Fundraising to finish Documentary about Mac Parker

INTRO

Hi everyone, I am raising funding to help cover costs of finishing a documentary on Mac Parker and making of "The Birth of Innocence" movie.

"TRUST" FILM DESCRIPTION

During his final moments of freedom before going to prison, a farm-raised Vermont storyteller named Mac Parker looks back on a two-decade-long "spiritual odyssey" that went horribly wrong. Parker's earnest quest to find a deeper spiritual connection had led him to produce a New Age-themed film called "The Birth of Innocence". But in the process of raising money for this movie, he became the orchestrator of a $28 million ponzi scheme.

Parker filming "The Birth of Innocence" movie

Parker claims that he was essentially brain-washed by his spiritual healer and "guru", Lou Soteriou, over the course of ten years of working with him. He says that it was all Soteriou's idea and that he even told Parker to keep his participation secret. Even though they both went to jail for these crimes, the court sentenced Soteriou to twice the jail time as Parker, as they also believed Soteriou was the real mastermind behind the ponzi scheme.

Years later, both men have been released from jail, while many investors are still owed millions of dollars. "TRUST" unravels this complex tale seeking to get to the truth of what happened.

OUR FILM

We have been working on a documentary film about Mac Parker and "The Birth of Innocence" controversy for the past 10 years. We have exclusive footage of Parker leading right up until he went to jail and follow-up interviews after his release. Our documentary is about 1/3 finished, and to bring it to conclusion we will film recreations and more scenes with Mac Parker in Vermont.

WHY NOW?

The time is now right to finish and release this documentary, since "The Birth of Innocence" was recently finally released to Apple TV and Amazon Prime and screened in movie theaters across the state of Vermont.

WHAT'S NEXT?

We are working on pitching this film to connections we have at HBO, Netflix, and other streaming services. We are also continuing to edit and finish the movie. To do that we need money to cover editing time, hiring a composer, filming footage of recreations and our final scenes with Mac Parker in Vermont, and ultimately final color correction and sound mixing and mastering. Your donation will be a big help to cover the continuing costs of finishing the movie.

UPDATE: September 2024

We realized that our original estimated time frame and fundraising goals were not accurate and have been adjusted. We tentatively hope to finish this by the new year. We have been in talks with different producing groups on the film and are looking to find the right home for the project. This process unfortunately can take awhile as the film industry can be slow. The direction and structure of the project has been evolving a bit into something more complex that we know our audience will resonate even better with.

WHAT YOU GET FOR CONTRIBUTING

UPDATE: Donations of $25 will receive a free link to the movie once completed.

Any amount below $100 will receive a a free link to the completed movie, and a “thanks” credit on the movie.

Anything $100 and above will receive a free link to the completed movie, and a “special thanks” credit.

Donations above $1000 will receive a free link to the completed movie and an Executive Producer credit.

If you would like to make a non-taxable donation we can do this as well ($150 and above, message me for details on this). 

Anything raised above our goal will go towards the ongoing costs of finishing the full movie. 

Donations will be used for filming any new scenes, recreation scenes, post-production and finishing costs.

HOW WE PLAN TO GIVE BACK

Our plan is to donate a portion of the proceeds from the distribution of the finished film to help pay back investors that are still owed money.