Free expression film fund needs strong finish

The online campaign funding a Sacramento documentary exploring the 1969 strip club indecency case that took the jury to the club is approaching 70 percent funded with 9 days remaining.

Using the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, Fletcher and his team are trying to raise $10,000 by March 22. Through March 15, the month-long campaign was at 68 percent of goal.

The feature-length documentary will use the colorful 1969 trial over “bottomless” dancing at Orangevale’s Pink Pussy Kat to help to tell a broader story about the limits of free expression then and now.

The impactful Sacramento trial went national when Judge Earl Warren Jr. decided to take the jury to the club see the dancers “do the dance.” The case helped write the rules for exotic dance in California.

Sacramento journalist and filmmaker Ed Fletcher said he was confident the team will hit the goal.
“There is so much Sacramento love for a deeply local story. We will get there,” said Fletcher.
The reaction to the campaign has been mostly positive, Fletcher said.

“Some people don’t want to talk about it or maybe they think it’s anti-women. To me, it’s just history,” Fletcher said. “This happened and we want to tell the story. I’m not pro-strip club or anti-strip club. I’m a journalist. But at the same time you can’t be afraid to show a little leg in marking if you’re making a project about free expression.”

Directing the project is DQ Hayes, an emerging filmmaker and former musician from the band Shakedown.

“There is love for this project from all over. We get people hitting up our page from UK, Spain, Sweden. Free expression and women’s empowerment is universal,” said Hayes.