It’s a wonderful coincidence that the conclusion of our kickstarter campaign falls in tandem with the passing of the End Demand Act. We hope that the production of our film drives awareness to this very important issue.
Athens, OH (PRWEB) June 24, 2014
In the past, when startup projects wanted to raise capital they either needed to pull it in from within or reach out to a bank for a loan. Without the help of angel investors or venture capitalists it was nearly impossible to be able to gain a large enough investment to get off the ground, despite how good the business idea. Nowadays this format has changed with one simple term, crowdfunding. Crowdfunding allows individuals to be able to take the element of needing to know the right people out of the equation and allows friends, family and cause supporters to help dictate if the company sinks or swims.
Perk based crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo recently have grown in popularity, helping artists fund their projects, allowing makers to finance their prototypes and enabling inventors to experiment. Many crowdfunding projects also surround social causes offering supporters a chance to give back right from their living room. Most recently, New York Filmmaker, Pearl Gluck, is wrapping up her 30 day kickstarter campaign this Saturday, June 28th to raise capital to produce her feature film, “The Turn Out”. She currently has raised ~$13,000 of her $18,000 goal and is still looking for additional support. The film is about a trucker who tries to save the life of a girl who is being sex trafficked at a local truck stop in Ohio.
This film comes right in time with the recent Senate passing of the “End Demand Act”. This piece of legislation was committed to reducing the illicit “consumer” demand for sex trafficking along with other important provisions to combat this crime. Key provisions of the End Demand Act include increased penalties for the solicitation of minors; no longer requiring minors to prove force, fraud or coercion; applying Rape Shield laws to victims of human trafficking and increasing the statute of limitations.
“It’s a wonderful coincidence that the conclusion of our kickstarter campaign falls in tandem with the passing of the End Demand Act. We hope that the production of our film drives awareness to this very important issue and are excited to soon begin production because of all of our supporters,” says Gluck.
In The Turn Out, the main character is not the perpetrator, he did not kidnap the girl, nor is he trafficking her. He is not the victim either. Rather, it is the story of the bystander. He is a lonely truck driver, a less than heroic, everyday man, who comes to the excruciating realization that he is an active part of a sex trafficking ring when he unknowingly engages with an underage victim. The film examines the choices he makes once he is aware of the situation. The film also questions the role of those who are unwitting witnesses to the disturbing reoccurrence night after night. By the end of the film, the trucker is aware that he is, in fact, culpable and could play an essential role in prevention. He goes from being a bystander to being an upstander, a person who recognizes that something is wrong and does something about it.
To help support the production of “The Turn Out” and an end to human trafficking please donate to Gluck’s kickstarter campaign at http://kck.st/1nGNyRV. She has currently reached $13,316 of her $18,000 goal and pledges will be accepted thru 12pm EST, Saturday, June 28th.
About Pearl Gluck:
Pearl Gluck was awarded a 2000 Sundance Producer’s Lab fellowship and a 2001 Sundance Festival mentorship for her first documentary film. Her work has been broadcast on the Sundance Channel, PBS and abroad. Theatrically, her films have premiered at the Film Forum in New York and art houses around the country. Her films have played at international and local festivals such as Oberhausen, Cannes, Tribeca Film Festival, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the New York Video Festival at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Gluck gives special thanks to Rep. Teresa Fedor, Judge Paul Herbert, Rebecca Miller, Barbara Freeman, Vanessa Perkins, and the truckers who have been raising awareness and changing legislation.
For more information, please contact:
Pearl Gluck
pearl(at)palinkapictures(dot)com
646-247-7329