Gone Missing-the final journey of Old John

I have a special treat for you today. Till was a German foreign exchange student who lived with us in 1999. Now he is a film maker in Mexico City. Here is the Director's Statement for his current project.

When I first arrived in Mexico City, six years ago, I had pretty much “gone missing”. I had left behind the security of my hometown and country, my studies, friends and family. I came to a totally unknown place, without speaking the language, without friends and without a plan. After a couple of days of wandering about the city, I found the Casa de los Amigos where I got the feeling of having arrived at the right place – the right place for staying a while, for losing yourself and feeling at home at the same time.

I started working there as a volunteer in exchange for a place to sleep, and I ended up staying almost a year. I met other people who had found “the Casa” as well, among them Old John. He was a contradictory character. He had been a boxer and a poet, people loved or hated him, he was simultaniously crazy and wise - and a prophet.

Old John became a living example of someone who had taken life in his own hands, regardless of all conventions – even to the point of defining the circumstances of his own death. He was not going to end his life himself, but as he felt his time running out, he had chosen his final journey and resting-place: the jungle of Guatemala.

Three years after I met Old John, I went back to Germany and started studying film. Today, another three years later, I have come back to Mexico as an exchange student. In this context of apparent purpose and security, the question I ask myself is still the same: How and to what extent is it possible to brush aside conventions and live a self-determined life? To be free?

I have proposed to my two best friends from those years together at the Casa de los Amigos to resume the plan we made six years ago, to search for the traces of the final journey of Old John, to tell Old John’s story.

We have some financial support by my film schools in Munich and Mexico. But in order to make this thing happen, we need some extra funding. We have done the math and we can do it with your support. We only need $5,000 to take you and others deep into the jungle with us.

We are grateful for every contribution. Please help spread the word and tell your friends about this project!

Thank you very much,

Till Cöster,  January 2012

We have different rewards waiting for our supporters, for example a free copy of the finished movie. Check out our project on kickstarter.com for the trailer and details. We have to reach our goal of raising $5,000 until SUNDAY, JAN 15, 11:55 PM (CST) – otherwise we get nothing and backers get their money back.