On Saturday, the official Facebook page for Bao Tran‘s upcoming film, The Paper Tigers, posted a new video announcing they’ve reached their all-or-nothing Kickstarter goal.
“We have a bit of news for The Paper Tigers on our Kickstarter,” said producer Al’n Duong. “We have reached our goal!”
The Paper Tigers began as a shortfilm proof of concept called The Challenger, starring Martial Club’s own Andy Le, and Unlucky Stars actor Ken Quitugua. The release of the short followed with the production of the ten-minute pitch that was funded via Fractured Atlas and presented to buyers at the Frontiéres Platform at the Marché du Film at Cannes earlier this year.
Footage from that pitch was finally introduced in a preliminary teaser on October 29 when the Kickstarter launched to help crowdfund a total of $110,000. A week-long dollar-for-dollar push at $10,000 was thrown in the mix on November 21, adding donors Nick and Christine Risinger as executive producers, with Denver-based artist Derrick Velasquez contributing some of his own artwork to the cause.
Duong is joined by producers Michael Velasquez, Dan Gildark, and cult cinema favorite, actor Yuji Okumoto, with fight scene choreography by Quitugua. The logline: A dead-beat dad, an insurance scammer, and an MMA coach find themselves in the middle of a gang war when they must avenge their Kung Fu master’s death but first… they need to call in sick at their 9-to-5’s.
Tran, an acolyte of Hong Kong cinema legend Corey Yuen Kwai and best known for his celebrated multi-award winning 2008 short, Bookie, delivered his heartfelt gratitude to the crew at Seattle’s Kona Kitchen, adding “With a community like this, and a crew like this, it’s gonna be an amazing film thanks to all of your efforts. It takes a village.” Kona Kitchen is owned and operated in part by Okumoto.
“Seattle, get ready. The Paper Tigers is coming!” said Duong, to which Tran replied, “Let’s go! Let’s go!”.
Watch the video below!
