The filmmakers behind “Garden of Hedon” launched an unprecedented crowd-sourcing campaign today. Crowd-sourcing is traditionally used to fund the creation of feature films, but the innovation of the GOH campaign is that the film is already complete, and if the funding goal is reached, the producers will release the film for free all over the internet via torrents, Youtube, Vimeo and more.

Writer/director Kevin Kangas says it’s a “scary but intriguing” thing to attempt. He came up with the concept after being frustrated with traditional movie distribution. “Back in the day,” says Kangas, “like when Lionsgate distributed my second flick ‘Fear of Clowns’, a distributor would give you a healthy advance and then offer to pay you back-end royalties(which you’d never see). But the advance was normally enough that it didn’t matter. Then your film would come out about 18 months later.”

The problem now is that distributors are offering little-to-no advances, says Kangas, and most movies get rolled out on VOD platforms first and eventually may see a DVD/Blu-ray release up to five years later. “It’s frustrating. Distributors don’t want to pay you because they claim torrents and pirating are eating up their profits, so I thought ‘Why don’t I try to use the torrents to help us distribute the film?’”

Enter the internet and crowd-sourcing. “If we raise what is basically our budget for the film,” says producer Luke Theriault, “we can get this movie out to everyone. You can watch it on your laptop, on your ipad, on your Xbox or your Playstation, or any internet-enabled Blu-ray player. There will be torrents in DVD and Blu-Ray quality. It’s instant gratification.”

Kangas added that those who still enjoy physical media can get a Blu-Ray at the $40 donation level.

The film, about a detective trapped in a supernatural house where women are being murdered, stars Richard Cutting(“National Treasure 2”), Danielle Lozeau(“Legion”, “The Eye”), John C. Bailey(“The Men Who Built America”), Beau Peregino(“A Haunting”), Paul Sieber(“Ninjas Vs. Vampires”) and Manuel Poblete(“Game Change”). The music score is by veteran composer Chad Seiter(“Fringe”, “Star Trek”, “Lost”).

The campaign, which includes previews and giveaways, can be found by searching for “Garden of Hedon” at Kickstarter or going to: http://kck.st/11nbxZj

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About Kangas Kahn Films, LLC:

Kangas Kahn Films’ first feature film, “Hunting Humans”, received widespread distribution through MTI Home Video. The feature won “Best Screenplay” at the 2002 DIY Film Festival in Hollywood, CA and was nominated for 7 awards at the 2002 B-Movie Film Festival(it won two). It has recently been featured in news programs on CNN, Dateline, Nightline, and many programs on the I.D. network.

Their second film, “Fear of Clowns”, was released on dvd everywhere by Lionsgate Films in February of 2006, and has grossed over three million dollars to date.

The most-recent film, “Bounty”, played on Video-On-Demand nationwide and is scheduled to go live on Netflix in the next year.