This 90-minute film traces Jessica's unexpected journey, telling her amazing personal story of perseverance.  The film follows her over the course of two years, as she faces new and significant challenges and embraces a new role as an activist.  She mentors children, works for the passage of a disability rights treaty in Washington, D.C., and visits Ethiopia and the Philippines to support disability rights. Jessica also faces changes in her personal life: she gets married to her former Taekwondo instructor Patrick, and takes care of her mother Inez who is stricken with cancer. 

Right Footed is an inspiring movie about the power of one person to change themselves, and make a difference in the world.

The film is being made on a non-profit basis through the International Documentary Association (IDA), a recognized 501(c)3 organization based in Los Angeles.  It is directed by Nick Spark, an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker and M.F.A. graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.

Jessica's story can inspire anyone who has ever faced a challenge, physical, emotional or otherwise. Her message that "disability is not inability" is especially important for families of children struggling with disability, and for young people who struggle with self-esteem issues or bullying. Beyond this, Jessica and the filmmakers hope that the movie will help create awareness and opportunity for those with disability, and help garner support for the passage of the CRPD, a major disability treaty currently under consideration by the U.S. Senate.

Watch the video below to see an incredible moment from the film that demonstrates Jessica's unique ability to make a difference.

Right Footed is directed by Nick Spark, an MFA graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. (LIke Jessica Cox, Nick also attended the University of Arizona as an undergraduate.) Nick met Jessica in 2011, and quickly realized her story could inspire people and change attitudes about disability. Nick previously won the L.A. area Emmy Award for The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, a documentary that is currently on public television.   Producer Mona Lisa Yuchengco is a documentary filmmaker and a Filipino-American community activist and publisher. 

Right Footed is fiscally sponsored by the Independent Documentary Association, a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization. It is also part of the non-profit Creative Visions Foundation's "Creative Activist Program". The film participated in the prestigious Film Independent Documentary Lab in early 2014, and recently selected to receive the 2014 Center for Asian American Media's (CAAM) Documentary Fund Award.   Jessica Cox is a Goodwill Ambassador for Nobel Prize winning NGO Handicap International, an impartial aid organization working in 59 countries. H.l. believes in Jessica's ability to inspire hope, courage and resilience in the people she meets, and has made a commitment to share the film when it’s released.

The documentary will eventually be on television in the USA and abroad.  A 90-minute version will be shown in film festivals and made available for private viewing, and both versions will be made available to schools for educational purposes. We'll make every effort to make the film accessible to viewers.

We recently applied to our first major film festival — and hope to see the film shown in many cities around the USA and abroad in 2015.

Right Footed is almost finished but — we need your help to take the last steps.  This project has been made on a non-profit basis, entirely through donations and in-kind gifts, over the course of three years. It's involved a lot of sacrifice, a lot of sweat and a few tears, but we can honestly say that it's all been worth it: the finished film will be extraordinary. It will inspire a lot of people and we believe, change the lives of many viewers. 

With Jessica the phrase "never give up" is a mantra, and throughout the making of this movie it's been our inspiration as well.  By donating to this film you will be joining hundreds of other people who believe in Jessica's message of self-empowerment and perseverance, and who support her campaign to see people with disabilities in the USA and abroad receive fair treatment and opportunity. 

When you donate and receive one of our posters — you're joining our team in another way. Put it on the wall in your work place, airplane hangar, school, or elsewhere. Make sure people see it!  Then you'll be helping raise awareness about Jessica and the film, and inspiring the people around you. 

Your contributions will make an immediate difference and allow us to finish Right Footed and be ready to show it in film festivals in early 2015.  We already have an 85-minute "fine cut" of the movie and we've tested it on audiences, and have received rave reviews. Thanks to some other funding sources and donations, we're close to being able to finish — but we still have a considerable shortfall estimated at $40K.  

Here's how we plan to spend this money:

$20K will be used to commission and record a score by composer Nathan Halpern.  Nathan is known for his haunting film scores to such films as HBOs' Peabody Award winning documentary Marina Abramovic and Robert Redford's All the President's Men Revisited. Nathan began watching rough cuts of the film-in-progress months ago, has done some preliminary work, and is ready to refine his ideas and create something amazing for us.

$10K will be used to pay for the sound design and mix.  Having shot in rough conditions — the shantytowns of eastern Ethiopia and in an area of the Philippines smashed by Typhoon Haiyan -- our sound tracks need a bit of smoothing. (In Harar, Ethiopia an interview with Jessica was repeatedly interrupted by motorcycle traffic, construction noise, a Muslim call to prayer, goats being herded, and church bells).  We're also looking forward to some creative flourishes being added to the film, through sound work.  

$2.5K will be spent on special effects and design graphics, including graphics already designed for the film by Carl Anderson. 

$2.5K will be spent on stock footage and stock music licensing, both of which we use here and there in the film to tell our story. Our stock footage budget would certainly have been higher but James Reynolds of Earthuncut.tv, donated footage of Typhoon Haiyan to our production.  Thanks James!

$5K of the money will be spent to on-line the film, including doing color correction and creating masters — the final stages of video production.  

Any money left over will be used to cover a myriad of expenses related to our release including film festival submission fees, legal costs, errors and omissions insurance, creating a new website, and so on. We'd be delighted if we exceeded our Indiegogo goal, because that would allow Jessica to attend various screenings, and help us further publicize the film.

By the way, if you have a special skill or you want to make an in-kind donation to the film (for example you are a web page designer), please contact us.

In early 2013 we made an appeal for funds on Indiegogo (see our campaign here) in order to send Jessica Cox and the documentary team to Ethiopia — a nation where those with disability are often stigmatized and marginalized. Over 400 people contributed and we made our goal. That made the trip possible and it was a resounding success, affecting a lot of lives and inspiring positive change. We're grateful to everyone who helped, and will be following up with the perks we promised as soon as we're able (in fact, we'll be sending out posters to prior donors in the near term). Yes — this documentary has taken us longer to finish than we expected.  But we're almost finished and — the completed film will be well worth the wait and something you can feel proud that you supported.

If you donated before, thanks. Please consider contributing again, and share the campaign with friends, relatives, colleagues and total strangers who you think might be interested.