BY BILL BROWNSTEIN, THE GAZETTE - JULY 2, 2009

Jimmy Jump's dream was to streak the highly anticipated Barcelona/Madrid soccer matchup in full view of 80,000 spectators in the latter Spanish metropolis. Dan Emery's dream - along with that of his co-directors Mathieu Wacowich and Jon Deitcher - was to bring the story of Jimmy Jump, along with those of other world-class streakers, to the screen.

Four years later, Emery and the guys have succeeded: Jump! The World's Greatest Streakers airs Saturday at 6 p.m. on the Documentary channel. The doc will soon air in other countries around the world.

No small task, either. The directors maxed out their credit cards, then had to rely on the kindness of friends and family to complete production of a film that took them around this continent and Europe. Though the budget was a relatively paltry $80,000, Jump! has the look of a doc with 20 times that cost.

"We kept pitching broadcasters every step of the way while we were making it," Emery says. "They loved the idea. They loved the concept of the streakers. But they wanted to see a finished product before committing."

Emery understood the dilemma. He and his co-directors were neophytes. "This was our proving ground as directors. We showed we could make good on our ideas and that we could make a professional film," he explains. "And we didn't let the fact that we had no money deter us."

Prove themselves they have. Jump! affords a fascinating insight into the minds of some of the world's greatest exhibitionists. It introduces us to Montreal-born Ron Bensimhon, who made a splash diving into the pool - wearing only a tutu - during the diving competition at the 2004 Olympic Games. Then there's the granddaddy of streakers, Mark Roberts, who has streaked his way through the world's greatest sports spectacles, including the Super Bowl.

But the focus of this doc is Jump, né Jaume Marquet, who most recently achieved fame/infamy by streaking the French Open finals and draping eventual winner Roger Federer in a Barcelona flag.

Unlike many streakers, who do the deed with the names of corporate institutions emblazoned on their chest, Jump doesn't do this for the cash. In fact, he earns his daily bread selling books door to door - apparently, he can be most persuasive.

No, Jump is in the game largely for the fame factor and, to a lesser extent, to boost his home town of Barcelona. "Jumping is my life," he is fond of saying. "The dream is that one day little jumps will lead me to greater heights."

The dream of the filmmakers began more than four years ago. Emery and Wacowich were knocking back brewskis at a Vancouver sports bar, where they caught Jump's antics on the tube. They decided then to track him down and to chronicle his career.

"This film could have gone two ways. It could have been about a bunch of college streakers, with no real storyline. But our streakers take it to a whole other level. It's a science for them, about timing. It's a philosophy, too, about bringing entertainment to the masses," Emery says.

These streakers pay a price along the way. They have major legal woes and are often pummelled by police and security officials when they're finally caught. As a result of his streaking at the French Open, Jump could face a year's sentence in the jug in France.

"Streaking is not for everyone. It's not unlike filmmaking. We definitely do it more for the passion than the money," adds Emery, whose day job entails financial operations at the National Film Board of Canada.

"Maybe one day, I'll be out of debt. But that's not the important part. If you believe in something enough, the rest really becomes irrelevant."

Jump! The World's Greatest Streakers airs Saturday at 6 p.m. on the Documentary channel.

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