Help us complete "RACE TO THE MOVIES"

Hi! My name is Chris Powers and I’m a Los Angeles based filmmaker from Rochester, NY. What you just watched was our sizzle reel for “Race to the Movies”, a documentary in progress that we’ve been filming and working on for over 7 months. As we continue our work, we’ve come to need some final finishing funds to complete the film and that’s what brings us here.

If you’ve watched the sizzle above (and you really should!)I think you will be able to see the power of this story and why getting this feature in front of as large an audience as possible is so important.

Here's a little more about the project!

LOGLINE

Race to the Movies is a feature documentary in progress following Race Eberhardt, a young man with Down Syndrome, on his journey as the lead actor in an independent feature film shot in Rochester, NY. With the unwavering love of his mother, Race is pursuing his dreams of stardom alongside a team of scrappy but ambitious filmmakers, and with the support of a unique local theater group, composed of performers with special needs, who helped start Race on his performance journey.

THE FILM

Representation matters, following your dreams matters, and the arts matter. This film is about these ideals and a group of individuals who are proving them true.

The documentary covers the production of an independent film titled “Strait Undercover”, shot in Rochester, NY and starring Race, a young man with Down Syndrome. He has dreams of being an actor, the crew has dreams of making a mark on Hollywood and Race’s parent’s have dreams of seeing him experience as much as life has to offer.

The film also traces the origins of Race’s ambitions from his time with a group called Artist’s Unlimited, a local theater group that provides acting opportunities for performers with disabilities. This group lives by the motto, “Changing lives, one act at a time”, and seeing their story on screen will prove that motto true.

These stories come together for a funny, inspiring,and emotional journey about what it means to pursue your passions and why this pursuit is something everyone deserves access to.

WHERE IS YOUR MONEY GOING?

The additional funding for the project is going to two places:

1 - “Strait Undercover” is currently in post production but will eventually have a local screening that will serve as the conclusion to our film. We need to fly back to Rochester for this film and hire extra hands and gear to get proper coverage of this important event. We want to really capture this momentous occasion stylistically and cover the full scope and reactions to the people involved. We estimate these costs to be $6k

2 - The larger portion of the funds will be applied to our own post-production funds. This film will take roughly 20 weeks to complete in post. While myself and Brian can handle some of this editing work, we do need additional Assistant Editor help on the project. There is also the large cost of the final mix and mastering of the project. This is extremely important considering the variety of locations and lighting setups we had to contend with as well as the various discrepancies in our sound recording. This final mix and master is required for us to be competing in the big leagues with other higher budgets in the festival circuit and to one day to be in theaters or on a streamer. There is no way around this cost and we estimate it will be around $15- 20k.

The Team:

Chris Powers (Director)

Chris Powers is a long time content creator, producer and director. He has produced and directed hundreds of hours of content for a variety of digital media brands including Funny Or Die, FailArmy, People Are Awesome as well as created the documentary series This is Happening for Verizon. He has also produced on the A&E series Intervention and Digital Addiction. Chris is currently the Creative Director at Smoke Creative Services overseeing the production of countless trailers for documentaries.

Brian Ross (Producer, Editor)

Brian Ross is an award-winning filmmaker and TV editor from Eastern Kentucky. After graduating from NYU's Tisch School Of The Arts, Brian worked as a writer and producer for VH1's Best Week Ever, MTV True Life, MTV's Ridiculousness and head writer at Mark Cuban's AXS Live. As an editor, Brian has worked on documentaries and unscripted programs for Discovery Plus, A&E, Netflix and Facebook Watch. He is currently directing a feature length documentary about the world’s fastest production car and is an active member in the Editors Guild.

Bentley Bernd

Bentley Bernd is a seasoned producer with credits across HBO’s “Game of Thrones”, Netflix’s “The Chair” and Netflix’s soon to be released “Three Body Problem”. She currently works with Emmy Award winning EP Bernie Caulfield.