A moving and inspirational success tale that just happens to be about sports, “Rise and Shine: The Jay Demerit Story”, winner of the Rising Star Award at the Canada International Film Festival premieres in Santa Barbara on Thursday at the Lobero Theater.
Rise and Shine won the Rising Star Award at the Canada International Film Festival and will be playing in Santa Barbara on Thursday.
Showtime is at 7 p.m. and tickets can be purchased from the Lobero Box Office by calling (805) 963-0761. All proceeds will support our local Santa Barbara Soccer Club.
“Rise and Shine” traces Jay DeMerit’s heart-tugging journey from failed tryouts with Major League Soccer through early frustrations in English football’s lowest divisions to captaining England’s Watford FC and joining Team USA at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Told through interviews with DeMerit’s coaches, fellow players, family and friends, “Rise & Shine” features game footage from around the world and includes cameos by soccer greats Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba and Landon Donovan. DeMerit – who scored the “£40 million goal” that helped promote Watford into the lucrative Premier League – hopes to encourage aspiring athletes and others.
Santa Barbara Soccer Club has arranged for the Santa Barbara premier of the 92 minute film as a fund raiser for its programs dedicated to the development, both on and off the field, of our community’s youth soccer players.
“Providing a top-notch year around training environment for over 500 young players, 30 percent of them receiving some form of scholarship or financial assistance, requires hundreds of volunteers and a lot of fund raising,” stated Billy Gallagher, Executive Director of Santa Barbara Soccer Club. “This film is a great chance to raise needed funds by bringing our community together for a truly inspirational story of perseverance and determination that serves as a positive example for all of us.”
Following the screening, a question and answer session will be hosted by Billy Gallagher and UCSB Soccer Head Coach Tim Vom Steeg, featuring Film Director and Producer Nick Lewis along with several UCSB Gauchos alumni that figured prominently in this year’s MLS draft.
ABOUT SANTA BARBARA SOCCER CLUB
Santa Barbara Soccer Club is committed to developing every player within the organization to be the best they can be. Through instilling a passion for excellence in the person and creating environments that nurture development of the game in the player, Santa Barbara SC aims to promote as many of its players as possible onto Collegiate level soccer and beyond.
For more information visit www.santabarbarasc.org.
ABOUT “RISE AND SHINE”
“RISE AND SHINE” was co-directed by filmmakers Ranko Tutulugdzija and Nick Lewis of Truth2Life Productions. The sports documentary has a unique fund raising story as Tutlugdzia and Lewis financed much of it through the grassroots crowd-sourcing organization Kickstarter – an online fundraiser for musicians, artists, filmmakers and others to fund projects via donations and participation from the public.
“RISE AND SHINE” exceeded a $215,000 goal by almost $10,000 as the top Kickstarter campaign ever for an indie film.
“The response has been amazing,” says DeMerit, who today captains MLS’ Vancouver Whitecaps. “The all-ins are mind-blowing. We have a kid down in Texas named Evan who’s battling cancer for the third time, he’s had open-heart surgery, and all he wants to do is be a soccer player. He’s raised $1,500 going door-to-door, running screenings. It keeps his mind off his sickness.”
Contributions came mostly from soccer fans and the public at large, but also from athletes and celebrities such as U.S. National Team member Stuart Holden, Rivers Cuomo of the band Weezer and Seth Meyers of “Saturday Night Live.”
“To have people reach out and volunteer their time and creativity has been something we didn’t expect,” said Director Nick Lewis. “It really is a testament to Jay’s story. This film is not just for those who love soccer but for anyone who has a dream.”
