Kickstarter

I want to tell the story of the man who started it all--the Father of American Karate, Ed Parker. Ed Parker not only created an indigenous American system of self defense, he created a platform in the International Karate Championships for other martial artists such as Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris to share their talent and skill with the world. He was a friend and mentor to the King, Elvis Presley, Blake Edwards and many others. His less provocative side, however, the side that remembered everyone's name, birthday, belt rank and children's names, the generous side that shared his wealth and inspired his students is perhaps the more compelling aspect of Ed Parker's life. And it's also what led him to the brink of financial ruin and then saved him from it.

We will be reconstructing this story from the 7+ years (60+ hours) of footage I've gathered from Parker's friends, family, students and colleagues. The money will be funding our final push for post production: a final edit and polish which will consist of sound work, color correcting and authoring-all of which will be done on a strict budget.