JIMMY IN SAIGON is a documentary exploring the 1972 mysterious death of Peter McDowell’s eldest brother, 24-year-old James. Executive produced by Dan Savage, JIS touches on themes of unspoken grief, family secrets, and honoring those lost long ago.
BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW for our New York City benefit on November 17th from 5-7pm at The Parlour Lounge at 250 W. 86th on NYC’s Upper West Side, to help fund post-production costs (editing, sound, picture, animation, titles, distribution) for this film, estimated at $45,000. Together with benefits in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Champaign-Urbana, IL, we hope to raise this full amount to finish the film and submit to Sundance in 2020.
The event will feature a 14 minute clip, an interview with Peter by screenwriter, Emmy award winning producer, and NYT bestselling author Deborah Copaken, and a musical performance by Peter’s brother John McDowell and other family members. Alexandra Spadea will MC.
Also included: a silent auction featuring items from Dan Savage, from artists Michael Attebury and David E. Johnston, a book bundle from author Sara Varon, as well as gift certificates from Palma restaurant, Alice’s Tea Cup, Salon84, tickets to Trinity Church’s Messiah and the Manhattan JCC’s Winter Film Festival, Vote Like a Mother swag, a bottle pull (take a wine or spirits bottle home!), not to mention hors d’oeuvres from Palma Restaurant and Evelyn’s Kitchen and from local chefs Lu and Ettore Viazzo, Alexandra Spadea, and Veronika Hausle-Kalabacos. There will also be wine/beer.
Tickets are available now, and are in tiers: $40 (general admission – one drink ticket included) and $75 (benefactors – two drink tickets included); with a $25 limited income ticket option as well. Buy your tickets now, before they sell out!
If you are unable to attend, we welcome any donations (tax-deductible) through our Fractured Atlas fundraising page.
Filming and editing are still underway, and your kind donations aid in the completion of the film.
Thanks to our host committee for their generous participation in this event:
Benita Alexander, Johnny Atorino, Sean and Melissa Attebury, Sara May Berliner, Julie Burros, Sarah Dandelles, Elaine Delgado, Palma d’Orazio, Lu Doyle and Ettore Viazzo, Erin Harper, John Paul Hennessy, David E. Johnston, Veronika Hausle-Kalabacos and Eric Kalabacos, Jennifer Herlein, Bryan Joseph Lee, Lisa and Jerry Leshne, John McDowell and Alexandra Spadea, Mary McDowell, Colleen McHugh, Dan Savage, and Peter Sciscioli.
Debora
h Copaken is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Shutterbabe and The Red Book, among others; an Emmy-award winning TV news producer (for ABC, NBC, CNN); a multiple award-winning photojournalist for hundreds of publications, including Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times; a columnist at the Atlantic as well as a former columnist at both the Financial Times and the Observer; a staff writer on Darren Star’s new show, EMILY IN PARIS, as well as a consultant on the TV show YOUNGER; and a screenwriter of the TV version of Shutterbabe for NBC/Universal and Eva Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble. Her NYT “Modern Love” column, “When Cupid is a Prying Journalist,” was adapted into an episode for the new Amazon series by the same name. Deborah’s writing has also appeared in many other publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Slate, Elle, Glamour, and Paris Match. She’s performed improv, live-storytelling, and frankly totally mediocre guitar playing on the New York City stage multiple times, at the P.I.T., The Moth, The Six Word Memoir Series, TueNight, Joe’s Pub, Greenwich House, and City Winery. She’s currently at work on her seventh book, Ladyparts, a memoir of bodily destruction and resurrection during marital rupture for Random House. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Composer John McDowell achieved worldwide recognition with his soundtrack to the Academy Award winning documentary Born Into Brothels. Winner of Best Musical Score at the Bend Film Festival, the score blends Western and Indian music in a mesmerizing mix. After receiving music composition degrees from DePaul and Northwestern Universities, McDowell lived in Europe and Africa. His research took him to Senegal, Gambia, India, and to work with Native American drummers and singers from the Tuscarora and Oglala tribes. In Europe, his dance scores have been featured at the Brussels Dance Festival, the Holland Festival, and the Berlin-Amsterdam Festival. He has written over 100 pieces ranging from solo flute music to dance scores, a requiem, and works for a world music ensemble and orchestra. He has performed at major venues and festivals including the Montreal Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and the United Nations. He is also a biodynamic farmer and has performed and toured in the U.S. and Canada with the chamber music project Music for Farms.
