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Games, Indie Films, Society, Sports

Runtime:

11 minutes

Rating

GD Star Rating
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Caine’s Arcade

This documentary is guaranteed to make you smile or your money back! In this time of a tough economy, it’s inspiring to see the next generation of entrepreneurs starting to emerge from the shadows. Caine’s Arcade is the true story of Cain Monroy, a 9 year old boy who has built his own arcade out of cardboard.  Caine Monroy lives in a working class area of Los Angeles.  His father has a used auto parts store.  It’s not the safest area of LA and the auto parts store does most of its business online. In 2011, Caine spent his summer days in his dad”s store. At first, he busied himself by helping with the inventory. Soon, he started using the empty boxes to build an arcade game. After awhile, his arcade took up most of the lobby. Caine made himself a shirt, worked out a system for keeping track of tickets, and continued to build his arcade. He devised a crane. He devised a point system and prizes to be won.

 

The only problem? Nobody really came to the store. Finally, Caine got his first customer. It would change his summer plans forever.

Here is what the producer had to say:

“We posted the film with an initial goal of raising a $25,000 scholarship fund for Caine to help with his education. The first day the film was posted, over $60,000 was raised. A week later, we received a matching dollar-for-dollar seed funding grant of $250,000 from the Goldhirsh Foundation to help start the Caine’s Arcade Foundation to help more innovative kids.

If you would like to help, visit this link today.

 

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  • Dick Waltman

    This is the most amazing thing that I’ve seen all day. You’re right!!!!

  • Melanie

    Look at his face. That’s pure joy. Kind of like my face while watching this.

  • Lazetazz

    Havent shed this many tears in.. Well, ever.. Fantastic!

  • schmed

    wow inspiring very cute ….. what a kid …i want to play now :) best of luck caine i know you will do well in life bud yer awesome

  • http://thewhatsupdocs.blogspot.com/ What’s Up Docs?

    This short film has a lot in common with KONY 2012 insofar that it has a touching story that ends up a call for donations. As a viewer, it’s hard to determine if the enterprise is legit or not; I mean, the story is touching and quite cute. However, it seems like a new trend is emerging – make a cute film, win over your audience and ask for a small donation via Paypal. Next you know, you’ve got thousands of dollars (and in some cases millions).

    • http://www.documentarystorm.com/ Benjy

      Excellent point. It also reminds me of the recent Obama ‘documentary’: http://documentarystorm.com/the-road-we-traveled-obama-2012/

      But in the case of an independent filmmaker trying to raise money for this boy’s college tuition – and those of other inner city youth – well, isn’t that ‘society’ at its best?

      • Frances

        KONY is a bad example to bring in on this one I think. KONY does plenty of things wrong that we don’t need to discuss as most people have already picked up on it. The donation idea here wasn’t rammed down my throat like others, just a simple donate at the end. If it wasn’t there, then this would have just been entertainment, and I feel documentaries are trying to be is more than just that. There is a lot of depth to this documentary not worth discussing, to me it was a sweet story of a creative imagination.

    • Shanti

      It’s just a split second at the very end. There is nothing wrong with that. If I had a son that had his creativity become well known on the internet, I’d do the same thing to help his college fund. I think it’s great!

      • http://thewhatsupdocs.blogspot.com/ What’s Up Docs?

        You’ve all brought up excellent points. 1) There is a big difference between this film and KONY 2012. I mean, KONY 2012 was meant to inspire an ad campaign paid for and executed by its members. It also made big bucks for the organization, Invisible Children. Inc. I wonder how many people checked into this organization before giving so much money away? What if it was a scam and the money you gave was used in a way that made you feel awful? (Also, KONY 2012 was about geopolitics whereas Cain’s Arcade is on a much smaller scale.)

        Another good point, 2) We’re helping a young child get into college. Well, I hope the money you give actually goes into his college fund rather than his dad’s. Is there any way of knowing? Is there any legal stipulation saying that Cain has to get the money or can his dad just take it? Do we know? We don’t. If you give money away, then you just hope that it goes the way it has been represented on the documentary.

        A new trend has emerged where people just give their money away to people they don’t know and have no way of knowing whether it is valid or not. When you’re giving thousands or millions of dollars to a group, don’t you want to make sure they are legally bound to use that money in the way they said they would? Who is going to track them? Remember, the GoldHirsh Foundation sponsored this enterprise a WEEK after the initial $60K was donated. That’s $60K donated from a documentary anyone could have put together. How many people just gave their money away without verifying where the money was going?

        The appearance of the film is heartwarming and my point is that anyone can appear to be almost anything on film. So, consumer beware. As usual, when it’s online, be careful.

        And, it’s a valid point to suggest that a new trend has emerged on the Internet – a promotional video, social media and Internet fundraising. This trend is HUGE. It’s a HUGE way to make money. Make sure you give your money to the right persons or groups. But how can you know for sure? And, you’re only giving a buck (along with the rest of the thousands of people thinking the exact same way.) Visit my blog to read my reviews.

        By the way, if you really care about Cain, make sure that he got the money – and not just today – look at him fifteen years from now. Also, are you sure that Cain feels comfortable with being in the limelight? He’s just a kid and he might just say “yes” because of the pressure. KONY 2012 is another documentary that used the plight of children to earn a lot of money (which has been mostly used to cover production costs). When it involves children, be careful and make sure they aren’t being used.