I am thrilled to have been invited to participate in this years’ summer documentary lab to develop my first feature film project along with a cohort of super talented filmmakers from around the world. I am excited to join this program and I need to come up with some funding to help alleviate the cost. I am hoping with this campaign I will raise some funds to support me so that I am able to participate for the entire month of the program. There is no amount too small, but I’ve come up with some rewards to convince you to support me and me and my team through this process!

My project focuses on our changing relationship to food in urban environments as a result of the pandemic. 

The full cost of the program is $3200. With your help, I am hoping to raise at least $2000 in order to participate. If I can get 50 people to support me with at least $40 dollars, we can make this happen! Thank you in advance for your support – it means the world to me.

Note: Donations are accepted online through credit card payment.  We also accept bank payment via Zelle to [email protected] zellepay.com to see if your bank participates. Payment by business check or ACH is also available, please contact [email protected] for additional information for check or ACH payment.

Aidan Kaye is a filmmaker, art director, and photographer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. His work centers around the dystopian elements of technology and the ever-evolving landscape it brings us to. He has directed and produced an array of films that have showcased at New York Shorts, The Filmmaker’s Coop, and earned praise at film festivals like Berlin Short Film Festival ’21 (audience award), Peekskill Film Festival ‘19 (best student film), and SUNY Wide ‘19 (best experimental film).

About the Summer Documentary Labs:

The Uniondocs Summer Documentary Lab are a program for a select group of media artists from the US and abroad. Based in one of NYC’s most exciting neighborhoods, Ridgewood, Queens, the Summer Labs offer a platform for participants to spend the Summer making strides and clarify the creative direction of their projects to attract the potential team members, funders and producers they need to find their way to the finish. An intensive schedule of screenings, open seminar discussions, weekly industry “field trips,” and inspiring artist visits from some of the most dynamic voices across the field of documentary, the SUMMER DOCUMENTARY LABS are tightly structured environments that bring participants into a select group of emerging filmmakers to get challenged and encouraged to think through every aspect of their works-in-progress.

Drawing inspiration from across disciplines, this intensive program should not be mistaken for an industrial, journalistic, or traditional documentary training. Scholar Scott MacDonald highlighted in The New York Times that, “UnionDocs has a healthy sense that the older definitions of what constitutes ‘experimental’ cinema and what constitutes ‘documentary’ are up for grabs.” Much emphasis is placed on workshopping lab participants’ writing about their projects as a way to both clarify the creative direction and attract potential team members, funders and producers. Participants receive focused, honest and helpful feedback on their project proposals from prominent documentary artists and industry experts.

The Early Production Lab in July is for projects about to go into production. Filmmakers have already likely shot some of their material and have access to their subjects and are looking for ways to strengthen their media samples, and pitches and work through the ideas as they approach the production stage and plan for the entire process all the way through to distribution.