Photo by a nameless yeast

If you don’t think there’s much to the world of hog dog vending in D.C., two local filmmakers want you to think again. Laura Waters Hinson and Kasey Kirby spent four years following the trials and travails of a local hot dog vendor for a documentary they’ve titled Dog Days, and now the duo has set up a Kickstarter campaign to help raise $30,000 to cover editing, sound design, music, graphics, and other post-production elements needed before they can release it. About the documentary:

Plunging into the colorful, micro-entrepreneurial underworld of street vending in the nation’s capital, DOG DAYS follows two unlikely business partners as they challenge the status quo by offering Washingtonians a gourmet alternative to the ubiquitous hot dog. Coite, an unemployed industrial engineer with no kitchen experience, comes under the culinary guidance of his idiosyncratic Aunt Deane and her harp to launch “Food Chain.” Staking his meager life savings on the new business, he hopes to help the city’s 300 remaining street vendors compete with the food truck craze that’s driving hotdog customers away in droves. The stakes intensify when his first customer, Siyone, a former refugee from East Africa, pushes already strained relationships with her suppliers to sell Coite’s Jerk Chicken wraps, a risk she must take to provide for her four children.

Amidst the worst economy since the Great Depression, will Coite’s gastronomic vision turn into a street-food sensation? And will Siyone’s dreams for her family’s future be realized? DOG DAYS journeys to a world within a world where the underdogs of DC street vending speak for a nation wondering if the American Dream has become just another fantasy.

With a fortnight to go, they’re halfway to their goal, but if you love hot dogs—or are just curious what the industry is really like—feel free to kick them a few bucks.