Hove director raises £77k for Tony Blair war crimes film

Hove film director Scott Imren has raised more than £77,000 through crowd-funding for a documentary called The Killing of Tony Blair.

Mr Imren plans to make the film with the Respect MP George Galloway as part of a campaign to bring Mr Blair to trial for war crimes in an international court.

They said that the film would document how Mr Blair killed the Labour Party, how his policies led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and how he has since made a financial “killing” since leaving office.

The pair used the crowd-funding website Kickstarter to raise funds for their film, setting a target of £50,000 in 40 days.

They reached £20,000 on the first day, £50,000 in less than a week and currently stands at more than £77,000.

They now hope to capitalise on this early success and raise enough to make a feature-length film for worldwide cinema release which will need at least £250,000.

The American director Spike Lee is also using Kickstarter to fund his latest film. Last month he exceeded his target of $1.25 million to raise more than $1.4 million.

Mr Imren said: “Crowd-funding sites like Kickstarter are allowing film makers to bypass traditional television commissioners and film studios and talk directly to their audiences.

“We are already getting lots of feedback from our backers alongside many offers of help.

“It is a truly liberating and interactive experience.”