About three months ago, I got an email from Rachel Cook, an alumnus from my alma mater, Duke University, who graduated with me in 2006.  A mutual acquaintance had read my blog and suggested she reach out to me to get my thoughts on microfinance.  She was flying to Paraguay to put together a pilot for a documentary.  Now, that pilot is complete and she needs our help.

I always thought it strange that a documentary had not been made about microfinance.  It is basically one giant human interest story.  It can be heart-breaking and uplifting, optimistic in a world of difficult realities.  The home turf of microfinance is the exotic third world – a slum in Mumbai, a village in Kenya, the plateaus of Bolivia and the mountains of Central Asia.  So it makes me happy that one of my own has taken on the mantle of filmmaker and decided to make my dream a reality.

I ask that my deep-pocketed, philanthropic-minded readers (and my poor and miserly ones) to show your love and help them out:

[W]e’ve launched our project, put together a crew – including Director of Photography Steve Hiller, who has worked on more than 50 studio Hollywood films, and Composer Matty Bernstein, who has produced for the Grammy-nominated Shiny Toy Guns – and we filmed in Paraguay, shooting some of the footage you see above. We saw microloans in action, and the ways in which they can transform lives. And we want to learn more.

We’ve funded this project so far through the generous contributions of friends and family who donated through our letter-writing campaigns, through our first Kickstarter Fundraising Drive back in February – which helped us put together the 22-minute demo we’re currently screening – and by dipping into our personal savings accounts. I’ve paid for about 1/3 of the cost of the project to date myself, but we need your help to keep going!

Go to her Kickstarter page here to donate!