Every time I arrive at Footscray Railway Station, the first thing that strikes me is the aroma of hot jam doughnuts in the air.

Followed by a battle with my inner urges: ‘Should I? They’re only small. Go on, they’re so tasty and only 80 cents each!’

But the final decision always boils down to whether a) I have any cash on me, or b) how long the line is.

This scene has unfolded in the same way for countless locals and visitors frequenting Footscray for the last 36 years, since the institution of Olympic Doughnuts commenced its trade in 1979 out of a small caravan situated under the footbridge of the west suburban railway station.

The small, yet thriving business is work of Nick Tsiligiris, a Greek migrant who arrived in Australia in 1966.

And now his success is being recognised in the ‘donutmentary’ Olympic Nick.

The brain child of Ian Tran and Rachel Morssink, this is the duo’s début into the world of doco making.

After meeting at a four day film making course last summer, the pair submitted their idea to the Raw Nerve Production Initiative 2015 and to their surprise, won.

“Ian came up with the idea; he grew up in Footscray and has known Nick, and the doughnuts, almost his whole life,” says Ms Morssink, writer and co-director of film.

“He felt like this is something special, something we have to cherish, and as soon as I met Nick I was like ‘wow, this is a really special man'”.

Six days a week – a traditionalist, he chooses to observe Sunday as the Sabbath – the 80-year-old travels from his Richmond home with 10 home-made buckets of dough for the day’s trade.

But since coming to the area, Ms Tsiligiris has been a central observer of Footscray’s continual state of evolution.

“When he started working in the area, it was the 60s and 70s and it was really a Greek and Italian area. Then it became Vietnamese, and now Africans and also a lot of young hipsters are coming in,” Ms Morssink observes.

In a bid to lose its reputation as ‘Foot-scary’, the railway station underwent a $3.7 billion dollar facelift in 2014, during which it was uncertain whether Mr Tsiligiris and his doughnuts would be considered a part of the large-scale development.

But as Ms Morssink puts it, ‘Nick is an icon for Footscray’ and there was no threat of him being pushed out of the area.

Instead he was relocated from his rusty and graffiti covered caravan, to a new shop front built as part of the new railway structure.

“It’s funny; we thought it must be hard for him because Footscray’s changing so much, but he’s actually very positive about all the change; he’s saying it’s only for the better.

“I’m quite impressed actually by how he responds to all these changes. I can imagine when I’m 80 years old and things are changing, I’m not sure if I will react in the same way!” she says with a laugh.

But when the doughnut aficionado was approached about the documentary, Mr Tsiligiris, ever so humble, saw the project as an opportunity to give back to the community.

“We needed to bring in someone who spoke Greek to explain. He was like ‘I’m doing this for Footscray, I don’t care about myself’,” going one step further to say he wouldn’t even need to watch the film.

But with the project having gained such momentum since filming commenced in July, the co-director hopes “he will be proud” when we the film takes to the big screen next month.

With the bulk of filming complete, the team are now focusing on the editing stage of production and have been running a crowd-funding campaign, which ends today.

Having raised more than half of their pledge of $8,000, the funds will go a long way in helping the film become a reality contributing to production and post-production costs.

For Mossink, a trained journalist, Olympic Nick has so far been everything she ever dreamed of in entering the world of documentary making.

An ode to Footscray and its changing landscape, this is a celebration of a simple yet rewarding life, that will stay in the memories of children and adults for years to come.

“What I like is telling beautiful stories, and Nick is one of a kind. He gives our film set a heart beat and a soul.”

To donate funds for the completion of Olympic Nick: A Donutmentary, visit www.pozible.com/olympicnick.

A private screening of the film is set to take place on Sunday 29 November, 2015 at 5pm at the Sun Theatre, 8 Ballarat Street, Yarraville, VIC.

*For more information, visit www.facebook.com/OlympicNickADonutumentary