I wanted to pause for a moment to tell you how moved I am by all of you who have given to ALIVE INSIDE.  I understand the sacrifice and you are all heroes in my book.  I’m so grateful that the beauty of giving music to our ‘lost’ elders has resonated with you.

In our world, people often see aging as negative.  I have been guilty of this myself, but in making this film I got to see beneath the surface of Alzheimer’s and dementia.  ALIVE INSIDE is really about the beauty and the life inside all of us- even those who have lost so much.

More than your generousity with our KickStarter campaign, the personal stories you’ve shared with us have been amazing.  So many of you have been so strong and open hearted as you’ve dealt with your aging loved ones.

One of the people who reached out to us is a man named Dave Roth.  Both of Dave’s parent’s have Alzheimer’s disease.  After seeing one of our early screenings in NYC, Dave flew home to  Kansas to deliver personalized music to his mother.  He then sent us this video…  You HAVE to see it!!!

Even more, Dave is a pit musician on Broadway and has started an iPod drive on Broadway!

To help a helpless person is good, but to help them feel ALIVE INSIDE is an even deeper gift in my eyes.  When we experience another’s pleasure it changes how we think of them, and this is where the magic lies!

Thank you for all that you are doing.

Michael Rossato-Bennett

Your generosity has been incredibly humbling to us, and it’s thrilling to see the public connecting to our message in such real and palpable ways.

We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us – just under $40,000 to raise in just over two weeks. But according to statistics gathered from a sample of KickStarter campaigns, once we reach 30% of our goal – $15,000 – we’re 90% likely to reach our end target.

Helping us meet this mark by day 14 basically means that you’re ensuring that our campaign as a whole is a success.

We’ll match your generosity with ours. If we meet the 30% mark by 7/17, we’ll immediately distribute a two minute exclusive clip from the film to everyone that’s donated to date. That means that from one dollar to $10,000, we’ll add an extra gift to your selected incentive.

Reaching this milestone would really tip the scales in our favor and help us move closer to completing this very important work.

Thank you, from all of us, for letting us know we can count on you.

The Alive Inside Team

Alive Inside just may be changing that.

After seeing Alive Inside at one of our early screenings at the Rubin Museum, an executive from the New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation (HHC) — the largest municipal healthcare system in the United States, serving 1.4 million patients across nearly 100 facilities — shared his thoughts on the film with some of his colleagues. Just days later we were asked to screen Alive Inside‘s rough cut at New York City’s famous Bellevue hospital – an HHC facility.

Given the difficulty we’ve watched and documented Dan experience, we were a little apprehensive about showing the film to a room full of senior hospital administrators and clinicians. Would they dismiss Alive Inside and its message? Would they be skeptical of Dan’s work?

It turns out that they were moved beyond what we could have imagined, and since the screening, HHC has expressed interest in implementing 3,000 iPods and Music & Memory into a number of their facilities.

This has been our experience every time we’ve screened the film — so many in our audiences have been inspired and then immediately moved to pay it forward.

Alive Inside is giving breath to Music & Memory, and we are working hard to finish it so that we can see the change its made among hundreds take effect in the larger world.

The film is moving hearts and minds and when you see it, we hope it will do the same for you.

Through Dan’s work, Henry and hundreds more have been able to experience the awakening effects that music has over our minds.  There are millions more in need and waiting.

Our motivation for making (and needing to finish) Alive Inside is that we believe this film will be the vehicle through which the world will come to believe in Music & Memory.

Over the course of our development we’re striving to put Dan’s face on the map and deliver 1,000,000 iPods to nursing homes.

You can help us along the road to realizing our goals right now.

Donate $75 dollars today and choose to either receive an iPod or have our team deliver an iPod, in your name, directly to an elder who needs it.  We’ll also arrange the consultation to set up their playlists with the songs that touch them the most.

You can pay it forward before your incentive has the chance to reach your hands.

Often times it’s the smallest gestures and the simplest gifts that have the biggest capacities to change lives.  That is the central belief that guides our work and this project.

Give today and walk with us on our journey to inspire the world to become Alive Inside.

And in the spirit of Kickstarter and the title of this post, a little music to take you out.

ALIVE INSIDE was seen for the first time.  It was cool.  People cried.  People were moved…

Let me hear your thoughts if you were there!!  This is a first festival cut, so we still have some work to do!  You can help!

-Michael Rossato-Bennett

Music imprints itself on the brain deeper than any other human experience. It speaks to us in a different language and arouses every emotion.  It connects us all, it is a force that ignites our souls.

Alive Inside is a documentary film that follows Dan Cohen’s Music & Memory project, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing personalized music into the lives of the elderly and infirm, thereby vastly improving their day-to-day existence.

Telling a story of hope and beauty, the film follows Dan as he discovers the power music has to “awaken” minds most others consider dormant and deteriorating.  The film features Dr. Oliver Sacks, Dr. Bill Thomas and the amazing men and women dedicated to patient care.

Alive Inside premieres at New York City’s Rubin Museum as part of its annual Brainwave series.  Tickets to screenings are still available HERE.

For more information on the Music & Memory project, to volunteer or to donate a new or used iPod, please visit Music & Memory.

Join our community.  Like us at facebook.com/bealiveinside.  Follow us on Twitter @aliveinsidefilm

The screening dates are Wednesday, April 18th through Saturday, April 21st, with two additional screenings on Saturday. Each ticket includes a Q&A with Alzheimer’s specialists and a post-program information table staffed by experts from the Alzheimer’s Association, New York City Chapter. More information can be found at the Rubin Museum website.

If you’re in the NY area we’d love to see you come out. Check back here for more information about future screenings.

This project has been a labour of love and an incredible journey, and something tells us it’s just beginning.

Peace,
MRB

Wow! We feel like we’re witnessing something special happening.

An old excerpt was picked up by Rad9 on Reddit last night and the response has been overwhelming.

Here is the raw excerpt making its rounds.

This is an early trailer for the film.  The full-length documentary is premiering at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City on April 18th.