‘Mighty Ground’ Highlights Homeless in LA

Intimate and Moving Real-World Story of Hope and Inspiration

Showcasing the Story of Singer-Songwriter Ronald Troy Collins

Indie film leader Random Media announces the debut of director Delila Vallot’s intimate and moving documentary MIGHTY GROUND, on DVD and digital platforms, April 10, 2018.   A real-world story of hope and inspiration that debuted to acclaim at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival, MIGHTY GROUND showcases the story of homeless LA singer Ronald Troy Collins, whose gift of music touches the lives of all those around him on his rocky road to redemption.

MIGHTY GROUND’s national debut coincides with an ongoing series of US theatrical screenings, many of which feature musical performances by Collins.  Sponsored by Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, in partnership with leading national non-profit provider of housing for today’s homeless, HomeAid America, the film continues to play to acclaim at festivals across the US and theatrically in markets including Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Austin, Portland, San Jose and Orange County, California. (Information about the ongoing tour can be found at www.homeaid.org/mightyground.)

The DVD/digital and theatrical film releases will also launch the debut of MIGHTY GROUND’s EP soundtrack (of the same name) which features three contemporary soul tracks that were recorded and are the product of the narrative of the intimate and inspiring film.   It can be pre-order at: https://apple.co/2odG6oc.

Logline: Moving documentary following the journey of a gifted, but homeless, singer living on the streets of LA Skid Row who is a living example of redemption and what it means to transform oneself from rock bottom.

More About the Film:

There are more than 57,000 homeless people in Los Angeles. MIGHTY GROUND is the story of one of them. In MIGHTY GROUND, Ronald Troy Collins makes his way through the days by singing to people on the streets of downtown Los Angeles. As with most of the homeless, Collins is nearly invisible to the majority of passers-by, with all but a few refusing to even acknowledge his presence. But those who stop to listen find themselves captivated by the depth of his prophetic voice, and by the mystical songs he composes on the spot and directs at the listener’s soul.

Enchanted, these listeners find themselves making a deep and unfathomable connection with Ronald that crosses racial and economic lines. Recognizing that they need to hear his song as much as he needs to sing it to them, they stay. This is exactly what happened to producer Aimee Schoof and music supervisor William Dane in January of 2016. What began as a random encounter on a downtown LA street quickly turned into a tale of vitality, heartbreak and ultimately, redemption for all involved.

Picking up where the homeless as mere statistics drop off, Mighty Ground captures those auspicious moments when the people Collins has sung into his life collectively support and pray for his transformation, but the weight of his addiction threatens to derail his chances for redemption and recovery.

About the Filmmakers and Subject:

Director Delila Vallot is an American stage, film and television actress, dancer and director born and raised in Hollywood, California. Her performance credits include Saturday Night Live, The Academy Awards, The Billboard Music Awards with Beyoncé, and the national Jane’s Addiction tour. She is recipient of the Dorothy Chandler Spotlight Award and has performed in movies such as The Singing Detective with Robert Downey Jr.; as the dance double for Tyra Banks in Coyote Ugly; and Rent, as well as music videos for Miles Davis, Lenny Kravitz, Art of Noise, Hole, Weird Al, Tom Scott, Bonnie Raitt and Prince. The 2013 suspense thriller Tunnel Vision was her debut as a feature length film director and in 2015, Delila released her first feature documentary, titled Can You Dig This, which won a Jury Award at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.

Producers Aimee Schoof & Isen Robbins co-founded Intrinsic Value Films in 1998 and have since produced more than 30 feature films, including Michael Almereyda’s Experimenter, Alexandre Moors’ Blue Caprice; Phil Allocco’s The Truth About Lies, and Ash Avildsen’s American Satan. Of those, nine have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, four at the Tribeca Film Festival, three at SXSW, and one each at Toronto, Venice, the New York Film Festival, New Directors/ New Films, the LA Film Festival and Berlin, to name but a few. Intrinsic’s films have been distributed worldwide and have both been nominated for and won many awards. Accolades include the Sundance Special Grand Jury Prize and five nominations each at both the Gotham and Independent Spirit awards.

Executive Producer Editor Natalie Irby is an award-winning filmmaker and the founder of Corner to Corner Productions, an independent film production company based in Los Angeles. Since its inception, the company has developed and produced numerous, acclaimed narrative and documentary features, shorts, and web series. Irby shot, edited, produced and co-directed, Millennial Parents, which was featured in USA Today, The Huffington Post, and lauded as one of the “10 Best Web Series” by LA Weekly. She is an associate producer and sponsor of the feature documentary, LANDFILL HARMONIC, which not only screened at 140 festivals around the world, but also garnered multiple awards, including the 24 Beats Per Second Audience Award at SXSW and the World Cinema Audience Award at the AFI Film Festival.

She is the Executive Producer of Celebrating Storytellers, a series of short documentaries and photo stories, featured in the New York Times, highlighting cultural revitalization and creative economy throughout her home state of Mississippi. Her original song, “Take My Hand,” debuted on the soundtrack of D-Love, an eleven-time Best Feature, Jury and Audience Award winner. She is the President of Creative Mississippi, an organization that serves as an umbrella to produce stories of creativity and resilience in the rural South. She founded Corner to Corner Productions in 2011, as a home in which independent content is fostered and celebrated.

Ronald Troy Collins. In a modern world, Ronald breathes new life into the traditions of soul, gospel and RnB greats. He sings with the emotions of a soul who has wandered through the highest highs and the lowest lows in life. After being exposed to crack cocaine in the womb, sleeping 30-plus years on the streets of Los Angeles’ notorious Skid Row and surviving 27 years of brutal prison life, Ronald’s story is a real– world example of the rags to riches experience.

Since escaping the grisly streets of Skid Row, Ronald has been sober for over a year, is the subject of the award documentary “Mighty Ground”, has been featured on ABC7 Los Angeles, KTLA5, Good Day LA and is set to release his debut album. While performing around the country and internationally, Ronald continues to use his music as a platform to empower the victims of sexual abuse, addiction and chronic homelessness.

About HomeAid

HomeAid is a leading national non-profit provider of housing for today’s homeless. The organization builds and renovates multi-unit shelters for America’s homeless families and individuals through local chapters in 17 markets across the country, each working with the local building industry to give back to the community. HomeAid launched its Los Angeles chapter (HALA; www.homeaidla.org) last year.

HomeAid Los Angeles (HALA) delivers unparalleled expertise and an all-hands-on-deck approach to LA’s housing crisis. An initiative of teams of developers, expert at aligning with local and national builders and local homeless service agencies, HALA brings a unique approach to rehabbing and building shelters, duplexes and permanent supportive housing units. HomeAid is a 501(c) (3) charitable organization. Fed Tax ID No. 33-0673009. A portion of each sponsorship and ticket price for all Home Aid/Mighty Ground events is tax deductible.

About Random Media:
Random Media is a content company that acquires and distributes films on a worldwide basis through movie theatres, conventional brick and mortar retailers, digital platforms, cable and satellite companies and television networks. Random Media is known for its commitment to building strong, supportive relationships with its filmmakers. The companies growing library includes such acclaimed films as Fare, Desert Cathedral, The Lonely Italian, Killswitch: The Battle for Control of the Internet, Frank Vs. God, Finding Kim and The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille.