There is a long history of film-makers raising funds, through micro shares, to make movies.  Why not join (and maybe contribute to) this latest venture, alongside Murray Weston of the Bournemouth Screen and Media Academy, to see how or if it works?

Filmmaker Dan Edelstyn (of Optimistic Productions) and Producer Christo Hird (of Dartmouth Films) - well-known for producing END OF THE LINE with Claire Lewis - are raising money for their latest cinema documentary.

HOW TO ESTABLISH A VODKA EMPIRE is an in-production cinematic feature documentary film (through More 4's True Stories strand) which follows Dan Edelstyn as he attempts to re-establish the Vodka Empire of his great grandfather Ilya Zorokovich.

Since finding his grandmother Maroussia Zorokovich's vivid account of life and escape from Ukraine during the 1917 Revolution, Director Dan Edelstyn has been obsessed by her riches to rags story of romance and exile.

Dan's mother, Maroussia Zorokovich, said:
"Father had always been an active dreamer and Douboviazowka was the work of his life.  When he inherited grandfather's seven thousand acres they did not yield anything but mortgages.  He transformed the sleepy stagnant place into a prosperous town.  Whenever I heard him pacing in his study whistling a favourite Verdi aria I knew he was planning again for the betterment of Douboviazowka."

In February 2008, using her lively and colourful manuscript as a guide, Dan went on a quest to discover his roots in the Ukraine and ended up at a spirits factory expropriated from his great grandfather during the Revolution and still open for business 100 years later.  Dan embarks on importing the spirit of his ancestors into the UK, and, following in their entrepreneurial footsteps, launches his own Vodka Empire with Zorokovich 1917. 

£50.00 affords membership of the Zorokovich Vodka Club which includes:
   (i) a bottle of premium Zorokovich 1917 delivered to your door,
   (ii) a sealed certificate and
   (iii) tickets to screenings and events (including the premiere). 
You will be credited as a Vodka Club member on the website (www.myvodkaempire.com) and in the film credits of the cinematic release (not the UK TV broadcast).