Photo courtesy of Creative Commons.
By Rebeca Piccardo/News Director
A University student is hoping to raise $1,465 in the next three days to film his journey by rail in a documentary titled, “The American Train.”
Demetrius Villa, sophomore international business major, has been riding trains back and forth between New York City and Miami for years instead of flying due to his younger brother’s autism.
“All in all it takes about 31 hours to get from [Miami] to New York,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Villa became interested in the advancements in train speed and technology outside of the United States and hopes to highlight what can improve in the train system back home.
He founded a club, the High Speed Rail America Club. They are working on raising funds to create a documentary about the current status of the American train system and to advocate for bullet-speed trains.
“We are focusing on bringing up privatized high-speed rail system,” he said.
To meet their goal, Villa and the HSRAC set up a kickstarter page online at the end of March. In the page, Villa set the fundraising goal at $2,700, which includes the kickstarter fees, cost of equipments, production and promotion.
At the week mark, on Saturday, April 26, Villa had $555 pledged, but since then has gone up to $1,235.
The website, which breaks down the number of pledges per amount, shows that of the total 21 pledges so far, four offered $5 or more, two offered $10 or more, five offered $25 or more, four offered $50 or more, three offered $100 or more and one offered $500 or more.
Although parts of the documentary will be filmed around Miami Dade, Villa’s fundraising deadline was set so that they would have proper video equipment in time to document the journey by train from Miami to New York.
If Villa does not reach $2,700 by May 3 at 2:30 p.m., he won’t see a cent of the money pledged.
It’s an “all or nothing” gamble, he said.
Last year, Villa was going to present his ideas at TEDx FIU, when he was cut from the program just before the conference due to a surplus of speakers.
“They thought I was a little bit too young,” he said. “But the dream keeps going on.”
If they don’t meet their funding goal, HSRAC plans to continue raising awareness with the support of the Honors College in upcoming semesters. Villa has also applied for the next TEDx event.
“People, passion and patriotism are what moves us forward,” Villa said. “It’s about bringing all of us as a community together.”
-news@fiusm.com
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