Kickstarter Campaign to Produce Missy Franklin Touch the Wall Movie


PHOENIX, Arizona, February 28. MISSY Franklin became a household name after she won five Olympic medals at the London Games, but before the endearing teenager danced her way onto the small screen (to the tune of Call Me Maybe), she was another talented 14-year-old that dreamed of making the US Olympic Team.

Enter Christo Brock and Grant Barbeito. The pair of independent filmmakers noticed Franklin's talent, and began filming her training sessions at the Colorado Stars under coach Todd Schmitz and alongside two-time Olympic Kara Lynn Joyce. After years of filming, and 400 hours of footage, Brock and Barbeito edited their film down to a 90 minute film titled Touch the Wall. They hope to present it to the public in the summer of 2013.

“To my knowledge there has never been a major film about swimming. Also to my knowledge there hasn't been a film in recent history that caught an athletic superstar before she was a superstar,” Brock told Swimming World. “Given the unpredictability of stardom, it's often a crapshoot. Armed with some knowledgeable people's opinions, we've had the great fortune to watch Missy become a world wide celebrity.”

“[Brock and Barbeito] have been with Missy everywhere….at Home, school, local meets, Grand Prixs, Nationals, Trials, and London,” Franklin's mom, DA, told Swimming world. “Perhaps more importantly, they have also been with her at home, at school, with friends, at HS practices and with Stars. They even went to Florida last year for the Stars training camp.”

“To be honest, they've been around so much that ALL our guards often came down. They have over 400 hours of filming with honest candid moments. They filmed Kara with Missy, Todd, at home, with family, and later with Dave Marsh. It will be interesting to see what footage they actually use in the film.”

Since Brock and Barbeito are independent filmmakers (and want to keep it that way), they need support from the swimming community to help fund Touch The Wall. They started a Kickstarter campaign and have so far raised over $11k, with a goal to reach $110k. Click here to view the fundraiser's page.

Check out Touch the Wall's Kickstart campaign video below:

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