VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 28, 2010) - Vancouver-based independent documentary film producers made With Glowing Hearts with just a camera and a burning desire for social change. With the Toonie and Tweet Torch Relay, they're harnessing the power of crowdsourcing to engage the people and the communities that made it possible.

The story follows 4 different people whose lives have been changed by the power of social media and the Internet. The four stories come together and move apart as the subjects live and work in Vancouver's downtown eastside during the lead up to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The filmmakers are still short $10,000 CDN needed to complete the film. To fund the completion of the film the producers are launching the Toonie and Tweet Torch Relay, an online fundraising campaign to help them bring their story to the screen.

"This is a film that was made for, about and by communities who use social media networks, platforms and principles to affect social change," says Producer Jon Ornoy. "It's a natural extension to reach out to those audiences in the final push. Like the people in our film we are using technology and social networks instead of relying on traditional means to get our story told."

The fundraising campaign, devised by a group of volunteers, will be deployed across social networking sites like Twitter - where you can follow the campaign by searching for "#withglowinghearts" - Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and the Internet at large using a combination of viral messages, outreach, widgets and incentives. Previews and trailers can be found in the Social Media Release.

The With Glowing Hearts community, a group of volunteer contributors, have set up a website to process micro-donations by PayPal or credit card. With a minimum contribution of $2 US, participants can have their name published in a word cloud that will appear in the film's credit roll. Increasing your contribution will increase the size of your name in the cloud. Supporters can then pass the fundraising torch by posting a badge on their own websites, blogs or social networks and passing on the message demonstrating the power of social media for social change.

"Our idea comes from a time when people would pass around a hat to support artists they enjoy and communities they believe in," says Ornoy. "In our case, the contributions support social media for social change. And like the stories and movement our film covers, we hope this campaign inspires audiences to move beyond spectators and become participants."

This one month period of enlisting community producers for the film will highlight a flash mob- with support from ImprovAnywhere.ca - to tell the world about our passion on Saturday, July 31st in downtown Vancouver, fundraising will continue during August. It will be a unique experience and an opportunity to express our combined national pride in the wake of the Olympics in Vancouver.