Tim Page, renowned photojournalist unites with Mythic Films to Kickstart LOST BROTHERS

March 05, 2012 (PRLEAP.COM) Business News
Can you imagine searching for the fate and final resting places of your friends lost 40+ years ago, forgotten? Can you imagine the mental and physical strength it takes to continue your quest?

Meet Tim Page, an inspiration, as an artist and friend. Page is a photographer with a wide range of subjects, having captured images of the War in Indochina and Viet Nam, the aftermath of war, the effects of Agent Orange,the Blues Fest in Australia, music magazines like Crawdaddy and Rolling Stone, and the recent concert The Wall in Brisbane. Garnering awards for his photography and humanitarian efforts Page has been bestowed The Robert Capa Award, The American Society of Media Photographers Award, Vietnamese Cultural Hero of the Revolution, The International Center of Photography's Infinity Award, The George Polk Award, The Overseas Press Club Award, and many more. His archive is estimated to contain three quarters of a million images accumulated over his 45 year career.

Tim Page has relentlessly pursued the truth, to find out what happened to his fellow journalists in Cambodia in the early 1970s. April and May 1970 were particularly devastating months for the media in Cambodia. Journalists covering the war, determined to tell the truth, reporting on the early days of Pol Pot's rise to power, disappeared daily. The last day of May 1970 saw 9 CBS & NBC journalists depart and not return – until the 2009 massacre of 34 journalists in the Philippines, it was the largest loss in one day for the international media.

The Viet Nam War was the first and last war where there was no censorship, the military actively encouraged press involvement. Page covered the war in Viet Nam from 1965-1969 as a photographer for TIME/LIFE, PARIS MATCH, UPI and AP. Tim and his fellow journalists, friends, roommates… brothers, made a promise to one another, no matter what, no one would be left behind.

Tim is determined to keep his promise.

In 1989 the borders of Cambodia opened and Tim was able to start his search to discover the fate of his friends. He has returned dozens of times to continue the quest to find out what happened to all of the dead and missing journalists… searching for closure for himself and for the families who never received information about their loved ones. Each trip results in more clues.

Four decades have passed since the journalists disappeared, there is a real sense of urgency to get back to Cambodia in order to hear what the villagers and "one's that know" have to say before the living memory all but dies out, Tim is racing a ticking clock.

Page states, "In these strange days of 'dash-in & iphone' reportage, the cutting edge of journalism still takes hard casualties. In Libya Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros. Last week Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik. Others gravely wounded, multiple limbs lost like Joao Silva and Giles Duley in Afghanistan. Countless local fixers, interpreters, videographers get blown away with barely a mention. The Reuters crew murder by Apaches, later seen virally 'live' from the gunships cameras.

The war in Indochina changed our quotient, too many went MIA especially in Cambodia. Generally, our mates' remains were retrieved in Viet Nam; in the neighbouring sideshow horror, the rules went out the door, the Khmer Rouge caring nothing for the media.

Until the Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines, Cambodia held the record for the most media killed in one day. Nine men from CBS & NBC. Their fates resolved due to the sterling work of Kurt Volkert and Jeff Williams (authors of 'Nine Men Down'). At the end, any Cambodian journalist alive was swallowed by Ankha. A swollen cache of missing, stories, witnesses & no traces. Unclosed loops of life. Wandering souls.

The messengers role stays the same. It is up close reportage. It is the truth. The dangers and the risks have increased. Risking life and limb for a lessening reward in a digital world where the moment is so temporal it is gone in a blink. We are here to remember them.
In war, truth is the first casualty. Aeschylus - Greek tragic dramatist (525 BC - 456 BC)"

Mythic Films embraces a new business model, raising funds, sourced straight from the community, through KICKSTARTER, the world's largest funding platform focused on a broad spectrum of creative projects making independent innovative missions possible. In 2011, Kickstarter's second year, crowdfunded pledges were just short of 99 million dollars, achieved through collective cooperation, attention and trust of people who decide to network and pool their money and resources in support of a project.

The producers of LOST BROTHERS are seeking $50,000 by Saturday, March 31, 2012, which will allow them to continue the film and Tim Page's search. Kickstarter works only if they raise the full amount by the deadline.

Help get Tim back to Cambodia. These funds will allow a small dedicated and determined crew to travel with Tim to Cambodia, and document his search and uncover the truth. The fate of the missing is out there.

Please visit: http://kck.st/xWKo0H

For more information or to interview Tim Page contact Angela, Hannes or Erica at oa.asst@gmail.com or 646 401 0172 or 323 744 0451