each storyline works as a self-contained narrative but its their cinematic interweaving that creates new connections and contradictions, raising new questions and insights. Synopsis IndexSYNOPSIS NARRATIVE TREATMENT STORYLINES THE POTLATCH:ALLIANCES, ALTRUISM,AND SHOWING OFF GIFTS FOR TRAVELLERS:RAJASTHAN, INDIA DESERT MEAD:BLACK ROCK CITY SEOUL, SHARING CITY: FUTURISTIC GIFTS A GARDEN OF GIFTS TIMELINE MARKETING PLANINTERACTIVE ELEMENTS AUDIENCE & COMMUNITYENGAGEMENT KEY CREATIVE PERSONNEL2 5

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10 11 12 14 15 16 16 17 1 2*All quotes are from The Gift by Lewis Hyde, unless otherwise indicated.MY CONCERN IS THE GIFT WE LONG FOR, THE GIFT THAT, WHEN IT COMES, SPEAKS COMMANDINGLYTO THE SOUL AND IRRESISTIBLY MOVES US.Lewis Hyde, The Gift3 4GIFT REPRESENTS A KIND OFCREATIVE HYBRID: ESSAY FILM MEETS CHARACTER-DRIVEN DOCUMENTARY.Intimate, characterbased storiesshot on fullframe cameras with 35mm lensesgive theflm its emotional backbone. Robin McKennas flm, The Jungle Prescription used a dreamlike cinematic treatment to create an otherworldly atmosphere. GIFT applies the same attention to visual detail,and a cinematic approach closer to narrative flmmaking than traditional documentary taking us into the intimacy of characters lives. Although it investigates an economic idea, GIFT is atmospheric and experiential. Rather than use interviews with experts, it explores its themes and ideas through the reallife experience and refections of its charactersusing their off-camera voices to create a poetic, mythical sub-layer.GIFT interweaves fve narratives, each with a distinct visual signature- cutting back and forth between them.Storylines are connected by a recurring visual motif: passing the gift from hand to hand. Each storyline is self-contained, following a character on a journey; at the same time, each works on a metaphorical leveland each enlarges the others, their juxtaposition creating collisions, contrast, and new and unexpected meaning.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------When we say that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, we are usually speaking of things that come alive when their elements are integrated into one another. The imagination has the power to assemble our experience into coherent, lively wholes:it has a gift. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------INTERIOR GIFTS, CREATIVE GIFTS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The bonds that gift establish are not simplysocial, they may be spiritual and psychologicalas well. There are interior economies andinvisible economies.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Beneath its political and economic themes, at another layer of depth, GIFT addresses something more interior. As the flms storylines intersect and unfold, its deeper themes begin to emerge. The sum of the flms parts is metaphorical: each storyline unfolds its own narrative, whilealso carrying a deeper layer of ideas.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------An essential part of any artists labor is not creation so much as invocation. Part of the work cannot be made, it must be received; and we cannot have this gift except, perhaps, by supplication, by courting, by creating within ourselves that begging bowlto which the gift is drawn.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As the flm unfolds, its questions become more subtle. It refects on contemplation, the openness and receptivity required to receive our giftsthe things willpower alone cannot produce. The bicycle journey, for example, is an expedition without a plan: On the cycle yatra, people go for a week together on bicycles, to rural areasand they have no money, no food, no medicines, no modern technologiesexcept bicycles, of courseand no plan. Theres a gift in spontaneity. Theres a gift in the unknown.Describing his experiment in gift culture, Manish Jain also reveals something here about the creative spirit. Wayne Alfred, overseeing the long preparation for the potlatch, describes the uncertainty involved for his son as the day approaches: Its always pressure, always running out of time. You dont know when to go to bed, you dont know when to get up... Lot of gee, what if nobody shows up, what if nobody honours my chieftainship...Narrative TreatmentMarcus will risk his reputation, his family name, and four years of hard-earned savings. Will the circle of gifts come back around, in time to make it work? Nothing is guaranteedthats how the gift moves.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------When we barter we make deals, and if someone defaults we go after him, but the gift must be agift.... No one by himself controls the cycle of giftshe participates in; each, instead, surrenders to the spirit of the gift in order for it to move. Therefore,the person who gives is a person willing toabandon control. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The flms fnal storyline helps articulate these ideas, and bring them to the forefront: following the charismatic Taiwanese artist, Mingwei Lee as he prepares to open a new international show. Speaking directly to Hydes ideas, and how they infuenced his process, Lee helps create theflms lines of connection.Unlike a transaction, a gift relationship cannot be controlled. The flm refects the importance of intuition, chance and serendipity... as it reaches its conclusion, becoming almost self-refexive, a contemplation of documentary-making itself, inall its uncertainty and unexpected magic.5 6The Kwakwakawakw Indians on the Pacifc Northwest Coast of British Columbia are famous for their potlatches. These feasts and gift-giving ceremonies serve a variety of functions: creating alliances, promoting altruism, redistributing wealth, vanquishing rivals and, not least, showing off. They have been called the worlds most experienced gift-givers.In Alert Bay, B.C., Marcus Alfreds ancestorsfought colonial powers to preserve the potlatch. Now 32 and a talented carver in his own right, Marcus has spent three years preparing to hosthis frst potlatch: saving money, carving the 20-foot memorial totem pole hell erect for his maternal grandfather, rallying support from friends and neighbors, and preparing to host hundreds of visitors, arriving from near and far. The feast alone, providing meals for two days, will cost him upwards of $40,000. His father will provide support, but stand back, observing the proceedings with a teasing, whimsical humour. Marcus artist cousin in Vancouver will make elaborate silver bracelets, dozens of which will be given away; his sister is sewing button blankets, a traditional offering for the most honoured guests. Friends and family stop by to ask what they can do to help; fsherman friends pull nets full of salmon from the water, bringing the fsh to Marcus to contribute to the feast. Marcus cousin spends weekends in her yard, preparing the fsh for the smokehouse; his sister, a language teacher at the local school, shows children the traditional dances theyll perform. GIFT intercuts these scenes of collective preparation and anticipation, building momentum toward the event as the day grows closer, and Marcus anxiety grows.The spirit of gift culture also pervades everyday life. As Marcus and his team of artists spend long hours in the workshop, carving and painting to prepare for the event, (while listening to hip-hop music and taking cigarette breaks), aunts and cousins bring them lunches of fresh-battered fsh and macaroni salads. Wayne gets waved down in his passenger van to pick up a lady with groceries and bring her home, exchanging local news and jokes along the way. On arrival, she might offer him a loaf of fresh breador might not. Either way, the gift will make its way back around the circle. GIFT follows these small exchanges, investigating what underlies the potlatch tradition not just the lavish event itself, but the long-term relationships and values that its preparation reveals. THE POTLATCH: ALLIANCES, ALTRUISM, AND SHOWING OFFA man makes a name for himself by letting wealth slip through his fngers.Storylines7 8Burning Man is a week-long art festival/cultural experiment in the Nevada desert, with 50,000 attendees creating a kind of temporary pirate utopia, built on the principles of gifting. Art is everywhere; advertising and product placementare not. Nothing (except ice) can be boughtor sold. Clothing is optional.San Francisco social worker, Smallfry is undertaking her frst, ambitious gift project for Burning Man 2013: Beezus Christ Supercar,a mobile bee mutant vehicle with a honey and mead bar inside.With the help of friends - and some of the teenagers she works with - shell spend months (and all her savings), building her mutant art project. She spends her weekends at a warehouse in Oakland, learning DIYstyle how to bring her creation to life. Shes asking for donations of honey and mead from around the world; a beekeeperstranger is helping her brew honeywine, and gifts are arriving.GIFT follows Smallfry and her helpers as theyarrive in the postapocalyptic desert art environment, and undertake their experimentin radical gift pollination. The Burning Manfestival is a strange, Mad Max experiment in generosity and decadence: its hedonisticopulence provides dramatic contrast to flmsmore traditional cultures, with thoughtprovoking (and sometimes comical) results. DESERT MEAD: BLACK ROCK CITYThe gift must stay in motion. Swaraj University (inspired by Gandhis principle of swaraj, or selfrule) is an institute of un- learning, in Udaipur, India, raising fundamental questions about education and development. At a moment when India is pursuing relentless growth at all costsdisplacing rural communities, undermining the values of village culture, in the name of economic growthSwaraj is part of a growing resistance movement. What Gandhi and Tagore and many other freedom fghters around the planet envisionedthat work is still undone, and theres a lot more that we need to explore, says creator Manish Jain. Swaraj calls itself an experiment to create a gift-based university. As part of their learning process, students take a 10- day bike journey into rural Rajasthan, with no money or technology, to become more aware of the wisdom, generosity and richness present in some of Indias most materially poor communities, and discover what the gift economy can actually mean. As students tie up their bundles, Manish collects cellphones and wallets: Are you empty? he says. We come into the world empty-handed, we leave empty-handed. Arpita left her PhD program in Bombay to join Swaraj, despite her parents objections. As departure approaches, shes increasingly nervous: Because Im vulnerable, Im alone, in a sense, with a group of people who I may or may not know. And can I really trust these people, the worldto just take care of me? Her friend Apurna has health issues and is not physically strong; she worries about slowing down the group.The idea of the cycle yatra is to bring people into that larger circle of the Gift, says Manish. Yatris will offer help where its needed, accepting what they are given. Along the journey, they might fnd themselves digging irrigation ditches and being offered a place to sleep, receiving hot chai in the morning, having conversions about the caste system with their upper-caste host, bathing in roadside fountains. The process will involve trust: giving freely, and knowing what they need will fnd itself back to them. Stepping outside the transaction economy might challenge them on several levels: not least, bringing up the diffculty many of us have of allowing ourselves to receive. As the journey progresses, Apurna is no longerable to cycle: someone has to carry her on theback of their rickety bike, someone else has to balance her cycle alongside theirs as they ride through hills and valleys. Her co-travellers assume these challenges in the best of spirits. In fact, its the purpose of their journey. Right now, we really need those relationships, says Arpita. We need to support each other. So I need to know how to ask. I need to know how to give. As Apurna increasingly feels shes a burden, becoming convinced she needs to leave, other yatris are so touched by their encounters they will return home transformed. GIFTS FOR TRAVELLERS: RAJASTHAN, INDIAThe gift moves toward the empty place.9 10In 2012, South Koreas capital branded itself, Seoul, Sharing City, investing in large-scale government programs to promote the collaborative economy, in the face of economic challenges.The city is betting that some of its problems like overpopulation and shortages in housing and parking, coupled with extreme densitycan be addressed by creating sharingoriented social structures. Citysupported startups include companies that enable people to lend each other goods, a car sharing service, a childrens clothing exchange, a mealsharing site, and a company that distributes donated suits to young job seekers. But the transition may not be an easy one. Seoulites often have a negative attitude towards strangers, writes a local journalist. You look after your family and your friends, but because its an ultra-competitive, extremely dense, ethnically homogenous and expensive society, you dont look out for strangers. They have to fend for themselves.Also, consumption and appearance are very conspicuous here, she continuesso the ideaof sharing a suit or a car or childrens clothesmay not jibe with the desire to demonstrate your wealth, skills, promise via your luxury purse, car,or apartment. Can urban dwellers learn to sharetheir gifts in new ways, rethinking some of theirmost fundamental values and practices? Unlikethe flms tribal or rural examples, where people have always functioned according to gift-based values, Sharing City poses questions relatable to city-dwellers worldwide. In the poetic and existential tradition of Wong KarWai, GIFT follows a character looking to overcome their loneliness and urban isolation, venturing into the sharing city- borrowing a donated suit for an important life event, sharing a meal with strangers, venturing outside their comfort zone in an attempt to reconnect. We follow them through a high tech, futuristic landscape on a cinematic journey, exploring what gift culture might look like on a practical level, in the context of modern urban life. As a teenager in Taiwan, Mingwei Lee came across The Gifta pirated Chinese translation. Before having any idea of becoming an artist, he was touched by its ideasof gift-giving between strangers, and how artists receive their gifts. It resonated on some level, and stayed with him.Part of his youth in Taiwan was spent in a Chan monastery. Now based in New York, he draws inspiration from Buddhist rituals, among other things, to create thought-provoking exchangesand experiences. My work is commercially unfriendly, he saysbecause I dont makeany objects to sell, for people to acquire. All myprojects are about memoriesand the ephemeral quality of life in general. Lees works revolve around creation as shared value and generosity, as a way to engage interaction and nurture participation; openness to the unexpected, to what arises in the present moment as a gift. Usually, when a show opens, it is 100 percent complete, he says. In my case, however, only 40 percent is set. There are so many moving parts, so much left to uncertainty. It is like an organism that will be awakened by the public. His piece, The Moving Garden invites gallery-goers to pick a fower from the black granite vases at its center; in exchange, they must agree to take a detour on their way home, and gift it to a stranger. Lees description of the work credits Hydes book as part of its inspiration: Its about gift giving...you have to choose the right person. Once you give this fowerthats when the magic begins. In recent years, hes also come to know Lewis Hyde, who has become a friend.Lees work has been shown all over the world, from New Yorks MoMA to the Venice Biennale, to Tokyos Mori Museum, who recently hosted a career retrospective. In 2015, his work Sonic Blossom will make its premiere in the West, at Bostons Museum of Fine Arts. A performance-installation, the piece was conceived while Lee cared for his mother as she was recuperating from surgery.Sonic Blossom has classically trained opera singers select a museum visitor and approach them with a simple question: May I give you a gift? Should the visitor accept, the singer will lead the participant to a chair and serenade them with one of Franz Schuberts Lieder. GIFT will follow Lee leading up to SEOUL, SHARING CITY: FUTURISTIC GIFTSIt is the cardinal difference between gift and commodity exchange that a gift establishes afeeling-bond between two people, while the sale of a commodity leaves no necessary connection.A GARDEN OF GIFTSPart of the work cannot be made it must be received.11 12TimelineGIFT is in late-stage development, aiming to complete principal photography in 2015 andlaunch in 2016. We have optioned the rights to Lewis Hydes book: hes been supportive of the project, and generous with help and advice. With cinematographer Mark Ellam, we have done extensive development shootingthe cycle yatra in India, the bee story in Nevada, and most recently, the potlatch story on B.C.s Pacifc Northwest Coast. We have edited scenes from the India bicycle journey, and a longer assembly of the potlatch storyline. We are researching/fnalizing the flms Korea storyline, and plan to begin shooting with artist Mingwei Lee in the coming months. Robins friend and mentor Peter Wintonick was producing GIFT. His sudden and untimelydeparture has been a huge loss, but the flmwill be made in his spirit and memory.Now, in partnership with veteran producerIna Fichman, the next step will be to securea license, and apply for Canadian andinternational funds. We aim to be offciallyin production bysummer 2015.its opening, as he trains the singers and shares his process with them, leading up to its premiere.My concern is the gift we long for, the gift that, when it comes, speaks commandingly to the soul and irresistibly moves us, writes Hyde. Lees piece invites us to refect on this kind of gift, given by a strangerand what its effects might be. Ive seen the receiver sobbing, people tearing up; sometimes the singer has been so moved, they couldnt continue. They have said to me, I didnt realize my voice has such an effect on people. These scenes, underscored by Schuberts haunting music, lift the flm at its climax, underscoring its emotional core. Meanwhile, Lee speaks to the gifts of the artist, and the ability to receive. Ideas come to visit me when Im ready, he says. I always say, your dreams come look for you when youre ready you dont look for them. They can be feeting images, sensations...most of my projects appear in that form. They come visit me. I need a quiet space, also a void in myself...If Im too busy, I cant hear these dreams. GIFT follows the artist in his New York City life -at swim practice, working and walking the streets.A living, generous embodiment of The Gifts ideas, Lee weaves together the threads of the flm,bringing its ideas to life.13 14Lewis Hydes bestselling book claims devoteesfrom Margaret Atwood to Zadie Smith. The flmwill leverage the popularity of this cult classic- adapting its ideas to 21st century challenges. An opulent, cinematic movie about a topic in the zeitgeistwith economic models collapsing, increasing public consciousness of the End of Growth, and the search for alternatives we believe GIFT can be a blockbuster doc, with international theatrical release, and digital distribution worldwide. We aim to debut in a top-tier festival to generate top press coverage, focus audience interest, and position the flm for its theatrical and broadcast premieres. In the spirit of The Gift, however, we plan not to sell the flm in the conventional way. Were investigating alternative methods of distribution- such as a pay-it-forward model of digital (and possibly theatrical!) distribution, exploring how these new models might embody the principles of the flmand help create a story around its release.The goal of our web presence will be to widen the movement towards Gift, the sharing economy and collaborative economy already emerging, andcreate a conversation among diverse voices exploring these ideas; but maintain a design and interactive form which is elegant and artistic, inthe spirit of the flm. It may be designed as a series of Japanese boxes, for example, which open to reveal new storylines or ideas.The web project will deepen and broaden the ideas behind the flm, giving contemporary context to the idea of a gift economy, and how it can inform our future. Lewis Hyde shares his thoughts on what gift culture means, and how its relevant now. Lawrence Lessig (Free Culture, Remix) talks about gift or sharing culture in reference to the internets open-source/hacker ethos. Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) shares ideas from her TED talk on the Art of Asking (viewed over 2 million times)- about what shes discovered, through her fans, about our inherent need to give and share.BEYOND ITS FILMIC REACH, GIFTAIMS TO CREATE A MOVEMENT, ORRATHER LEVERAGE ONE ALREADY GATHERING MOMENTUM. The flms multiple storylines connect it to various networks of supportfrom organizations like the New Economics Institute, to the collaborative economy and sharing economy movements in Europe and worldwide, like OuiShare and Transition Networkfrom the Burning Man network to the Economics of Happiness movement. Working with these communities to create wide global reach, were exploring alternative distribution models like Yekra, or the just-emerging WeVu. GIFT looks at these alternative models and systems, existing and emerging, how they work and can work. It explores the social fabric woven ingift culture and communitywhich exists in all of our lives, to some degreeand ask how it might be strengthened. Using an intimate, emotional cinematic language, it invites us to refect on these principles, and, in a post-growth economy, how they might be applied.Marketing PlanTHE BEST BOOK I KNOW OF FORTALENTED BUT UNACKNOWLEDGED CREATORS. A MASTERPIECE. MARGARET ATWOODNO ONE WHO IS INVESTED IN ANYKIND OF ART CAN READ THE GIFTAND REMAIN UNCHANGED. DAVID FOSTER WALLACEInteractive ElementsAudience & Community Engagement 15 16ROBIN MCKENNA Director, Writer, Producer Robin is producer and co-director of The Jungle Prescription, a feature-length documentary about ayahuasca and the treatment of addiction, now in post-production (winner, Cuban Hat Award, Hot Docs TDF 2012). Her credits include The Take with Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, about Argentinas occupied factory movement (American Film Institute Best Documentary 2004), and City of Borders by Yun Suh (Berlinale, Hot Docs 2008). Her documentary, The Great War Experience (CBC Doc Zone/Galaflm) won the Yorkton Film Festivals Founders Award in 2007. She is currently fnishing Crow, a short animated documentary fairytale (BravoFact) about a girls search for her older sister and the crow magic connecting them, for release in 2015.INA FICHMAN ProducerFor over 25 years, Ina Fichman has been producing award-winning documentaryand fction flms for television and theatrical release. Most recently, she produced Monsoon, directed by Sturla Gunnarsson (Top Ten Peoples Choice Award Winner, TIFF 2014) and the animated documentary flm The Wanted 18, by Paul Cowan and Amer Shomali. She is currently in production with the feature documentary Hannah, and an interactive graphic novel based on The Wanted 18.She produced the Gemini Award-winning feature Undying Love, which also won awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival, was nominated for 2 Prix Gmeaux and won Writers Guild of Canada and CSC Awards; Black Coffee, and IDA nominee Being Dorothy. Other recent productions include Malls R Us, directed by Helene Klodwasky, and Six Days in June by Ilan Ziv, as well as the transmedia documentary production Dead Sea Living, and the interactive project 100% T-SHIRT.Key Creative Personnel17 18ROBIN MCKENNAGaudete FilmsC.416.526.5257S.SKYPE robinsoleil E.robinsoleil@gmail.comINA FICHMANIntuitive Pictures1975 Falardeau StreetMontreal, Quebec H2K 2L9P.514.527.6045C.514.993.7945S.SKYPE inafchE.ina@intuitivepictures.caContact