In a previous post we told you about our latest co-production, a one-hour documentary with the working title “Why Young People Don’t Vote”. The young filmmaking duo of Kyle McCachen and Dylan Playfair have travelled to new locations since our last update, collecting more stories and footage for the film.
(Update: The film is now called The Drop: Why Young People Don’t Vote. Click HERE for more information about its release and screenings)
Kyle is the director/producer of the documentary and Dylan is an executive producer who also appears on-camera as the primary interviewer.
Dylan Playfair is currently starring in the comedy series “Some Assembly Required” on YTV.
This past October, Dylan and Kyle were in Toronto following the heated mayoral campaigns of the leading candidates: John Tory, Olivia Chow and Doug Ford (who replaced brother Rob Ford on the ballot), as well as young candidate 19-year old Morgan Baskin.
After the municipal election was decided, they travelled to Ferguson, Missouri to interview residents affected by the shooting of 18-year old Michael Brown who was unarmed when he was shot dead by a police officer. They interviewed some incredible people including Edward Crawford who was the subject of this extraordinary photograph:
Edward Crawford at the Ferguson riots (Photo by Robert Cohen for the St. Louis Dispatch)
From Ferguson, the crew travelled to Raleigh, North Carolina to observe the state on midterm election day. Hot topics in N.C. were voter ID laws and voter fraud and they wanted to see how those issues impacted young people. Plus North Carolina now holds the dubious record of the state with the highest spending (over 110 million!) in a Senate race election in American history.
From left to right, executive producers Dylan Playfair and Ian Waddell
Dylan and Kyle are joined by a third collaborator who helped formulate the basis of the film — Ian Waddell — a former storefront lawyer and politician at the federal and provincial level. Ian met Kyle McCachen six years ago and the two became fast friends thanks to their shared interest in film. Ian wants to see this film be used as an educational tool to get a new generation involved in the political system.
As for us, the Kensington team is helping the production move along with key support in producing, story editing, film editing, marketing, social media and business administration. This coproduction has received partial funding from the Rogers Documentary Fund and the Canadian Media Fund and will be broadcast by TVO and CPAC.
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