PETER DOLLAR

Peter Dollar is a documentary film directed by Luis Franze and produced by ESCAC Films. In it we will see the different faces of David Linhart, better known as Peter Dollar.

Synopsis

Who was David Linhart?

He was son of Polish Jewish immigrants. David Linhart was born in the Bronx in the early 20th century. He grew up in an America completely submerged in the First World War. He enlisted in the army and became a pilot in American aviation in World War II. But he was also a writer, a millionaire and ... my grandfather.

After listening to hundreds of stories about David, his figure seems like a legend, that has vanished in time, like someone fictional that I will never get to know.

This is the search of who he really was.

Background

My interest for him began when I discovered some short stories that he had published in "The New Yorker Journal" during the 50s. He signed them as Peter Dollar. Some stories are influenced by his service in the Second World War. These fictional tales tell us a lot about its author, with characters that face death, loneliness and heartbreak. When analyzing them in detail, we can sense David leaking his personality into them, showing a glimpse of what he could never tell anyone. Through these stories, interviews with family members and archive material I will try to build an image as close as possible to who David was.

Funding

Peter Dollar is an ambitious documentary that seeks the testimony of relatives in different locations: from the province of Cádiz, to New York, through the Canary Islands, the places where David's family lives and where he spent his life.

From the beginning, this project has been supported by ESCAC, the university where I studied. The production of the documentary is designed to have different sources of funding. Verkami is one of them and we are really happy to share this fascinating project with all of you. In order to continue with the search and the realization of this project we must count on your collaboration. Therefore, all your contributions will be destined to different production departments.

All rewards in physical format will be delivered in the film premiere.

Distribution of funding:

-Food and transport 25%

-Film equipment 10%

-Accommodation 28%

-Postproduction 37%

How to contribute?

If you want to participate in this project, you only have to click on the top button to the right and select the package that you like the most.

Once you have registered through your Facebook account, Verkami will ask for your bank and contact information. Do not worry! Verkami will not make any charge on your card until the campaign has been completed and the goal has been achieved. All contributions are welcome, so go for it!

Aesthetic intentions

We will use archive footage, pictures and videos that may help us to imagine how David's life might have looked like, videos from the 40s, 50s and 60s with content from World War II, PanAm and random people from the USA. The film will be in black and white. The poor quality and imperfections of the archive images are elements that play very well with this idea of mystery and investigation for this character. I will also include interviews with David's family and friends to help me form a clearer picture of my grandfather. In addition to the interviews I will record in Las Palmas and New York, looking for the places that David frequented the most.

Direction

In telling this story I hope to find the missing pieces to make a clearer picture of my grandfather which will hopefully help me to understand myself better. David's adventures go through historical moments such as the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II. The documentary will also reflect on the figure of the European immigrant in the beginning of the twentieth century.

This project also questions to what extent it is possible to identify a person almost lost in oblivion, based solely on the testimony of his relatives and through a pseudonym: Peter Dollar. To what extent is David in Peter's stories? To what extent can we see the author reflected on his characters psychology? Can we count on testimonies that may be heavily influenced by personal experience to correctly portray who David truly was?

Ever since I was little, my family always joked about making a movie of David and his adventures. Finding his stories was the perfect stimulus to begin to shape this project, to reflect on memories, the past and our identities.

References

Nobody’s Business (1996) Alan Berliner

Private Property Trilogy (2018) Nicolás Pereda

Did you ever wonder who fired the gun? (2017) Travis Wilkerson.

Pepe el Andaluz (2012) Alejandro Alvarado & Concha Baquero.

Crew

Luis Michael Franze Linhart (director, producer, editor).

Nacho Macías Fernández (director of photography).

Laia Picón Martínez (sound editor).

Celeste Adriana Barria (editing assistant).

Timing

Shooting will start the last week of July in Cádiz; move to New York from the 28th of August until the 9th of September; and will finish the last week of September in the Canary Islands.

Premiere is estimated for the middle of 2020 in Barcelona.

Technical details:

Title: Peter Dollar.

Produced by: ESCAC FILMS

Directed by: Luis Franze

Format: Digital 4:3

Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II

Length: 25min

Follow us:

Facebook: Peter Dollar

+MORE INFO: [email protected]