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"James Franco has launched a $500,000 (\u00C2\u00A3318,240) Indiegogo campaign to fund a three-part movie adaptation of his short story compilation Palo Alto Stories. The actor said that he is using the project to support young directors, all of whom have previously worked with him. Proceeds from the sale of the films will also raise money for Art of Elysium, a non-profit organisation that Franco has been volunteering for.  &amp;quot;Art of Elysium is a non-profit organization that encourages working actors, artists and musicians to voluntarily dedicate their time and talent to children who are battling serious medical conditions,&amp;quot; Franco wrote.  &amp;quot;They have recently created a program called Elysium Industry that supports first-time feature film directors [who] have been volunteering their time with children in need. &amp;quot;Working with Art of Elysium has given me the opportunity to share my creativity with hospitalized children and give them the gift of creativity. These children have inspired me and pushed me as an artist in ways that are truly indescribable.&amp;quot;  Franco also spoke of his desire to maintain &amp;quot;artistic integrity&amp;quot; by using a crowdfunding model, saying that balancing creativity and business poses a &amp;quot;constant challenge&amp;quot; for him. &amp;quot;Because of who I am, people often believe that it is easy to find investors and distributors for my films,&amp;quot; he continued. &amp;quot;Unfortunately, things aren&amp;#039;t that easy.  &amp;quot;More times than not, I have put in my own money to produce my films and my students&amp;#039; films. However, this time it&amp;#039;s different. We need more funding. I will still fund part of it but I need of your help, filming three feature films back-to-back requires more funding than I can give.&amp;quot; The compilation will be divided into three films. Memoria, which tells the story of a sensitive boy named Ivan, is directed by Nina Ljeti and Vladimir de Fontenay.  Killing Animals - a tale of teenage rebellion in 1990s California - will be directed by Bruce Thierry Cheung. Finally, Yosemite - set in the 1980s - will be directed by Gabrielle Gabrielle Demeestere . Watch a clip from Oz the Great and Powerful below:  James Franco&amp;#039;s career so far in pictures - photo gallery:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a490909/james-franco-in-500000-indiegogo-campaign-to-fund-palo-alto-stories/>