Among the plethora of filmmakers who’ve brought their work to our screens exists a selection who simply would not have found their way to illustrious careers were it not for their temerity, courage and sacrifice when starting out. While some may think their talent means they should do little more than sit and wait for the phone to ring, others know the onus is on them to go out and bang the drum loudly so the world knows what they can do. The initial sacrifice, or ‘investment’ whether that be in terms of financing their own first feature, George A Romero ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (along with friends), or giving up their time over a succession of weekends Ed Burns ‘The Brothers McMullen’ or their blood Robert Rodriguez infamously traded his body and blood for use in medical experiments in order to fund ‘El Mariachi’ or making great use of the new platform of crowdfunding ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’. What these early films showed was the promise of a body of work to come, but more importantly, that filmmakers so motivated and passionate would surely have something about them worthy of the careers that followed.