This week, three Tucsonans kicked off a new Kickstarter campaign for a documentary to challenge and dispel stereotypes we tend to have of the homeless.

About the Project:

In this documentary we wish to dispel the typical stereotypes people have of the homeless. The homeless are homeless for a variety of reasons, just as they represent a variety of backgrounds and situations. 'That could have been me,' will be a major idea the viewer should get from watching Shelter. Life's hardships occur to everyone, but in many instances they manage to derail the lives of our most vulnerable. It doesn't take much, and we believe that many in our society do not realize how easy it is to find oneself homeless. 'Seven out of ten Americans are one paycheck from being homeless.' We believe that a large portion of American society has alienated and placed self-imposed-blame onto the homeless. We would like this film to be part of a process of replacing that alienation and blame with humaneness and connectivity.

The folks involved in the project:

Bobby Burns, Executive Producer — Author of SHELTER: One Man’s Journey from Homelessness to Hope. In the late 1990’s Bobby was a Navy Veteran and teacher when he found himself homeless in Tucson. Out of his experience came a book, and an inspirational book and shelter tour around the United States. Remarkably, the nine-city-tour was via Greyhound Bus! Bobby is now currently a Student Services Advanced Specialist at Pima Community College in Tucson.

Tina Huerta (SurealWorks), Producer / Editor — Tina has been an active award winning Tucson filmmaker since 2005. Not 2B Toyed With not only received multiple awards and viewings in 19 countries, but managed to be displayed as an exceptional example in an Arizona International Film Festival panel. Rita of the Sky, a documentary revealing the hardship endured by a 50-year-old woman speaking her native language as she journeyed over 1,000 miles to Kansas, only to be locked up in a mental institution for 10 years because no one recognized her speech, is an example of Tina’s artistry as a compositional editor.

Steev Hise (Liminal Communications) — Director - Steev is a filmmaker, activist, and artist based in Tucson. His work encompasses documentary, experimental narrative film, video collage, and multimedia. Previous documentary work includes a film about the murdered women of Ciudad Juárez (On The Edge); Wild Versus Wall, created with the Sierra Club, examining the environmental effect of the border wall, and Radical Resources, a look at a now-defunct anarchist community center in Tucson.