Business News Media

Sound It Out and Great Hip Hop Hoax director crowdfunding new film

By | Published on Tuesday 25 March 2014

Orion

Documentary maker Jeanie Finlay has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise money to finish her latest film, ‘Orion: The Man Who Would Be King’.

Findlay has previously directed documentaries including ‘Sound It Out’, about the last record shop in Teesside, and ‘The Great Hip Hop Hoax’, about hip hop act Silibil N Brains, who tricked the music industry into believing they were from LA, when in fact they were from Scotland. ‘Orion’, meanwhile, tells the story of Jimmy Ellis, who for a brief period in the late 70s donned a masked and let people think he was Elvis. Something, amazingly, a lot of people did.

Explaining further, Finlay said: “Ten years ago my husband and I bought this record at a car boot-sale. It’s on Sun Records, on gold vinyl. I played it and heard this unmistakable voice. I immediately wanted to find out more about the mysterious masked man on the cover. What I uncovered was a rollercoaster story of the Nashville music scene in the wake of Elvis Presley’s death. Orion’s mask and his incredible voice ignited a fantasy and hundreds of thousands of people believed that Elvis might be alive. It’s an extraordinary story and I knew immediately I wanted to make it into a film”.

She continued: “I’ve worked for almost five years meeting and interviewing everyone who was close to Jimmy ‘Orion’ Ellis to tell his story and now I’m ready to finish the film. It’s an extraordinary story and every dollar, pound or euro pledged helps us get nearer to the finish line”.

The Indiegogo campaign is aiming to raise $50,000 to finish the film. Read more and put in some money here, and watch a trailer here:

READ MORE ABOUT: | | | |