On 2 July, the award-winning American director, John Walter, will end the online crowd-funding campaign for his documentary The Earth Moves, based on the opera Einstein on the Beach.
Co-produced by Mr Mudd Productions and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the film follows the history and making of Einstein on the Beach—a four-and-a-half-hour avant-garde opera written by the American composer Phillip Glass and directed by the artist and playwright Robert Wilson. The piece, which premiered in 1976, has toured internationally over the past 40 years, ending with a final production in 2012-14.
Walter turned to the online fundraising platform Kickstarter to raise money for post-production costs. The campaign, which launched on 7 May, raised almost $78,800 of it $100,000 goal from 973 backers (as of 26 June). Rewards for the film’s supporters included a limited edition Chuck Close t-shirt with a portrait of Phillip Glass (for a donation of $350) or even the handwritten first page of the opera’s score (for a donation of $10,000).
The Earth Moves is scheduled to be shown at various festivals this fall.