JAMES BALDWIN:  THE PRICE OF THE TICKET

-  Original Funders  -

The Original Film project was conceived and initiated in 1985, by Producer
Karen Thorsen, while she was working with Albert Maysles at Maysles Films, Inc.  It was intended to be filmed in classic Maysles Films style, as cinema vérité, or "Direct Cinema" as they preferred to call it.

While collaborating with James Baldwin on this film project, Thorsen was able to engage the newly-minted PBS Series "American Masters" - which was being Executive Produced by Susan Lacy.  The CPB - Corporation for Public Broadcasting organization - agreed, and it seemed funding was in place.

However, upon James Baldwin's passing in December, 1987 ... the project was re-conceived as a unique form of autobiography, to be told by Baldwin himself, from existing recordings - which Karen Thorsen named "cinema vérité passé."

Susan Lacy of American Masters agreed to this re-structuring, with Albert Maysles now as Executive Producer, Karen Thorsen as Producer/Director and veteran New York documentarian William Miles as Co-Producer.

This resulted in a much-expanded film project - far beyond the small crew that would have filmed Baldwin - to a world-wide production including researchers, locations, local crews and "on-camera witnesses" across several continents.

The Original Film Funders listed here were the film's primary funders – although the Credits include many more "in-kind" contributors, supporters and people who helped ... simply because they believed in James Baldwin.

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