Project 1320 Documentary Project Plan:
The Quarter Mile Foundation is working with Synthetic Human Pictures and Krzystek Productions, LLC, to create a twenty-five episode documentary about drag racing its birth, growth and how the supporting performance automotive aftermarket industry built up around it. It will cover the people, the vehicles, the races, the technology and the entrepreneurs that made up drag racing from the post-war 1940s through the dawn of computerization in the late 1980s.
Episodes will cover each decade of drag race history from the late 1940s and 1950s to the end of the 1980s. It will include key figures in drag racing history, aftermarket innovations that made their way into mainstream automotive technology, the influence of corporate sponsorship, major racetracks and their owners, and the birth and growth of the sanctioning bodies that govern drag racing.
More than just a historical archive, the documentary will bring the daring, genius and excitement of drag racing to a new audience, and a new generation of racing fans. It will be composed of both first-person interviews with drag race and performance aftermarket greats and archival footage that brings the sport to life.
Because the Quarter Mile Foundation members are intimately acquainted with drag racing, they are uniquely positioned to portray an insider's view of the sport. The documentary crew has access to the big names in drag racing.
Interviews have already been filmed with legends including Carroll Shelby, Louie Senter, Joe Amato, Linda Vaughn, Dave McClelland, Jon Lundberg, Bill "Speedy" Smith, and Ed Iskendarian, Alex Xydias, Joe Mondello, Tom "TC" Lemmons, Ray Godman and many others.
To illustrate the stories and lives of the pioneers, PROJECT 1320 has been granted access to the archives of the Wally Parks-NHRA Museum, Peterson Automotive Museum, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (the trade association of performance aftermarket manufacturers), plus numerous individuals and estates. These organizations and individuals hold vast quantities of unreleased never-before-seen footage that in 8 mm, Super 8 mm, 16 mm and 35mm formats. This footage will be digitized for inclusion in the PROJECT 1320 documentary.
The pilot episode of the twenty-five episode series will be a feature-length documentary showing the highlights and shining stars of drag race history. The documentary is designed to appeal to both drag racing enthusiasts and newcomers.
The first cut of the documentary, a 2 hour pilot, will be submitted to film festivals. Festivals slated for submission include:
Sundance Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
Phoenix Film Festival
AFM Film Market
Toronto International Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
New York International Film and Video Festival.
After the post production of the documentary has been completed, it will be divided into twenty-five specialized segments that will be expanded to approximately one hour each, forming an episodic and extremely detailed history of drag racing that will also be available in a DVD box set available to the public.
The documentary website, www.Project1320.com, is attracting audiences and supporters to the project. Throughout the filming process the crew has been using small flip cameras to create behind-the-scenes footage and talk about their experiences creating Project 1320. Once the documentary is made public, a special making-of video will be uploaded for members wishing to learn more about the process.
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