Moral support only for P.E.I. filmmaker

A P.E.I. documentary maker is having a hard time raising the money she needs to make her film, in part because there are no government programs for filmmakers in the province.

That makes the Island a tough place to make movies, said Susan Rodgers.

Rodgers recently went to Summerside city council, looking for help for her latest project The Healing Place, a film that links a memorial for lost children on P.E.I. to a village suffering from the impact of the tsunami in Japan.

"Summerside, at this point, doesn't have any funding at all and actually neither does Prince Edward Island for filmmakers," said Rodgers.

"It's a difficult place to make films. In terms of just moral support, the city's been fantastic. Unfortunately it's just not in the budget to come forward with any amount of funding to help us with the project."

A recent study of heritage and culture in Summerside recommends the city provide grants to local artists. Rodgers is hopeful the city follows through on that recommendation.

In the meantime, Rodgers has turned to the online fundraising tool Indiegogo to raise fund, but that has not been going well either. She has raised just $175 of her $10,000 goal.

For mobile device users: Should P.E.I. governments provide more support for filmmakers?