University News

WIU Professor Starts Fundraising for Independent Film

March 27, 2015

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MACOMB, IL/MOLINE,IL – Western Illinois University Professor of Art Bruce Walters is launching an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign on Tuesday, March 31 to fund the development of "The Spirit of the Age," a film and multi-platform production about the inception of the Roaring ‘20s.

The goal of the 31-day campaign is to raise $15,000. Walters will write and direct the film.

The film is being produced by J. Douglas Miller, who was the field producer for SUGAR, a Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize nominee, winner of the National Board of Review Top Independent Film Award and AFI Movie of the Year Award. He was also the field producer for "The Mississippi: River of Song," a five-part, Smithsonian multimedia series for the PBS Network and production director for six Aurelio De Laurentiis and Pupi Avati award winning films.

Walters said that in the film, viewers will experience the newness of the emerging modern world through the eyes of a young woman arriving at a dance –meeting young musicians, artists, dancers, bootleggers, flappers and suffragettes. The film will be supported by interactive media and a touring art exhibition that will feature building-sized exterior and gallery projections.

Interactive media will provide an historic background to the film, emphasizing that the cultural, social and technological innovations and pace of changes of the era continue to shape our world.

Walters added that the story is directed towards a contemporary young audience, encouraging them to embrace the challenges of the present, which are remarkably parallel to the rapid changes experienced by similar young people at the dawn of the modern age.

Walters has initiated arrangements for the film's premiere and distribution through Western Illinois University's PBS station in the Quad Cities, WQPT; created a non-profit association, Innovative Arts and directed a teaser with more than 30 crew members, actors and musicians.

The production's website is available at thespiritoftheage.com. The link to the fundraising campign can be found at indiegogo.com/projects/the-spirit-of-the-age.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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