I recently received a message from Matthew A. Cherry, director, filmmaker, producer whose works include the precious animated franchise Hair Love. Cherry is trying to being another animated project to the screen and he needs your help. Here is his message.
Hey Jo,
I wanted to personally share my new Kickstarter campaign for my latest project, a 2D animated short film and proof of concept for a future feature film called Time Signature:
Time Signature is a modern Black musical about a teen prodigy named Melody, whose mother, Harmony, is not as supportive of her musical ambitions as Melody wishes she was. On the eve of her big audition for her dream performing arts college, she is hit with a major case of writer’s block.
Following her mom’s advice to clear her head, she heads to the attic to clean and discovers her grandmother’s piano and an unfinished piece of sheet music tucked inside. She takes it as a sign, and when she plays it, the piano reveals magical qualities, transporting her back in time to the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, into defining moments from her mom’s youth.
As Melody travels through these eras, she tries to influence her mother’s choices in hopes of changing their relationship in the present. But ultimately, she realizes that healing is not about rewriting history, it is about having the hard conversations and finding a way forward, even if it hurts.
The film is best described as Coco meets Back to the Future, grounded in MODERN Black music, from early 2000s soul-sampled hip hop, to 1970s funk, 1980s synth-pop, and 1990s acoustic soul and R&B.
We are currently close to hitting our initial campaign goal of $25,000, which was set as a conservative benchmark, but our real goal is $250,000 or more, so we are keeping it going and pushing hard to reach it. I really feel like if we do this right and have the proper support, we can be right back in the Oscar conversation again.
Now for the ask, I am reaching out with the hope that you will consider donating at least $100, which will get your name listed in the film’s end credits as a Digital Producer. We did this with Hair Love, and it was by far our most popular reward, people really loved seeing their name on screen.
If you are able to give more, we also have tiers for Associate Producer, Co-Producer, and Executive Producer credits. And if $100 is not doable, we have great rewards at lower tiers too. $75 gets you our accompanying children’s book, $50 gets a signed poster, and $20 gets our official enamel pin for the film, plus several other options.
We are really working to create something I have never seen before, an animated musical grounded in MODERN Black music, and we would love your support to help bring it to life. I truly appreciate all the support you have shown me throughout my journey as a director, and even if you cannot donate, a share would go a long way. I am doing my best to get the word out to people who believe in stories like this, and you were one of the first people that came to mind.
Thank you so much,
Matthew
Jonita Davis 
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