Beyond Video, the brainchild of seven local artists and film gurus, has successfully raised $30,000 in a Kickstarter, which means Baltimore will soon see the return of the in-person video store.
City Paper’s Brandon Weigel first reported yesterday that the group known as the Baltimore Video Collective hit their mark for donations with two days to spare. (On Kickstarter, fundraisers can’t collect any donated money if they don’t reach their goal by a specific deadline.)
Their mission is to resurrect what’s been erased or replaced by web-based streaming services and, in a limited sense, Redbox: a brick-and-mortar store where customers can pick through a broad collection of movies to buy or rent.
While 376 backers have pitched in, roughly a third of it came from one individual who donated at least $10,000 to the cause. Two others pledged $1,000 or more, and a couple other donors gave at least $500.
On their fundraising page, the collective said they play to use $20,000 to pull together “a world-class video collection well-stocked with thousands of DVDs [and] blu-rays from every genre, region, and era, as well as a smaller curated selection of rare VHS titles.”
Another $10,000 will go to renovating and getting supplies for the space in Remington on N. Howard Street, and any leftovers — $1,232 as of this morning – will go toward rent.
The whole operation will be not-for-profit, meaning all revenue will go to employee wages and bills and further expanding the collection. It’s run by a septet of cinephiles, all of them former employees or workers from the since-departed local video store chain Video Americain, and most of whom have worked with the Maryland Film Festival.
To celebrate the successful fundraiser, Beyond Video is hosting a party tomorrow night from 10 p.m. to midnight at Golden West Cafe in Hampden. Click here for details and to RSVP.
