With your support, we can finish this film and target
AMERICA’S
250th Birthday
July 4 – Independence Day – in 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence. Across America, festivities and events will be scheduled to celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial, or America at 250.
This historic milestone is an opportunity for us to participate in the national conversation about American history, recognize the contributions of all Americans, and look ahead toward a more inclusive future. It would be the perfect time to educate and inspire Americans with the surprisingly overlooked story of a Sikh American who ran for Congress and won 70 years ago.
Our goal is to finish the film for an early 2026 release. Only with a finished film can we organize a robust distribution of the film surrounding the July 4th celebrations in 2026.
This film will engage Americans in reasoned debates about
GOVERNANCE
REPRESENTATION
COALITION POLITICS
VOTER REGISTRATION
Connections
Connect us to anyone who knew Dalip Singh Saund or Jackie Cochran Odlum, or anyone who voted in 1956 (they would be in their 80s or older today). Maybe you have a suggestion of who we should interview for the film– a scholar, a politician – someone who can speak to how this story from 1956 remains relevant today.
Funding
Producing a historical film is costly and requires the efforts of many. Please consider financially supporting the project by giving a tax-deductible donation or an in-kind service to the production of the film. This funding and in-kind support is critical to achieving a work sample that we can pitch to funders and broadcasters who need this work sample in order to commit to the film.
100% tax-deductible contributions to this documentary film can be made through our fiscal sponsor, the Center for Independent Documentary.
ANY AMOUNT IS WELCOME
Check Donations
Check and ACH donations incur smaller administration fees for the project. If you can send a check, please make the check payable to “The Center for Independent Documentary” and put “Saund vs Cochran” in the memo line. Please mail your check to The Center for Independent Documentary PO Box 95216 Newton, MA 02495.
Host An Event
Consider inviting us to present the story to your personal network or to a group of colleagues (companies often double or match your tax-deductible donations).
Partnerships
We are seeking partnerships with organizations working to increase civic participation and to screen the film for diverse audiences.
Newsletter
Help us grow our newsletter– when we approach a distributor to broadcast the film, we’d like to say that there are thousands of people who are waiting to see this movie.
Sign up below and encourage others to do so.
Non-Profit & Organization Donors
National Endowment for the Humanities
ITVS Diversity Development Fund
Ford Foundation JustFilms
California Humanities
Center for Asian American Media
The Dirksen Congressional Center
Bright Minds Learning Academy, WI
Chugh LLP, CA
Broadview Animal Hospital, IL
Sher-E-Punjab Sports Club Midwest Chicago
Sikh Foundation of Virginia
Sikh Temple of Wisconsin
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Internships have been generously supported by the Wasserman Center Internship Grant at NYU,
the Jeff Metcalf Fellowship Grant at the University of Chicago,
and by the Berkeley Journalism-Knight Foundation Internship Grant.
Individual Donors
Sarwan Singh Bolina, IL
Pia Sawhney, NY
Beesham A. Seecharan, NY
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Dr. Amarjit Singh Marwah, CA
Shiv Grewal, CA
Rubén Guevara, CA
Gurdip S. & Nirmaljeet K. Malik, CA
Herjinder S. & Harbhajan K. Malhi, CA
Suren Sapkota, CA
Mandira Singh, CA
Ershey Uppal, CA
Baldev Singh Vij, CA
Andrew McLauthlin, CO
Gunita Singh, DC
Priyanka Zielinski, FL
Sukmel S. Atwal, IL
Amardeep Singh Badesha, IL
Gurpreet Singh Bansal, IL
Amarjeet Bedi, IL
Sarabjit S. Bhandal, IL
Jaidev Singh Bhattal, IL
Gurmukh Bhullar, IL
Bola Singh Brar, IL
Surinder Singh Dhami, IL
Azad Dhillon, IL
Rajwinder Dhillon, IL
Pardeep Gill, IL
Satnam S. Gill, IL
Balwinder Girn, IL
Sukhwinder Singh Hunjan, IL
Tarlochan Singh Multani, IL
Parvinder Nanua, IL
Aamhish Rao, IL
Sadhi Singh Rikhiraj, IL
Gurdip S. Sangha, IL
Balraj Samra, IL
Dr. Amardeep Singh Sangha, IL
Randip Sangha, IL
Jasdeep Saran, IL
Karanjit Sarkaria, IL
Chirag Shah, IL
Jagjit Shahi, IL
Amarjit Singh, IL
Arvinder Singh, IL
Gur Singh, IL
Gurdip Singh, IL
Gurlabh Singh, IL
Harinder Singh, IL
Jasmir Singh, IL
Karamjeet Singh, IL
Paramvir Singh, IL
Ramanjit Singh, IL
Hariqbaljit K. Singha, IL
Surjit S. Sodhi, IL
Kamaljit Virdi, IL
Surjeet K. Bhangoo, IN
Surinder Singh, IN
Keith Kamisugi, NV
Daniel Chao, NJ
Tejaswini Ganti, NY
Simi Mir, NY
Paola Piaggio, NY
Alec Rajeev, NY
Anita Sharma, NY
Shagun Singh, NY
Sonali Sridhar, NY
Pandu Balaram, VA
Amit Chandra, VA
Priya Chandra, VA
Subash & Sarla Chandra, VA
Monisha Kapila, VA
Khanna Family, VA
Prabhakar Tamboli, VA
Sarbjit Singh Lehal, WA
Jaswant S. Arora, WI
Rupinder Arora, WI
Shauna Singh Baldwin, WI
Beant S. Boparai, WI
Harbhajan Singh Chahal, WI
Depinder Dhaliwal, WI
Kulwant S. Dhaliwal, WI
Balwinder Dhillon, WI
Inderjeet Singh Dhillon, WI
Jaggi Singh Ghotra, WI
Amritpal Gill, WI
Dr. Harcharan S. Gill, WI
Nachallan Singh Gill, WI
Parminder Singh Grewal, WI
Parshotam Singh Jassi, WI
Sukhdev S. Kahlon, WI
Arvinder Kaur, WI
Satinder Kaur, WI
Arvinder Khasria, WI
Harjinder Khasria, WI
Baljinder Singh Khattra, WI
Kulwinder Sharma, WI
Joginder Siddhu, WI
Amrinder Singh, WI
Baba Gurmail Singh, WI
Balbas Singh, WI
Baljinder Singh, WI
Baljinder Singh, WI
Charanjiv Singh, WI
Devinder Singh, WI
Dharmender Singh, WI
Fateh Singh, WI
Gurmukh Singh, WI
Gurdip Singh, WI
Gurnek Singh, WI
Gurpreet Singh, WI
Harbans Singh, WI
Harwinder Paul Singh, WI
Jasjeet Singh, WI
Jaswant Singh, WI
Jaswinder Singh, WI
Joga Singh, WI
Kewal Singh, WI
Kuljit Singh, WI
Kuljit Singh, WI
Lakwinder Singh, WI
Mohan Singh, WI
Narinder Pal Singh, WI
Naunihal Singh, WI
Paramjit Singh, WI
Prabjot Singh, WI
Satnam Singh, WI
Shardha Singh, WI
Sukhwinder Singh, WI
Surinder Singh, WI
Surinder Singh, WI
Dalbir Toor, WI
Alok Gupta, India
Narinder Singh, India
