Ballard filmmaker ‘kickstarts’ fundraiser to complete film about salmon

Two local filmmakers are working to finish a film about the threats to wild salmon runs, and they’re asking for help with fundraising through Kickstarter. The film is called “The Breach,” and it explores threats to wild salmon and ways people are trying to save them.

Filmmakers Mark Titus and Ballardite Susan LaSalle are asking for $2,975 $40,000 and they have 21 days to go. If they don’t reach their goal, they won’t receive any dollars so far pledged. The film looks at salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest and Canada, and explores how salmon are integral to the people and culture of the area.

“Wild salmon aren’t just a beloved icon to us here in the Pacific Northwest,” Titus says in a press release. “They are a critical, fully sustainable food source for the planet. Getting involved in a democratic process like Kickstarter, where anyone can directly contribute to the creation of this documentary seemed in the exact right spirit to get this film off the ground.”

In the documentary, prominent figures like chef and restauranter Tom Douglas; first head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bill Ruckelshaus; and actor and river activist Tom Skerrit shine light on “four stories of hope pitted against two stories of potential disaster to the last great wild salmon runs in the world. The account of the recent breaching of dams on the Elwha River is the crown jewel of hopeful stories for wild salmon,” according to the release.

Titus and LaSalle hope to see the film ready for film festivals in 2013.

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