I decided to become a “Good Samaritan” by giving one of my kidneys to a stranger. Now I am making a film to explain why.

Confessions of a Good Samaritan

by Penny Lane

  • $95,000.00

    Goal
  • $98,865.00

    Raised
  • 0

    Days to go
Raised Percent :
100%
New York, United States (US)

Who is my neighbor, and what is my responsibility to them?

Confessions Of A Good Samaritan is an offbeat and provocative inquiry into the science, history, and ethics of organ transplantation. It is also my personal passion project and the hardest film I’ve ever tried to make. At first I was reluctant to make a film about this deeply personal and emotional experience, but eventually I realized I had a unique chance to make an interesting work of art that will also save lives (so I got over myself).

Did you know that 13 Americans die every day awaiting a kidney transplant? That’s the bad news. But the good news is that if just 1 in 10,000 people could be inspired to give a kidney, the waiting list would be eradicated immediately. This is what motivates me. My film will share the truth about what it was like to donate a kidney to someone I’ll never meet. In trying to answer the simple question, “Why?”, I will bring viewers on a fascinating journey through the neuroscience of altruism, the history of surgery, and the future of organ transplantation.

DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE.   Please note donations made via credit card incur 3% fees.  If that’s something you want to avoid, email [email protected] to set up a wire or bank transfer. Or checks can be sent to UnionDocs 352 Onderdonk Ave., Ridgewood, NY 11385 (please make it clear it’s for this project).

“I want to donate at a pretty high level!  Are there any opportunities to earn a credit on the film?”
Short answer: yes.  Let’s talk! :)

When will I get to see the film?
Most likely, mid-late 2023.

Penny Lane makes innovative nonfiction films, including four features – most recently Hail Satan? which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival – and over a dozen short films. A 2020 Guggenheim Fellow, Lane has also received grants and awards from the Sundance Film Festival, Cinereach, Creative Capital, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Tribeca Film Institute, Wexner Center for the Arts and many others. Penny has been honored with retrospectives at the Museum of the Moving Image, San Francisco DocFest, Open City Documentary Festival and Cinema Moderne. In 2017, she was admitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Penny Lane is her real name.

pennylaneismyrealname.com

Name Donate Amount Date
Anonymous $1,000.00 August 10, 2023
Donald McDaniel $100.00 January 24, 2022
George Taniwaki $1,000.00 November 21, 2021
Peter Schallot $100.00 May 07, 2021
Marni Grossman $50,000.00 April 09, 2021
Michael Levy $300.00 February 06, 2021
Adam Weber $100.00 January 07, 2021
$10,000.00 January 07, 2021
Elana Noy $15.00 December 13, 2020
Jean Henry $75.00 December 08, 2020
Rich Remsberg $100.00 December 06, 2020
$100.00 December 04, 2020
$50.00 December 04, 2020
$25,000.00 December 04, 2020
Ramiro Guzman $20.00 December 02, 2020
Craig Winger $50.00 December 02, 2020
Erin Moroney $50.00 December 01, 2020
Will Carlough $100.00 December 01, 2020
Olivia Hosey $5.00 December 01, 2020
Braden King $64.00 November 30, 2020
mark scotch $25.00 November 29, 2020
Martha Shane $100.00 November 26, 2020
H. Nelson Tracey $8.00 November 25, 2020
Heidi Hammel $100.00 November 25, 2020
Ann Moore $50.00 November 25, 2020
Tracy Williams $50.00 November 25, 2020
Margaret Crenshaw $100.00 November 24, 2020
Michael Beach Nichols $20.00 November 24, 2020
Jen Levitt $50.00 November 23, 2020
Leigh Stein $100.00 November 23, 2020
Shannon Catalano $25.00 November 23, 2020
Hannah Bos $100.00 November 23, 2020
Casimir Nozkowski $100.00 November 23, 2020
John Huntington $200.00 November 23, 2020
Amy Foote $100.00 November 22, 2020
Marshall Curry $25.00 November 22, 2020
Simon Kilmurry $100.00 November 22, 2020
Oliver Butler $250.00 November 22, 2020
Amy Plourde $25.00 November 20, 2020
Catherine Lacey $20.00 November 20, 2020
Chris Metzler $50.00 November 20, 2020
Michael Farrell $25.00 November 20, 2020
Jeffrey Schwarz $18.00 November 20, 2020
Inney Prakash $25.00 November 20, 2020
Anonymous $25.00 November 20, 2020
Reva Russell English $25.00 November 20, 2020
Sasha Waters Freyer $50.00 November 20, 2020
Kevin McDermott $500.00 November 20, 2020
Rosemary Rotondi $30.00 November 20, 2020
Tyler Measom $50.00 November 20, 2020
Samuel Green $20.00 November 20, 2020
Cathleen O'Connell $50.00 November 20, 2020
Ryan White $200.00 November 20, 2020
Jennifer Gore Dwyer $114.00 November 20, 2020
Lawrence O'Donnell $5,000.00 November 20, 2020
peggy parsons $100.00 November 20, 2020
Dan Schneidkraut $25.00 November 20, 2020
Glenn Marcus $100.00 November 20, 2020
Ann Biddlecom $500.00 November 20, 2020
Will Sanborn $30.00 November 19, 2020
Rosanna Early $75.00 November 19, 2020
Steve Tucker $250.00 November 19, 2020
christopher sullivan $50.00 November 19, 2020
Dean Fleischer-Camp $25.00 November 19, 2020
Sonya Stepanova $35.00 November 19, 2020
Adam Sekuler $10.00 November 19, 2020
Jeanie finlay $75.00 November 19, 2020
Mary Kerr $25.00 November 19, 2020
jessica hargrave $100.00 November 19, 2020
Richard Herskowitz $25.00 November 19, 2020
Amanda Pike $100.00 November 19, 2020
Ed Epping $50.00 November 19, 2020
Elaine Sheldon $100.00 November 19, 2020
Rick Prelinger $250.00 November 19, 2020
Michael Gibbons $50.00 November 19, 2020
Kristin McCracken $50.00 November 19, 2020
Philip Cowan $250.00 November 19, 2020
Caitlin Burke $50.00 November 19, 2020
Anonymous $4.00 November 19, 2020
Anonymous $1.00 November 19, 2020
Anonymous $1.00 November 19, 2020
Susan Norget $75.00 November 18, 2020
$500.00 November 13, 2020