About this project

**NEW UPDATE***

Please listen to the message  Ulises de la Cruz, two time World Cup Star and Community Hero, has for you. 

(Lee la información en español más abajo)

DREAMTOWN: HBO / NALIP Grant Award Winning Documentary film

DreamTown is the HOOP DREAMS of Soccer in Ecuador.  It is an underdog story with a universal theme that will move and inspire every person to keep striving for their dreams no matter what the odds or the obstacles!

DreamTown follows the triumphant although at times tragic portrait of the struggle three young men face to realize their soccer dreams from learning to play barefoot in the slums of their village to the heights of international soccer stardom, these players are not only hungry and passionate about the beautiful game but make great sacrifices along the way, not just to win out for themselves but in hopes to save their families and uplift their community!

The film is set in the impoverished backwater Afro-Ecuadorian town of El Chota Valley, a place where the primary export is Ecuador’s top soccer talent but was invisible prior to the success in the World Cup.

Meet Director Betty Bastidas and family to learn about what inspired this story.

With only 5% of Ecuador being of Afro Descent and rampant racism, the 2002 and 2006 World Cups rocked the boat of the country setting a new precedence since over half of the World Cup Squad team that took them there were Afro-Ecuadorian and hailed from the same small town of El Chota Valley. Soccer being the source of Ecuador's greatest pride and passion the success of these amazingly talented players have since united a very fragmented country by opening up a dialogue to include a community that has long been marginalized.

DreamTown features the story of one of these players who went from very humble beginnings on impoverished dirt fields to International Soccer Stardom. Ulises De La Cruz a footabller of high standing in English football and who has participated in the World Cups of Korea-Japan in 2002 and Germany in 2006. After achieving success not only did he remember where he came from but donated much of his earnings to start a foundation to promote the development of the people of his hometown, a poor village that had been permanently neglected and forgotten by the Ecuadorian government but now due to his efforts has new schools, hospitals, running water, paved roads and other basic necessities that they never had before. At the end of his career he is now dedicated to inspiring the next generation of Soccer stars, like Antonio Valenica (also featured in our film) to do the same.

He and other players like him from the World Cup team (all featured in our film) have given hope to the valley and inspired hundreds of young boys to follow in their footsteps despite only 10 players per year being chosen to play professionally. We also follow two of these talented hopefuls, Anibal and Carlos who are now in the middle of facing their biggest challenges and struggles as they are still striving for their dreams. We bare witness to what it takes to truly make it.

Bringing these never before told stories to the world is important and special because it truly is an amazing example of the transformative power of dreams that can shift and overcome a century of prejudice and neglect. While bringing a true appreciation of the passion, risk and sacrifice involved for those lucky few who achieve such a dream and rise to the highest heights of this beautiful game getting a second chance at life.

Meet Anibal, our youngest character in DreamTown:

At 13, he is a talented player that dreams of playing for Manchester United yet faces a reality of struggle and sacrifice as he's had to drop out of school to help care for his 9 siblings and still dedicate himself to soccer. With his entire families future in his hands he plays with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Will he and others like him make it to create a new identity for themselves and their community or will a generation of young boys be lost by risking it all for a pipe dream.

ACCOLADES AND SUPPORT SO FAR

This past year we received the HBO/ NALIP Documentary Prize and were awarded a $10,000 Grand Prize given to Latino Filmmakers who present issues of social change with uncompromising honesty and quality.

The development of our film has also been helped by NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers). It was accepted into the Latino Media Market two years ago in the early stages as a work in progress, after which the Director Betty Bastidas was accepted to UC Berkeley where she received a Masters Degree in Documentary Film as well as valuable mentorship.

 Frontline World | PBS also funded the completion of a short version of the film and featured it as part of their ‘Stories from a Small Planet’ programming.

OUR GOAL FOR THE FILM

By telling the personal stories of youth from El Chota, we want to bring visibility to this region and continue its development via direct and indirect initiatives. For example, partnering up with international organizations such as Soccer Without Borders and Education Without Borders, as well as supporting and donating profits from the film to Ulises non-profit foundation Friends of FundeCruz already doing service projects in El Chota Valley Ecuador, to bring forth international and cultural exchange while opening minds to a new and more hopeful reality.

Our goal is to have this film completed by the Spring/Summer of 2012. Once finished, we will be submitting to both domestic and international film festivals for early 2012 screenings. We will also create a number of special event screenings to promote our theatrical screenings, DVD release, and digital download. In conjunction there will be an educational version DVD released as well. In the meantime our plan is to maximize visibility of the film through our social networks while in production and make inroads to find a TV broadcaster with the greatest audience reach.

ABOUT KICKSTARTER

KickStarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. It is unique in that it is an all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded before its time expires or no money changes hands. In other words, if we don’t meet our GOAL, we don’t get anything. So please spread the word since that is the way we will meet our goal and succeed in bringing this documentary to the big screen.

WHERE WILL YOUR DONATIONS  GO:

Funds pledged go directly to the production of the film. Currently we are in pre-production for two trips planned to Ecuador to complete filming, one is as early as August. We are seeking funds to get through 40 days of production. Every cent of your donated money will make its way to the production of our story—such as airfare for crew, licensing rights for sports footage, meals, transportation, graphics for film and initial post-production costs—It will make a HUGE difference!! We are relying on its success to fund and form partnerships with supporters to complete the film. After which we'll be in post-production for our feature doc. Here is our cost breakdown:

Equipment Rentals Camera A Rental- Panasonic HD     $6,000,  4 P2 cards,field  labtop $3,600, Camera B package rental  $4,800, Sound Equipment Rental $3,600, Lighting Rental  $2800, Batteries & expendables $550, Field Drives- Lacie 1Terabite $500, Lacie 6Gig Terabite $500

Travel Expenses from NY Airfare for three for two trips to Ecuador Dir, Producer from NY $3,200,  DP from SFO $2000, local car rental $800, Hotel  $4000 Local Expenses Gas, parking, tolls $800, Loss, Damage, Repair $500

POST-PRODUCTION  Assistant Editor   $9,000, transcriber $2,000, Archival Researcher $1000,Archival Licensing Fees $30,000

If we do not reach our fundraising goal by the deadline, all donations will be returned. We keep nothing and the film production will be delayed or worse, our story happens and we are not there to capture it.

Report this project to Kickstarter