Maddie is engaged and closing on a house when a man from her past walks by, throwing her planned out life into question. From nearby porches, neighbours young and old witness Maddie’s quandary unfold and are in turn moved to act radically in pursuit of their own happiness. Maddie’s actions inspire her next door neighbours - an elderly Portuguese couple and a musical brother/sister duo - to follow their hearts’ desire, even if it means going against convention.

This project utilizes some of the shining stars of the arts community in Toronto, showcasing their talents in unconventional ways while also highlighting the city of Toronto and the stories that surround us.  

My name is Sarah Goodman and I’m an award-winning film director in Toronto (ARMY OF ONE, WHEN WE WERE BOYS, HIDDEN DRIVEWAY) and I’m the director of PORCH STORIES.

The Toronto film community is increasingly embracing a movement often referred to as 'humblecore' marked by directors working in scaled-down productions with non-actors and friends, and producing some of the more exciting films coming out of our city.  This influences my approach to casting by seeking out non-actors who are performers of other stripes or just interesting local personalities who seem born to play these roles.  

What everyone involved in this film has in common is a sense of pride in Toronto, a love for our arts community, and (of course) porches.

Cast

José Miguel Contreras is a musician, songwriter and music producer who started Toronto indie-band By Divine Right in 1989.  His collaborations with singer Lily Frost have been featured in 90210, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Grey’s Anatomy and more. By Divine Right’s album Mutant Message was nominated for a 2010 Polaris Prize and a Juno Award.

Laura Barrett has toured across North America opening    for the likes of The Hidden Cameras, Beirut and Final Fantasy, and successfully charmed audiences with her intriguing live performances. Laura's music made her one of Exclaim! Magazine's Artists to Watch in 2008, and her debut EP, Earth Sciences, was a finalist for SOCAN's inaugural ECHO Songwriting Prize.

+ more actors TBA

Production Team

Sarah Goodman (Director, Writer, Producer) won the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival Award for Best Canadian Feature for ARMY OF ONE, and was also nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Director. Goodmanʼs documentary feature, WHEN WE WERE BOYS was nominated for a Donald Brittain Award for Best Political/Social Documentary at the 2011 Gemini Awards, and her short drama HIDDEN DRIVEWAY premiered at TIFF in 2011. Goodman also writes and directs documentary TV for Discovery, History Television, BBC, and the W Network.

Sarah Galea-Davis (Producer) has produced documentaries for CBC television, including WHO’S SORRY NOW? which is nominated for a 2013 Canadian Screen Award. As a writer and director her credits include the short films MY ONE AND ONLY, BERLIN and CAN YOU WAVE BYE-BYE, which was nominated for a Genie for Best Short Film, and won the Bravo!Fact Best Canadian Short Film award at the World Wide Short Film Festival.

Avi Federgreen (Executive Producer) is the founder of Federgreen Entertainment Inc./Avi Ronn Productions Inc.  Federgreen’s current projects as Executive Producer include the first ever Canadian fully financed 3D feature titled DEAD BEFORE DAWN; the Vancouver based feature film RANDOM ACTS OF ROMANCE and MOON POINT. In November 2011, Federgreen opened his own film distribution company INDIECAN ENTERTAINMENT.

Kailee Clayton (Production Designer) 

Maya Bankovic (Director of Photography)

Brian Liu (Line Producer, Camera Assist, all around everything guy)

We know you love the arts community in Toronto as much as we do. You are probably aware that Arts funding in Toronto and across Canada is under siege, making innovative projects like this difficult to finance and retain control over.

We’ve pulled in some funds through private investments, but need to raise this amount to cover the rest of production. We have pending grant applications to the arts councils and Harold Greenburg as well, but these sources alone will not take us over the top to be able to make this film. We hope to draw on the spirit of community that runs through PORCH STORIES to help make this movie a reality. With your help we can build on the growing movement of excellent maverick micro-budget films in Toronto.

In order to create PORCH STORIES, we need to raise $7500.  This money will be used for:

Did you see the incredible perks we are offering?  We want to thank you for your support with offers that include an exclusive trend-setting "Ossington" or "Lansdowne" T-shirt featuring vintage TTC subway design art, to an original song created by leads Laura Barrett and Jose Miguel Contreras, a hand-crafted box set of PORCH STORIES (when the film is finished) all the way up to a completely unique psychogeographic walking tour with renowned author Shawn Micallef, a Little Portugal Porch Party or a one-on-one consultation about your film project. 

It is completely understandable that everybody might not be able to help financially, but any help goes a long way – even if it’s just a dollar or two. 

You can also help us by spreading the word!  Use the Indiegogo tools up above (just under our awesome video) to share with your social networks.  Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page, Twitter and Tumblr for more updates. 

Thank you so much for your support!  We really, truly can’t do this without you!