Diane Wiebe is a Toronto-based writer and director that is bringing E.E. Cummings to the big screen. Transferring poetry to film is not easy. So I wanted to learn more about her approach to filmmaking and to crowdfunding.

The inspiration was actually my favourite poem, "somewhere i have never travelled" by e.e. cummings. It's been my favourite poem for years - and when I read a bit about his life, the scene basically came to fruition...

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond

any experience,your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though i have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and

my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility:whose texture

compels me with the color of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens;only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

That's a brave inspiration. How has this translated to your experience as a crowdfunding pioneer in the film world in Toronto - how are your supporters responding?

So far, so good! My friends all seem to be very supportive, and now ask me about how my project is going whenever I see them - they all want to see it when it's finished! I'm actually blown away by how supportive everyone is.

It takes persistence - you need to remind people EVERY day, at least once, about your project. You also need to spread the word over as many platforms as you can (I post on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Myspace, Twitter, and all three of my blogs. I even have both a fan page AND an event on Facebook, to which I invited every single one of my Facebook friends. Oh - and I posted to every group I'm a member of on both Facebook AND LinkedIn.). And, finally, never underestimate the power of a personal email explaining why your project is important to you (especially when it comes to family and close friends)!

Very good advice - thank you Diane. We're looking forward to seeing the film. Join the fun, here.

-Vlad