Crowd-funding helps to explore the spiritual journey of Ireland

Patrick Comerford

I have been invited to take part in an exciting new project exploring the spiritual history of Ireland and visiting the historic sites associated with Ireland’s spiritual past.

David Patton, who describes himself as a ‘passionate explorer of life, culture and Faith,’ has turned to crowd-funding as he plans a full-length video documentary that takes viewers around Ireland, visiting the sites that connect people in Ireland to a shared spiritual past.

David has been developing the concepts for this new documentary since 2002, when he first started investigating Ireland’s rich spiritual heritage. Since then, he has had a dream of researching the pivotal stories in the Irish spiritual journey and looking at their impact on our present and future.

He says: ‘The topic gripped me and has stayed with me and in the name of carpe diem, and recognising the need to drive forward to reach our potential and fulfil our dreams, I am taking life by the horns and stepping out to make this dream a reality.’

David describes himself as ‘a local church leader, passionate communicator and student of faith.’ As he begins to put together this new documentary, his team is planning a filming project that takes him to heritage sites across Ireland.

Already, he has commitments from people who have agreed to contribute to the documentary and to be interviewed for the project. They include Nick Park, executive director of the Evangelical Alliance Ireland and Dr John Scally, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Trinity College Dublin, as well as me as a priest, writer and theologian.

He is now crowd-funding as he searches for financial support to make this documentary, with a target of raising €18,000. He says over 50% of the funds will be spent directly on the filming, production and post production. In addition, 30% of the budget will be spend on research, content creation and the writing of the script that will form the basis of the documentary. The remaining 20% will be used to make physical copies of the documentary as well as PR and advertising to get the film into as many hands as possible.

Once funded, the team plans to film the documentary in the spring and summer months next year, and to have the documentary finished by November 2018, giving backers a chance to receive their DVDs in time for Christmas. ‘We think the finished product will make a great Christmas gift for friends and family,’ he says.

For €8, funders are promised a personal thank you as well as a download link to watch and save the documentary on any device. For €12, they will receive a DVD of the documentary once it is released.

For €50, funders will be sent five copies of the DVD in time for Christmas 2018 to share with friends and family.

For €200, a donor and a guest will be invited for a first screening event ahead of the release, followed by an after-party, as well as a DVD copy of the documentary. For €500, donors will have their name or company name featured in the credits of the documentary as a special thank you.

For €700, the name or company name of subscribers will be featured in the credits of the documentary as a special thank, and receive two tickets to the first screening and after-party.

For €2,500, there is an opportunity to join the team on set during the filming of the documentary, along with all the other offers.

More details about how to join funding the project are available through this link.