Books: A Documentary, Starring Larry McMurtry
Last summer Larry McMurtry took the antiquarian book world by the horns when he auctioned off 300,000 volumes from his Archer City warehouses. While we all waited and watched (or bid, or cried), filmmakers Mathew Provost and Sara Ossana (daughter of McMurtry's screenplay-writing partner, Diana Ossana) of Studio Seven7 Films turned their cameras on the "dealers, collectors, teachers, and lookers-on from across the country, queued up outside of Booked Up's building 4." Focusing on McMurtry's legacy as a rare book scout and dealer, Books: A Documentary seeks to tell "the story of the American Antiquarian book trade, its past, present and future." But the Rhode Island-based filmmakers need additional funding to finish what they have started. Taking their project to Kickstarter, the team is hoping to raise $50,000 over the next few weeks in order to complete post-production.
Let me say this in conclusion (and disclosure): I feel the crowd-sourcing fatigue as much as anyone else, and I can count on one hand the projects I have helped to fund on either Kickstarter or indiegogo, but I am proud to say that I have pledged to this project, and I look forward to seeing the documentary in our local cinema soon. The campaign ends on August 18.
