For the past six years, many of Vermont’s finest filmmakers have put aside their personal cinematic endeavors to collaborate on "Freedom and Unity: The Vermont Movie". Due to premiere in the spring of 2013, this multi-part documentary series explores a variety of themes, ranging from Vermont’s tradition of grassroots democracy and groundbreaking environmental laws, to the enduring presence of its Abenaki population. With the end in sight, the filmmaking team kicked off their final fundraising campaign on Oct. 30th to offset the high costs of post-production.

Spearheaded by Norwich filmmaker Nora Jacobson, the project uses Vermont’s state motto as its title, and also as a reflection of the filmmakers’ working process. "We all chose which story we wanted to tell, and how to tell it. And now it’s all coming together into one film" said Jacobson. For the past three years, she has been weaving together the individual contributions of Vermont filmmakers including: Jay Craven, Dorothy Tod, Andy Reichsman, Louise Michaels, Alan Dater, Bill Stetson, Rob Koier, Sam Mayfield and Robin Lloyd into what is expected to be a groundbreaking and unparalleled documentary experience.

With the goal of raising $55,000, "The Vermont Movie" collaborative has teamed up with USA Projects, a micro-philanthropy site dedicated exclusively to accomplished artists, for a six-week crowd-funding campaign. Similar to the popular Internet fundraising platform Kickstarter, USA Projects provides a secure website for donations to the project in exchange for "perks," such as: tickets to the gala premiere of the film, custom designed t-shirts, signed DVD box sets and more. In addition, USA Projects provides "matching funds" to encourage the donor community to reach the fundraising goal. The kicker? If $55,000 is not reached, "The Vermont Movie" crew won’t collect a dime of their pledges.

"The Vermont Movie’s" Board of Advisors includes historians Howard Coffin, Michael Sherman, Cindy Bittinger, Dona Brown, Paul Searls, Kevin Dann, and Lyn Blackwell, former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin, author Greg Guma and political scientist Frank Bryan.

For more information about the campaign and to donate to "The Vermont Movie" project, visit www.usaprojects.org/project/freedom_unity_the_vermont_movie.