Karmic Knot Goes on a Date! - March 19, 2025

Dear Friends and Backers,

Writer/Director Signe Baumane traveled to Bordeaux, France March 3rd to 7th to attend Cartoon Movie, a big animation forum where producers and directors present their feature film projects to sales agents, distributors, financiers and producers for possible co-productions and sales deals. Cartoon Movie is a window to the future. All 30 presented projects will be released as movies in 2 - 5 years. Signe and our two Latvian producers Dominiks Jarmakovičs and Roberts Vinovskis were there to present Karmic Knot and explore potential co-production deals.

Breakfast at Cartoon Movie where previews of the 30 presentations were screened - Photo:  Agnese Zeltiņa, Kino Raksti

This year Cartoon Movie put Latvia in their Spotlight because of the success of Flow, an animated feature film from Latvia directed by Gints Zilbalodis. Two days before, Flow had won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature setting off a wild nationwide celebration in Latvia. It was the first Academy Award in any category for any Latvian film!

Latvians celebrate with Flow’s French Co-Producer Ron Dyens and his Oscar at Cartoon Movie - Photo: Agnese Zeltiņa, Kino Raksti

On Thursday March 6th, Roberts, Signe and Dominiks presented Karmic Knot. They had 20 minutes to make their case.

Photo: Agnese Zeltiņa, Kino Raksti

Roberts opened by placing Karmic Knot in the context of Signe’s overall career, listing awards from her previous films and the attention they received. Then Signe gave a 70-slide PowerPoint presentation of Karmic Knot including the story, characters, actors, the process of making the film, and a clip from one of the finished scenes. As usual, she was funny and entertaining. Dominiks concluded by laying out what we were are looking for: European co-producers who would be able to produce 20 minutes of animated segments for the film and finance the post-production sound at a top sound studio.

Roberts, Signe, Dominiks - Photos: Agnese Zeltiņa, Kino Raksti

We were pleasantly surprised with the positive reactions to our pitch and afterwards had a number of meetings with producers. A co-production with a European country may be a crucial piece of the puzzle to successfully finance Karmic Knot. As a recent Variety article stated: with financing uncertain in the U.S. filmmaking industry, more producers are turning to Europe, whose governments have better support systems for filmmakers.

But grants given in Europe must be spent in Europe. No European country can fund our Brooklyn operations: the rent of the animation studio or the salaries of our art assistants. This is why we need your help.

We are running a Matching Grant campaign through April 1st. A generous foundation is matching every donation from $10 to $1,000 - dollar-for-dollar - with a goal of $50,000. To date your generous gifts have raised $14,803. When matched, the total is $29,606. With less than two weeks to go, can you help us reach $25,000 / $50,000 by April 1st?

Please support this independent feature film by clicking HERE. No donation is too small. If you need a tax deduction, donate through our non-profit fiscal sponsor Filmmakers Collaborative.

THANK YOU for your love and support,

Signe, Sturgis and the Karmic Knot Team

www.KarmicKnotMovie.com (many of the PowerPoint images from the presentation are on the website)

www.MyLoveAffairWithMarriage.com - to buy or stream Signe’s previous animated feature My Love Affair With Marriage