Vagrant Hearts | Documentary Film Circuit Funding

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Independent documentary in production

VAGRANTHEARTS

Three artists. Five years. The walls of Taos. Help finish their story and carry it to audiences across the country.

The Film

Five years of filming.
Now it needs to reach people.

Vagrant Hearts is a feature-length documentary about three muralists and street artists living and working in Taos, where art is not decoration. It is identity, survival, recovery, and a public record written directly onto the walls.

Official trailerYouTube

Current Status

In Production.
Toward Completion.

Vagrant Hearts is still being built. This funding supports finishing the film alongside packaging it for the road: festival submission, distribution outreach, and the circuit that carries it to audiences once it is ready.

  • Continued editing and post-production
  • Festival submission and strategy
  • Distribution outreach and licensing
  • DCP, captions, subtitles, and delivery quality control
  • Marketing and audience development
  • Independent mobile activations in target festival cities
3Featured artists
5Years of filming
1Feature documentary in production
TaosThe place at its center

The Human Story

Three artists.
One town that shaped them all.

The funding case begins with the people in the film. The circuit exists to carry their work, their contradictions, and the reality of making art at the margins into rooms where these stories are rarely seen.

Featured Vagrant Hearts artwork
01

Scripture

Muralist and mixed-media artist balancing family, business, recovery, and a long-term creative vision.

Featured Vagrant Hearts mural setting
02

Auras Uno

Street and spray-paint artist working through personal growth while redefining purpose and the meaning of his past.

Featured Vagrant Hearts public artwork
03

Jisk27

Public-art and installation artist bringing entrepreneurial focus to a clear and determined creative path.

The film opens with the three artists making a mural together. Geoffery Davis follows them through five years of creation, disruption, recovery, the opening and closing of Vagrant Heart, and the community that formed around it.

Years later, the artists return to one wall and create together again. The visual circle closes, but the people have changed. The distance between those murals is the film.

Vagrant Hearts is deliberately intimate and unpolished. Its point of view comes from inside the story, not from a production team arriving after the fact. The aesthetic reflects Geoffery Davis's belief that filmmaking belongs to people with something urgent to say.

Recovery through art is not presented as an abstract theme. It is visible in the choices, relationships, setbacks, and work that the camera stayed long enough to witness.

The second-most intimate film I have ever seen, and an important look into the life of an artist.
Ron GarciaEmmy Award-winning cinematographer and ASC Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

Music with history

The original soundtrack is by Ash Riser. His music carries five years of footage with a raw, textural sound rooted in the landscape and emotional pressure of the story.

Ash Riser contributed the music with permission because he understood the film's message about art as a vehicle for recovery. His death in 2021 gives that contribution additional weight.

Industry support: Tracy Reiner has served as a mentor and advocate through filming and post-production.

Proof of Activation

The circuit model started in Taos.

Before the vehicle and before the full budget, the team tested the format during the Taos Film Festival: daytime viewing, nighttime projection, live artist participation, community art, merchandise, direct outreach, and earned local media.

2

Days in the plaza

A live activation positioned between festival venues and public foot traffic.

1

KNCE interview

Local earned media before the activation opened.

Day + Night

Two screening modes

Daytime film loop followed by full-scale nighttime wall projection.

Live

Artist participation

Scripture, art sales, conversations, photography, and a community canvas.

The Taos activation demonstrated the operating format. Attendance, conversion, sales, and media metrics should be documented at future stops so sponsors receive a measurable post-activation report.

Distribution Strategy

Submit broadly.
Activate where audiences gather.

The circuit combines formal festival submissions with permitted, independent street-level activations. Each city becomes a screening opportunity, a press opportunity, an artist platform, and a direct audience-development channel.

Target market

Austin

Festival submission, screening outreach, and an independent activation when permitting and scheduling support it.

Target market

New York

DOC NYC submission window and documentary-industry audience development.

Regional anchor

Denver

A high-priority regional market with direct relevance to Taos arts supporters and circuit logistics.

Target market

Los Angeles

AFI Fest submission window, industry outreach, and partner development.

Flagship activation

Boulder

Independent Vagrant Hearts presence during the 2027 Sundance Film Festival dates, January 21 to 31, 2027.

Target festivals and cities are planning priorities, not confirmed selections. Festival submission and an independent activation are separate activities. Vagrant Hearts does not represent official Sundance Institute selection, sponsorship, or affiliation unless confirmed in writing.

The Operating Platform

The vehicle is not the mission.
It makes the mission mobile.

A used Mercedes Sprinter wrapped in original Scripture artwork combines transport, storage, screening capability, visibility, merchandise display, and a recognizable project identity in one asset.

Proposed Vagrant Hearts mobile screening vehicle

A gallery, screening room, and logistics base

The vehicle creates a consistent physical presence in every market while reducing dependence on temporary rental infrastructure. It remains a usable project asset after the initial circuit.

  • Full exterior wrap using original Scripture artwork
  • Storage for screening gear, prints, merchandise, and activation materials
  • Projection and portable audio capability
  • Awning and display system for permitted vendor setups
  • Mobile community canvas and participatory art program
  • Post-circuit use for screenings, exhibitions, outreach, and Taos events
  • Pre-purchase inspection, insurance, and roadside assistance included in operating controls

Funding Deployment

Still in production.
A defined $150,000 deployment plan.

The budget is structured around three operating phases. Vagrant Hearts is still being made. The delivery line supports exhibition and distribution requirements, including DCP creation, captions, subtitles, mastering, and quality control, once the film is finished.

Phase 1
$58,500

Build the mobile platform

Vehicle acquisition, original artwork wrap, and distribution-ready delivery assets.

Phase 2
$20,500

Access and activate

Festival submissions, AV gear, permits, merchandise, prints, and activation materials.

Phase 3
$46,000

Operate the circuit

Travel, fuel, lodging, twelve months of direction and operations, plus contingency.

Vagrant Hearts circuit funding budget
Deployment Purpose Amount
Mobile Gallery Vehicle Used Mercedes Sprinter with cargo configuration. Retained for future screenings and project use. $47,000
Scripture Artwork and Wrap Original vehicle artwork, production, surface preparation, and professional installation. $7,000
Distribution Deliverables DCP, captions, subtitles, mastering, delivery quality control, and exhibition-ready files. $4,500
Festival Submissions Domestic and international submission fees across a broad target list. $5,000
Mobile Screening Gear Portable projector, screen, audio system, power support, and retained AV equipment. $7,000
Permits and Vendor Licensing City permits, vendor access, and operating compliance for independent activations. $2,500
Travel, Fuel, and Lodging Route costs, overnight stops, targeted market lodging, and vehicle travel expenses. $20,000
Director and Circuit Operations Geoffery Davis: twelve months of route management, activations, outreach, and project operations. $22,000
Merchandise and Print Materials Posters, apparel, stickers, Scripture prints, signage, and activation collateral. $6,000
Contingency Vehicle maintenance, permitting changes, schedule adjustments, and operating incidentals. $4,000
Total $125,000
$2,500

Open city access

Underwrite the permit and vendor-licensing allocation that allows the project to operate legally in target markets.

Fund this outcome
$4,500

Make the film delivery-ready

Fund the DCP, captions, subtitles, mastering, and delivery quality control required by festivals and distributors.

Fund this outcome
$7,000

Build the screening system

Provide the portable projector, screen, audio system, and retained equipment used across the route.

Fund this outcome
$47,000

Secure the mobile gallery

Fund the vehicle that carries the film, art, equipment, merchandise, and activation platform from city to city.

Fund this outcome

Sponsorship Opportunities

Support at the level that fits the partnership.

These levels are designed for the circuit initiative. Final recognition, credit language, deliverables, and use of names or logos are confirmed in a written agreement before funds are accepted.

Entry support

Community Supporter

$250+
  • Supporter acknowledgment
  • Signed project poster
  • Digital screening access when released
  • Project updates from the circuit
Select This Level
City access

Festival Access Sponsor

$2,500+
  • Sponsor acknowledgment
  • Private screening invitation
  • Signed art and merchandise bundle
  • Route and activation updates
Select This Level
Founding partnership

Founding Circuit Partner

$25,000+
  • Major vehicle or activation recognition
  • Custom sponsor integration by agreement
  • Private Taos screening opportunity
  • Direct planning session with the project team
Select This Level

Another way to support distribution

Original Scripture artwork and Vagrant Hearts merchandise are already available through the project store.

Shop the Story

FIVE YEARS IN THE MAKING.
HELP FINISH THE STORY.

Vagrant Hearts has stayed with this story for five years. The circuit funding turns that commitment into a finished film, public screenings, direct artist visibility, and a national audience.

Funding Contact

Start the conversation directly with Vagrant Hearts.

No information is entered or submitted through HeyTaos. Choose the relevant contact below and your email application will open with the Vagrant Hearts address and inquiry framework already prepared.

Circuit and sponsorship

Discuss a funding commitment.

Use this channel for sponsorship levels, specific budget outcomes, venue partnerships, in-kind support, or a request for the full proposal and current route plan.

  • Identify the level or project outcome you are considering
  • Include your organization and preferred response method
  • Request recognition terms and written sponsorship documentation

Direct delivery: These links open the visitor's email application. The message is addressed directly to the Vagrant Hearts team. No funding inquiry form data or message contents are submitted to, received by, or stored in HeyTaos or Shopify.