AlleLiebenSchmidt - a Documentary about ALS

Everyone loves Bruno. Bruno is a family man. He lives in his childhood home with his wife, a dog and a cat – his 24 year old daughter will soon move into the house next door with her boyfriend. Bruno is a guy who cannot sit still, he laughs much and loud, he is very direct and open. He is also very open about his diagnosis, which seems to cause much more dismay for those around him than for himself – at least on first impression. Although one would expect that Bruno would need support to deal with his situation, it is rather the other way around. Bruno wants to make a contribution to not only help himself but to also support others who are suffering from ALS, as well as their loved ones. This is how the idea for Bruno’s ALS-Challenge came to life, in which all – Bruno’s family and friends – will do their best to support him.
His goal: One last time, Bruno wants to cross Germany with his bicycle. He also wants to educate and encourage people. We want to accompany him on his path. We want to speak with his doctors about his disease – which was in everyone’s social media timeline in 2014, due to the Ice Bucket Challenge. And we want to capture the thoughts and emotions of his family and friends. How do they deal with knowing that they will lose a loved one? Especially when that person mobilizes his powers to show: our time is finite – but let us be responsible about the time we have left.
Bruno is our protagonist who wants to spread courage and optimism, despite the tragedy. Will he be able to successfully complete the Challenge he has set for himself? We do not know – but we want to accompany Bruno on his path, document the progression of his disease and give him the attention that he deserves.

The goal of the film is to make a sustainable and emotional contribution to the topic of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
ALS is a deadly disease. 60% of those affected die within the first 2-3 years and in many cases, the life expectancy is even significantly shorter.
We want to closely accompany a man and the people around him to educate about the disease and show how it can be dealt with. But most importantly, we want to portrait a man who is not losing confidence despite his diagnosis, who is encouraging his family and the people around him, and for whom giving up is not an option.
The movie will not only be of interest to ALS-patients, relatives or nursing stuff, but also for doctors, athletes and all the people, who could not receive the necessary information throughout the IceBucket-Challenge.
“AlleLiebenSchmidt” will be a movie about a remarkable person and a devastating disease.

When you get a devastating diagnosis like Bruno did, you have two options:
1) you can lose faith, retreat and repeatedly ask yourself “why me”?
2) you can offensively approach your disease, and give positive energy to your environment and others with the same diagnosis – to address fears with an extra bit of motivation. This is what Bruno is doing. And we feel that Bruno deserves the biggest possible stage for his activities: “The world out there” needs to see how such a devastating disease can be dealt with – and how important a real social network is. We will appreciate your support.

If we reach the threshold of 20,000€, we can at least realize a film focusing on the Challenge in August. The expenses would cover the technical costs, travel and post production for 20 days of shooting.
Should we reach an amount between 20,000€ and 40,000€, we would extend the team with an important second unit, increase the technical effort and could at least partially compensate the team for their work. Should we reach an amount above 40,000€, we will start the desired long-term documentary and accompany Bruno over the next years. For comparison: a 45 minute documentary for a regional TV channel would usually cost between 40,000€ and 50,000€ for approximately 5 days of shooting. We are planning 20 shooting days for the Challenge until the end of August alone. For the coming years, it is planned to visit Bruno once a month, in average, to be able to consistently document the progression of his disease. All potential surplus will be donated for ALS research.