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With only 33 days left to fund this project, the minimum pledge amount has been reduced to $10. Pledges of even this amount are so appreciated and can go far in helping to get this film completed!

Eric B. Hughes is a well-regarded member of the indie community, gaining kudos for his short films “A Distant Chord” (1993) and especially “Harsh Light” (1997), which starred Nathan George (“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”) and won a Maverick Movie Award for Best Narrative Short (Drama), the Top Prize at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and was featured at the Euro-Underground Film Festival in Krakow and Munich. Phil Hall of “Film Threat” magazine called it “one of the best short films of the past decade.”

Born and raised in New Jersey, Hughes’ interest in creating films started at the age of twenty, when he was accepted to Columbia College in Los Angeles. However, things did not work out and he dropped out. “They can't teach you passion, and that's one thing I've always had: Desire, passion and drive,” he notes.

He started to write screenplays ("Life's Back Pocket" won the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting), sending his material to directors he admired. “Some of the directors who wrote me were the late Frank Perry, the late John Schlesinger, Robert Ellis Miller, and also Jim McBride. Through this, I became friends with some of them who would read my scripts and help me with suggestions, including Charles Burnett and David Burton Morris.” His filmmaking influences all date mostly to 1970s cinema. “Well, the one that jumps out to me the most is John Cassavetes. I'm also a big fan of Jerry Schatzberg (‘Scarecrow,’ ‘The Panic in Needle Park’) and also Bob Rafelson (‘Five Easy Pieces,’ ‘The King of Marvin Gardens’).”

His first feature-length project is “Pacing the Cage,” a crime film, which came about after Eric had sold a screenplay which was originally called “The Messenger,” a film now entitled “The Fallen Faithful,” which recently had a premiere screening in Los Angeles. “I felt the need to keep flowing creatively. I had tried to do something back in '08, an attempted feature, which stalled out due to financial backing,” which is why he is now looking to the Kickstarter fundraising project for his new movie. “I wrote ‘Pacing the Cage’ in a short period of time, cast it with mostly New York actors I had worked with, or had friendships with; people I trusted. I shot it during a period of four months, from February to April of 2009. The actors were fantastic, everyone bonded, everyone pitched in....everyone was on the same page. This film is collectively a team effort by everybody. I couldn't have asked for a better cast.” The film stars Denny Bess (who is currently filming a remake of Dudley Moore’s “Arthur” with Russell Brand) and Reyna Kahan.

Hughes has until September 7 on Kickstarter to raise at least $2,000 for the project to move forward to completion. What needs to be done further on “Pacing the Cage”? Where will the money be going? “Post-production costs,” he remarks, “editing, sound mix, color correction; all the behind-the-scenes things that take place when a film is completed with filming.”

In the mold of the best independent filmmakers of years past, Eric B. Hughes is a triple threat as producer, writer and director; definitely someone to seriously watch