Women's Empowerment Through the Arts Documented by Award-Winning Filmmaker Sophia Kruz

Detroit, MI, January 21, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Sophia Kruz Productions has until March 10, 2014 to raise $30,000 through the crowd-funding site IndieGoGo to support development of an original documentary entitled Creating4Change. The film will profile women from India, Brazil, Senegal, and Detroit, MI who are using music, dance, graffiti art, and fashion design to create positive change for the women in their communities. Sophia Kruz Productions has partnered with PBS affiliate Detroit Public Television (WTVS), which will serve as the program presenting station.

From a graffiti artist in the favelas of Brazil raising awareness about domestic violence, to a choreographer in India using dance to rehabilitate victims of human trafficking, to a jewelry company in Detroit, MI employing homeless women to create wearable works of art, Creating4Change will profile women around the world who have found innovative ways to use their art to empower the women in their communities. The film will feature artists who are working with leaders in government, philanthropy, technology, public health and education to create positive change. Creating4Change has been designed to raise awareness about women’s rights in the U.S. and abroad, and to celebrate creative, entrepreneurial, and arts-therapy based solutions to the most pressing challenges facing women globally.

$300,000 is required to complete Creating4Change and to implement a robust outreach and education campaign. The film’s director, Sophia Kruz, an Ann Arbor native and University of Michigan alum, is raising $30,000 in development funds through IndieGoGo to support the production of one segment of the documentary. This segment will be used to raise the remaining funds from donors and grant-making organizations. Funds raised over the $30,000 crowd-funding goal, will be put towards the full production budget. Creating4Change is also accepting frequent flier mileage donations, to help offset international travel costs.

One out of three women will experience violence in her lifetime, and two thirds of adults living in poverty, internationally, are women. However, as Creating4Change director Sophia Kruz explains,

“There are clearly many challenges facing women and girls around the world, and locally here in Detroit. But I didn’t want to make a film about problems. I wanted to make a film about creative solutions. I’m inspired by individuals around the world who are working hard, everyday, to create real - and lasting - solutions to the biggest challenges facing the women in their communities. Creating4Change will celebrate these creative problem solvers, and shine a spotlight on the role art can play in international development. My hope is that this film will inspire viewers to think creatively to find solutions to the problems in their own community.”

Creating4Change is offering some great rewards for contributors to the IndieGoGo crowd-funding campaign. Rewards include: autographed movie posters and DVDs; links to view the film before broadcast; personal video messages from Creating4Change featured artists, recorded on location; a private dinner party for 10 guests, hosted by Creating4Change director Sophia Kruz; funders’ name listed in the film broadcast credits.

Support the Creating4Change Crowd-Funding Campaign

Campaign end: March 10, 2014

To make a donation to the IndieGoGo campaign visit:
http://igg.me/at/creating4change

For more information on the Creating4Change documentary visit: www.sophiakruzproductions.com/creating4change

Sophia Kruz is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, and graduate of the University of Michigan. Her work has screened at film festivals, museums, libraries, community centers, and health-care facilities across the country, as well as broadcast on PBS. She received a BA from the University of Michigan in Screen Arts & Cultures, and currently works in the National Documentary Unit at Detroit Public Television, a group producing films for national PBS broadcast.

In her previous position as the Producer & Editor at the University of Michigan's internationally renowned University Musical Society (UMS), Kruz produced and directed the documentary A Space for Music, A Seat for Everyone: 100 Years of UMS Performances in Hill Auditorium (2013), which was broadcast on all Michigan PBS affiliate stations, and throughout much of Canada. The film has since been awarded “Best Documentary” at the Made in Michigan Film Festival and in the Lake Michigan Film Competition. It was also nominated for “Best Michigan Feature Film” at the Uptown Film Festival this fall.

Kruz’s 2011 documentary, Time Dances On, was awarded “Best Documentary Feature” at the Made In Michigan Festival and “Best Editing-Short” at the 2012 Michigan Film Awards. It was also nominated for “Best Gay/Lesbian Film” at the Great Lakes International Film Festival and “Best Director-Short” and “Best Documentary-Short” at the 2012 Michigan Film Awards.

Detroit Public Television (DPTV) is the non-commercial, viewer-supported PBS-member station watched by more than 1.5 million people in Detroit and Southeast Michigan and another 1.2 million people throughout Canada. In partnership with its community, DPTV leads on program initiatives in the categories of health and the environment, public affairs, arts and culture and children. A leading national producer and distributor of PBS programs and winner of the 2012 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award, Detroit Public TV is the only dual PBS licensee/entertainment label in the country, operating as DPTV Media.