About this project
Donor's Overview
MoviesMakingADifference
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Sir Edmund Burke - Irish statesman
Mission Statement:
Headquartered in Phoenix, MoviesMakingADifference believes that we must help support the abused and oppressed. Our goal is to raise money and public awareness in order to fight severe societal problems through the production of motion pictures. With a portion of the proceeds that are raised through these films, we find the very best way to distribute funds to those that need it most. The money is used for services that will best benefit each individual so as to empower them with the ability to rise to their highest potential.
In connection with the film, Cathedral City, we have found that for those that have struggled inside oppressive cult-like religious communities in the United States, legal aid and therapy are among the most urgent and costly needs. Our goal with this project is to help meet those needs as these survivors seek to reclaim their lives and loved ones.
We are partnering on this project with Friar's Lantern Entertainment who are donating their time, energy and tremendous skill and talent to this project.
Michael Madsen has given a letter of intent to play the lead.
This film has the blessings of Flora Jessop, an American social activist, author, and advocate for abused children.
Jessop grew up in Colorado City, Arizona. She was raised in a polygamous family, with two mothers and twenty-seven siblings, all members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When she was sixteen years old, after years of abuse, she fled her family and faith. She now helps other refugees regain their lives.
She is the cousin, by marriage, of Carolyn Jessop, another former FLDS member who wrote Escape, an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later flight from that community.
Directed by: Grainger Hines
Cast: Michael Madsen, Michael Crider, Rocco Ancarola, Noelle Wheeler, Cielle Fouquet and Angelique Deutch.
FAQ
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57
Backers
$5,616
pledged of $5,600 goal
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on December 14, 2009.
Pledge $5 or more
Access to exclusive project updates and interviews with the cast and crew. Special thanks during the credits.
Pledge $10 or more
Special thanks in the credits and an enormous hug and kiss!
Pledge $15 or more
1 Ticket to "Music & Merriment for the Movie" Party, Sun Nov 22, 5 - 10pm ~ Howl at the Moon "The world's greatest rock n' roll dueling piano show" ~ 7419 E. Indian Plaza ~ Old Town Scottsdale ~ (Happy Hour Specials All Night) Plus access to exclusive project updates and interviews with the cast and crew. Special thanks during the credits.
Pledge $25 or more
Above plus exclusive DVD of the feature length cut of Cathedral City.
Pledge $30 or more
Above plus 2 tickets to "Music & Merriment for the Movie" Party Sun Nov 22, 5 - 10pm ~ Howl at the Moon "The world's greatest rock n' roll dueling piano show" ~ 7419 E. Indian Plaza ~ Old Town Scottsdale ~ (Happy Hour Specials All Night).
Pledge $50 or more
Above plus cool Cathedral City T-shirt.
Pledge $75 or more
Above plus 4 tickets to "Music & Merriment for the Movie" Party Sun Nov 22, 5 - 10pm ~ Howl at the Moon "The world's greatest rock n' roll dueling piano show" ~ 7419 E. Indian Plaza ~ Old Town Scottsdale ~ (Happy Hour Specials All Night). Plus awesome Cathedral City Baseball cap.
Pledge $100 or more
Above plus special VIP invitation to Cathedral City Movie Premier.
Pledge $500 or more
Above plus special invitation to the Premier Party with the cast and crew.
Pledge $1,000 or more
Above plus a walk-on role in the film.
Pledge $5,000 or more
Above plus speaking role in the film.
Pledge $10,000 or more
Above plus Executive Producer Credit.
Project By
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The screenplay, CATHEDRAL CITY is written by an Englishman who immigrated to the US at age 23 to attend UCLA film school which he never applied to, but just showed up to the first day of classes. He picked the courses taught by those from whom he wished to learn thus creating his own non-matriculating curriculum. The professors appreciated his chutzpah and happily obliged him.
Paul soon found himself writing pilots for TV shows and spec scripts for such shows as “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Mad About You”. He briefly returned to London when an old colleague needed help on some scripts for a British comedy revue that was a showcase for a TV series.
Returning to the US, Paul went to work for Rick Newman the founder of the world famous Catch a Rising Star comedy clubs where he met his wife and partner, Diana.
Having not written in almost ten years, one night at a party Paul met famed Phoenix investigative journalist, Mike Watkiss. To Paul's amazement he then heard of Mike's cause-celebre; his relentless pursuit of the renegade FLDS sect in Colorado City.
He told of how the young girls and also the boys were relentlessly abused by a lifestyle not of their choosing where underage girls were forced into marriages so that each new wife elevated the status of the much older husband. He told of how young boys were routinely run out of town, as the Church elders feared that the new generation would replace them. And how the local police were even part of the whole sordid culture and did nothing to help the women and kids who cried out for help as the Church amassed millions of dollars in fraudulent activities and
racketeering.
Paul was aghast that something such as this could go on in the richest and supposedly!most liberated!country in the world. It sounded like something out of the feudal Middle East. But the most burning question remained: Why did the authorities, who knew all about what was going on, do nothing to stop it, decade after decade, even after reporters such as Mike put it in front of their faces again and again
Shocked, Paul decided that night to write about this abomination but from the point of view of a possible explanation as to why these children were allowed to suffer for generations by those sworn to protect them at the very same time as our young men and women in uniform were losing their lives in not one but two other countries, trying to liberate those citizens so far away from our own 20 backyard.
It is a story of political corruption, racketeering, a booming state and the systematic abuse of the innocent. The story is "Cathedral City".
