Documentary Australia Foundation

365 Grateful

About the film

365 Grateful - The Documentary is the exploration on the power of gratitude made by mother and daughter filmmakers Toni Powell and Hailey Bartholomew.

In early 2008, in an effort to find meaning in everyday life and combat growing depression, Hailey started a photographic project called 365 Grateful where she took one Polaroid a day of something she felt grateful for. The discipline of having to look for the good things every day changed her life in multiple ways and wondrously impacted the lives of many others.

Hailey put her project up on Flickr and hundreds of people began to do their own 365 grateful projects. As word spread and the project went viral. Individuals, schools, magazines and radio stations took on the project and it just keeps growing. Many of those touched by doing The 365 Grateful Project themselves have written to Hailey about their changed lives.

In 365 Grateful - The Documentary Hailey's story will be told, as will stories of people who have done the 365 Grateful Project – including an Australian woman whose baby died, a New York artist and a whole Girl Guide troop. As well there are planned interviews with amazing people living lives of gratitude in unusual or challenging circumstances.

Additionally there will be interviews with comedians, authors, musicians and leaders in various fields to examine the power of gratitude on various areas of life, from marriage through to the brain.

This will be an entertaining and personal film. People will also be able to watch and follow along the journey via the blog as Toni and Hailey approach, with humour, the ups and downs of making a film as a mother/daughter team. There will be an international outlook and interviews with prominent people from rock stars to spiritual leaders – or, at the very least, the documenting of trying to get those interviews!

In the end we will all know more about the power of gratitude! Be inspired by personal stories and inspirational people! All the while enjoying the journey!

Total Project Budget

AUD $650,000 including outreach and education budget

Length of Production

approx 80 minutes

Stage of Production

Development

How does the project meet the aims of a philanthropic foundation?

Foundations who will want to fund 365 Grateful are:

o Foundations or persons who are so inclined to increase the well-being of humankind in a profound and inspirational way .
o If the agenda of interested philanthropic groups are to garner a mass movement of self motivated people, then this film is for them.
o Philanthropic bodies wanting to inspire action at a relatively low cost to the community.
o Foundations that are focused on self care or mental health.
o Foundations interested in community functions like screenings.
o Foundations wanting international impact.
o Foundations with spiritual leanings.
o Bodies who have an interest in changing lives by changing thoughts or brain training.
o Foundations with an interest in suicide prevention, mental health and depression.

What outcomes do you hope to achieve by making this film and how will you measure its impact?

o 365 Grateful will inspire and give hope to millions of people around the world who are lost in the humdrum of daily life.
o GGM! will take people on a journey of self discovery.
o GGM! will make people laugh and cry.
o Most of all it will allow people to reflect on their life and what matters most.
o The 'seekers' in the audience will see lives transformed by gratitude practice and be given take away tools to transform their own lives.
o The primary outcome is to have an audience that are entertained and inspired to action.

The impact of the movie will be measured in a number of ways.

o Online community activity will be measured on an ongoing basis and data will be taken from each country where the movie will be released.
o Free ebook and eguide download activity will be measured against movie release dates.
o Personal feedback from the GGM! blog forum will be quantified for measurable life changing activity. We currently have many testimonials in store for the films release.
o An online video course will be available for schools to implement our GGM! student program.

What is your education and outreach strategy

- Online activities that will be available on, and some prior to, the release of the film are:
o Free gratefulness projects and tools
o Film download facility
o Dvd purchase
o A blog update
o Mini-episodes for instant download
o Gratefulness competitions
o Copycat film and photo upload and sharing facility
o Gratefullness forum
o Online broadcast option with post movie producer interviews and question time
o International Photographic Competion around gratefulness
- Offline activity will also include:
o The 365 Grateful book that will cover more stories from those who have done the 365 Grateful project.
o Speaking tours on gratefulness including free community screenings
o TV licensing options
o Airline broadcast options
o Possible school program relating to prevention of youth suicide

Broad Appeal and/or relevance to:

o Women
o Churches and other spiritual movements
o Health and wellbeing
o Mind training
o Depression
o Youth suicide
o Photographers
o Mental Illness
o Social Network phenomena

Goodness Gracious Me! will also find a happy audience in those that like feel-good or inspiring films.

Then there is all the rest of us who just want to be happier and enjoy our lives

Who are the filmmakers responsible for the project?

Hailey Bartholomew - an eye for beauty

* Professional photographer/filmmaker and one of Window Productions stable of commercial directors (one of the world's most awarded agencies http://www.windowproductions.com/).
* Hired by ABC to produce 26 mini documentaries for Video Lives that aired on ABC2 and Hailey also has a number of award winning short films under her belt.
*Hailey is the instigator of the 365 Grateful Project. You can see Hailey's stunning work at www.youcantbeserious.com.au

Toni Powell – a storyteller and dynamo

* Multi award winning short filmmaker.
* Account Executive with Withoutabox/IMDb for the last 5 years and one of only two people employed by IMDb outside of the USA.
* Founded and, for 4 years, directed the Heart of Gold International Film Festival – a festival all about nourishing films.
* International Sales and Marketing Manager of one of the most successful independently distributed documentaries on the market - Food Matters.
*Produced 52 episodes of shorts programmed for tv called Little Film Big Heart and also produced 2 dvds of short films called Shorts With Heart vol 1 & 2.

Both Hailey and Toni have a mission to produce and distribute films that make a positive difference in the world.