The Dream Share Project

“How do you discover your passion?” asks Anne Headley, a career counselor interviewed for the quirky documentary The Dream Share Project. Filmmakers Alexis Irvin and Chip Hiden decide to find out how by quitting their jobs and—aided by Kickstarter funds and a borrowed car—taking a road trip. Armed with a cheap video camera, the pair head west, stopping to talk with life coaches, psychologists, authors, a law professor, an Olympic skier, a man who imports flip-flops from Thailand—and each other—about their thoughts and impressions. The intentionally amateurish camerawork includes a lot of shaky handheld action, with the couple mugging in front of the lens, posing before Mount Rushmore, and goofing off with seaweed on a California beach. Coming back through the South, they run out of money and so speed home, where they start writing a book titled Build Your Dreams: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love. While Irvin's and Hiden's enthusiasm is appealing, the concept is not particularly fresh. Indeed, the best thing here may be the DVD extras, which include interviews with astronaut Paul Richards, who emphasizes the value of persistence; designer, graphic artist, and event planner Sugar Taylor, who lays out a set of year-by-year goals she used to get her business rolling; and Heather Smith, head of Rock the Vote, who asserts that “so much of life is showing up.” A strong optional purchase. Aud: P. (F. Gardner)