It feels that with increasing frequency I’m seeing more and more filmmakers turning to Kickstarter’s crowdfunding solution to help fund their projects, either in the pre-production, post-production or distribution stages. I’m getting more announcements via email every week and I see a growing number of links to Kickstarter pages in my Facebook news feed.

Two of those projects are by longtime favorites of the Underground Film Journal, two filmmakers who have had their previous films featured many times almost right since the site relaunched itself as the “Journal of Underground Film” back in 2006.

First is the third feature film by Chris Hansen, The Affair, an intimate drama about two married strangers who meet in a dark motel who have to decide if their innocent flirtation is actually going to lead to something more intense. If you’re interested in donating, you can do so at the film’s Kickstarter page.

Hansen’s previous features, The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah and Endings, have both been reviewed on the Underground Film Journal. Messiah is currently available on DVD while Endings is enjoying a successful festival run.

From the above description of this new film, this sounds like it’ll be Hansen’s most intimate work, very pared and stripped down. But, it also follows in the footsteps of his previous films, both of which were largely about issues of family and loyalty and the complex emotional relationships that evolve out those two things, e.g. Messiah‘s bullying lead character and his meek siblings; and the three leads of Endings who form a temporary family for a day.

Also, funding this particular project is interesting because, as a film professor at Baylor University, Hansen will once again be using students to fill key crew positions. So, if you donate to this project, you’ll be helping one filmmaker and a potential generation of new ones.

While Hansen is using Kickstarter so he can start production on this film, another Underground Film Journal favorite, filmmaker Jon Clark, is using the same site to raise completion funds for his new film, the epic Spectrum Hunter. You can help Clark at his Kickstarter page here.

Spectrum Hunter is a special-effects intense film, so Clark needs money to help pay post-production costs. However, being familiar with Clark’s earlier films, this is not some generic sci-fi action flick that needs a lot of effects work.

As I’ve described him before, Clark is the best ’80s filmmaker working today. His work is heavily influenced by and feels like a sincere throwback to cheesy films from Reagan era. His Baggs: The Movie is best Troma teen exploitation film that Troma never produced.

Spectrum Hunter is about a teenage boy who must infiltrate a mystical cult that derives magic from playing with POGs in order to find his missing brother.

Clark is a unique visionary. His films are playful and innocent, but at the same time quite mature and intelligent. And that ’80s look he specializes in is exceptionally unique. And now you can help fund that vision if you want.

To help entice investors and since much of the film is already done, Clark has uploaded lots of video and images to his Kickstarter page.