Kevin Smith

Acquiring the money to get a dream off the ground is rarely easy, but it can be done ... if you're creative: Here's how some young short filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival raised funds for their projects. Their methods might inspire you the next time you need to pull together big bucks to fulfill a dream.

First, the film director was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight for being too portly. Now, a Virgin America gate attendent refused to allow Smith and his companions to board a jet, even though there were still minutes before its jetway was closed.

When Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message, it embraced the gravitas of the milestone: "What hath God wrought?", he opined. When Neil Armstrong touched down on the moon, he pronounced it "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," as indeed it was. Now all of us can speak freely...