Spenser Heaps

An American Fork man who is growing giant pumpkins will be featured in a feature-length documentary out next week.

Los Angeles filmmaker Daria Matza discovered the magic of pumpkins quite by accident, and found herself spellbound right here in Utah County, where she met American Fork man and giant-pumpkin grower Chad Black.

“Rise of the Giants” is her soon-to-be-released, feature-length documentary following the competitive pumpkin growing community and the 2013 race to grow the world’s largest pumpkin.

After losing her mom to cancer, Matza credits many of the local giant-pumpkin growers like Black for bringing her renewed hope.

“2013 was the worst year of my life, but it was also the year a big squash pulled me from the brink,” reads Matza’s blog, entitled “How Giant Pumpkins Rescued Me.”

Competitive gardeners take their growing season very seriously, spending hours dedicated to their labor of love. They also invest a lot of money in soil, fertilizer and seeds.

Emotions run high come competition time, yet the fellow growers seem to join together in a unique camaraderie to share their passion for the sport.

“She followed our season last year right from the beginning to when we dropped the pumpkins,” said Black.

Black took fourth place in Utah last year with his 1,025-pound pumpkin grown in American Fork. He nearly experienced heartbreak that season when his pumpkin split. Black is growing two Atlantic Giant pumpkins in an attempt to break the state record of 1,600 pounds.

“We thought we had lost the pumpkin, but it ended up holding out,” Black said. “Last year was a tough year for everybody. It was a hot, wet year.”

“Utah is in [Rise of the Giants] quite a bit. She did a lot of interviews here,” said Kyle Fox, president of Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers.

In 2012, Fox grew a 1,171.5-pound pumpkin in his garden in Pleasant Grove that took second place in the state.

Matza said she was very impressed by Utah’s giant-pumpkin growing community.

“Despite all the odds, they still have such a passion for it,” she said.

“Rise of the Giants” is being funded through Kickstarter’s online program. The fund-raising window is open until June 5. Those who donate are promised valuable award-winning pumpkin seeds, “Rise of the Giants” movie swag and DVDs, as well as VIP passes to the movie’s screening, depending on the pledge level.

“The idea is you post a story about what you’re doing. If you don’t reach your goal, none of the money will fund,” said Fox about the Kickstarter model. “She [Matza] hit her mark in 10 days.”

“It’s been pretty fun to follow,” Black said.

With the funds already raised the film’s camera crew will be traveling to Nova Scotia, the Canadian province known as the birthplace of giant pumpkins, to capture footage at Howard Dill’s farm. Dill is credited with being the founding father of the giant-pumpkin phenomenon.

Funds will also be used in post-production to finish editing, pay for sound mixing, final mastering and marketing, and purchase music rights.

If enough additional funding comes through on Kickstarter, Matza hopes to return to Utah for what she calls her “stretch goal project” of shooting additional footage on the garden program at the Utah County Security Center in Spanish Fork.

“If I can keep going [on Kickstarter] it’s going to be better and better,” Matza said.

The production crew plans to have the project wrapped up and appearing on the silver screen by fall, just in time for Halloween.

Matza and her husband, Mark Devendorf, live in Malibu, Calif. They met at San Diego State University while they were both earning their master’s degrees in film, television and new media.

The pair has been married for seven years and take turns collaborating on each other’s film projects. They also each teach film courses at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif.

Devendorf shot a majority of the film’s footage, and the duo is co-editing.

“He was a huge supporter from very early on,” Matza said.