This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This week's Utah Crowd-Funding Project aims to take a 2015 Sundance Film Festival movie, made by Utah filmmakers about Utah subjects, to the people everywhere.
The documentary "In Football We Trust" is a look at four Utah high school football players, all members of the state's Pacific Islander community, are using sports to find a way out of poverty and gang violence. It's directed by Tony Vainuku, a former Utah high school football player and a member of that community, and Utah filmmaker Erika Cohn.
The movie is screening in the Documentary Premieres section of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and will premiere Friday, Jan. 23, at The Grand Theatre in Salt Lake City. It will eventually air on PBS's "Independent Lens." In between, though, the filmmakers aim to get the movie out to as many people as possible — through a limited theatrical run, home video and VOD, and a community outreach plan.
It's that outreach portion where the filmmakers are asking for help. They have launched a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter, seeking $40,000 to develop a program of community screenings with Q-and-A's, web discussion grops, and short educational video modules. So far, the campaign has raised $3,082 in pledges, with a deadline of Feb. 9.
Benefits for backers range from a subscription to the film's online newsletter (for $5) to memorabilia from the NFL players interviewed in the film (for $2,500).
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