The Alphabet Book

"The defense of cultural diversity is an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity." —UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity

The Alphabet Book is a story of one man who has taken this imperative into his own hands, working to protect and preserve his own endangered culture while also helping his people transition into the modern world.

Along the notorious border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the non-Muslim Kalash people are struggling to maintain their pagan beliefs and ancient way of life in a part of the world dominated by fundamentalist Islam and known in the West only as the likely hiding place of Osama bin Laden. In an effort to protect his heritage, our main character Taj Khan has helped create an alphabet for the Kalash people's oral-only language. While Taj uses this new script to compile the legends of his elders in the first Kalash book, our film shows how defending cultural diversity is more than just a noble idea for the United Nations. In The Alphabet Book, Taj turns the idea into action.

The Ambassador

In today's world, it's hard to imagine that a tribal society could still live in complete and total isolation. But deep in Ecuador's Amazon, a reclusive group of hunter-gatherers known as THE TAROMENANI continue to resist all contact with civilization, even as illegal loggers, oil companies and neighboring tribes push further into their ancestral homeland.

The Ambassador follows internationally-known indigenous leader MOI ENOMENGA as he struggles to protect the Taromenani from the forces of civilization rapidly closing in around them. Moi is the charismatic leader of a neighboring tribe called THE HUAORANI, who only a generation before were themselves feared as violent savages. The Ambassador tracks Moi over a period of five years as he navigates between the Amazon frontier and the civilized world with the survival of the Taromenani hanging in the balance. As he searches for a solution to the mounting crisis, Moi must overcome corruption, greed, and violence in one of the world's last truly wild places.

Ankle Straps

68 year old Professor Emeritus John Southard recently came "out" to his M.I.T colleagues as a cross-dresser after nearly 40 years of easy collegiality. His exuberant "outing" is reflected, in part, by his efforts to reach out as an educator and counselor to other closeted students and faculty. Unfortunately, the institution is not an easy one to penetrate. John is eager to show his female persona, "Tephra" to his colleagues. A department fundraiser is planned, and John hopes this will be an opportunity to dress - and introduce "Tephra". His consuming desire is to be finally accepted as a "full person" in the department as well as in society. So far, his efforts have been met with mixed reactions of unease, curiosity, indifference or avoidance. John's journey weaves a story that intersects gender presentation, acceptance, the immutability of established institutions and the ultimate affirmation of the human spirit.

Visit the filmmaker's website: www.mineralkingproductions.com

Aziza!

Aziza! is a new documentary profiling the history of belly dance in the Boston area as it has evolved and thrived in the social scene of the Lebanese, Armenian and Greek communities that have settled here since the early 1900s.

The first Middle Eastern restaurant in the United States - Club Zahra - opened in Boston in 1952. Because of the similarities in culture, cuisine and social life, the Lebanese, Armenian, and Greeks began mingling at each other's restaurants. From the 1950s through the 1980s you could see belly dancing and hear live ethnic music seven nights a week at a number of venues throughout the Greater Boston area - a phenomenon unique in the U.S.

In the same band you might see both the Middle Eastern oud and the Greek bouzouki, while the guests danced the Lebanese dabke, Armenian line dances, and the Greek zembekiko, a male bonding/drinking dance. They threw money like rain on the entertainment. The musicians and dancers carried off their tips in dish buckets.

Aziza! offers a unique perspective on how three ethnic groups intermingled socially, and how nightlife played a vivid role in the immigrant experiences of these communities.

Birds of Passage

Birds of Passage (Aves de Paso) explores the emotional connections people have with the places they are from through the stories of three young, emerging songwriters in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Ernesto Díaz, who moved to the capital from the Brazilian border, finds the most complete expression of his hybrid cultural identity through music, but he is struggling to finance his first album and conquer his fear of the stage itself. After living for five years in the United States, Montevidean Victoria Gutierrez is reintegrating herself into her native city, but finds that this process leaves her feeling foreign. Yisela Sosa, originally from a town on the border of Argentina, has received a grant to make her first record; but when she falls in love with an Argentine man, she begins to consider emigrating to live with him and seek better economic opportunities.

This one-hour documentary combines original music with observational footage and interviews shot over the course of 16 months in Uruguay to show how the protagonists' experiences of migration affect both the creative process and the musical product. The three interwoven stories transcend place and time to resonate with the struggles common to many artists, while reflecting the particular challenges of dedicating oneself to music in a small country in the Global South in the 21st century.

For more information on this film, please visit the website.

Blacklist: Recovering the Life of Canada Lee

In an unprecedented collective effort, Blacklist: Recovering the Life of Canada Lee reveals the true story of one of America's first dignified black stars of Hollywood, Broadway, and radio, Canada Lee, who grew to become a spokesperson for equality in a time of racial oppression. Labeled by the US government as too controversial for his message of integration, Lee was strategically branded a traitor during the Red Scare. His career and life were subsequently destroyed. Through the insights of historians, cultural critics, co-stars, old friends and Lee's widow Frances Lee Pearson we relive Lee's triumphs and hardships -- both on and off the public stage. We uncover the steps taken by the FBI to halt Lee's work toward social change, and we come to know how this charismatic boxer-turned-actor found himself at the forefront of the movement for equality.

Bringing Back Broadway

Bringing Back Broadway: The Story of the Los Angeles Historic Theater District is a feature length documentary about the street Broadway, its vibrant past, its decay and stagnation and the dream of revitalization.

The Broadway Theater district in downtown Los Angeles is home to 12 movie palaces and is the first and largest theater district listed in the National Register of Historic Places. For the first half of the 20th century Broadway was the commercial capital of the United States and the main theater district of Los Angeles and the nation.

In the last several decades Broadway has seen a slow and steady decline. Sadly, most of Broadway's once magnificent movie palaces have fallen into disrepair, housing mostly swap meets and day vendors.

In 2008 despair turned into hope when the City of Los Angeles launched the Bringing Back Broadway Initiative, a ten-year plan to revitalize the district, reactivating the theaters and commercial space and renewing the sense of history.

Bringing Back Broadway: The Story of the Los Angeles Historic Theater District utilizes archival film and photos along with timely interviews and footage to trace the history of Broadway from its heyday as the nation's film capital through its hideous decline, while pointing to the future and the dream of a once again glamorous and thriving Broadway.

Camden International Film Festival

The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) is committed to supporting and generating interest in independent documentary films. The annual festival presents a snapshot of the cultural landscape through the year¹s best non-fiction storytelling, connecting filmmakers with eager audiences and industry representatives to discuss documentary film as an art form, a catalyst for change and as an outlet for the independent voice.

The 5th Annual Camden International Film Festival will take place from October 1st - 4th, 2009, screening the best international documentary film to audiences in venues throughout Midcoast Maine.

For more information, please visit: www.camdenfilmfest.org

Crossing the Bridge

Crossing the Bridge is a richly photographed, character-driven documentary film that follows the stories of several people in Kosovo during this most crucial time for them and for the region: the aftermath of Kosovo's independence and formation as a new state.

Best known for its appearance on the world stage when NATO troops stepped in to halt the mass slaughter of Albanian Kosovars by Slobodan Milosevic's Serb nationalists in 1999, Kosovo has a long way to go to rebuild. It is the poorest country in the poorest part of Europe, and with Christian Serbs and Muslim Albanians living in an uneasy co-existence after a brutal history together, it still has a heavy UN presence.

The film will reveal the personal struggles, the political tension, and the hidden magic of people trying to overcome seemingly unbridgeable differences in this era of inter-ethnic turmoil - drawing a vivid portrait of life in this ethnically split country and looking beyond the political headlines to see what it really takes to build a democracy from scratch.

For more information, please visit: www.raisinbomber.com

Divided Families

There are an estimated 100,000 first generation Korean Americans with immediate family members in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). These families have been left divided for over 50 years and many of them have already passed away, or are in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.  Though American citizens, there are no formal mechanisms for family members to identify or even dream of reunion with their family in the DPRK.  Sadly, many of us are not aware of this tragedy.

Divided Families is a documentary retracing story of one divided family member, Mrs. Chahee Lee Stanfield, a retired librarian in Chicago.  For over thirty years she has lived the American dream, leaving a home ravaged by wars to forge her own destiny.  She remembers the moment when she was separated from her father and her brother.  It was the eve of the Pacific War and her family decided to go back home to Taegu, Korea after living in Manchuria.  She left with her mother on a train to Taegu and her father and brother were supposed to meet them one week later but in that week, political lines were drawn. She didn't know that her departure from that train station would be the last that she would ever see them and without having the chance to ever say goodbye, over half a century would pass.

Many Korean Americans share her story and are waiting for that day when they would see their families. Because of this collective tragedy, ChaHee has organized a movement to fight for this generation's right to see their family members before it's too late.

This is a journey of separation, immigration, and epic search for a father and a brother in a rush against time.  Please visit our website at www.dividedfamilies.com.

Driving the Magic in Augusta

It is a relationship built on loyalty, teamwork and trust for over 30 years at one of the most admired and exclusive sports events, The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Ben Crenshaw, the player and Carl Jackson, the caddy are two men from different worlds, who forged one of the most enduring relationships on or off the golf course. This story will show how they overcame adversity; competition and illness to become among the most respected men in their fields today.

The Emerging Lens

Inspired by the coincidence of Bhutan's first democratic elections with a US presidential election year, The Emerging Lens Initiative (TELI) provides adolescents in Bhutan and the United States with the opportunity to explore democracy and each others culture through self-produced videos. In both countries, video production workshops partner with classroom teachers to empower adolescents with the ability to produce short videos, which they will then use as the medium of exchange in this cross-cultural learning initiative. In addition to the self produced student videos the process of educational exchange is being recorded within the greater socio political context in each country and is the basis of a feature length documentary film The Emerging Lens.

Field Marks

Field Marks is a feature-length documentary that looks at birdwatchers from all walks of life and investigates the culture of avian observation. Determination can be as transparent as the lens of a binocular - but if you look into the wrong end, you'll see something distorted - something distant. Field Marks goes beyond the stereotypical idea of birder as eccentric affluent, and goes behind the binoculars, gazing into the squinted eyes of the birdwatcher.

Our goal in producing Field Marks is to reveal birdwatching to the general public in an innovative light. The film aims to provide an understanding of birdwatching using a multilayered approach including the personal, the social and the environmental. We are structuring the film in such a way that is both entertaining and educational so that it can be relevant to birdwatchers and non-birdwatchers alike. While birdwatching is enjoyed by almost 50 million Americans, it is still a subculture whose motivations are essential to keep the planet functioning. Through filming and research, we've noticed a correlation between a well-rounded understanding of nature and a desire to protect it. Awareness fosters conservation - and media fosters awareness.

Please visit fieldmarksfilm.com to learn more about our project. We thank you in advance for your interest and support.

The Giant Music Box

Three generations of the van der Linde family have been intimately involved in teaching and playing piano in Vermont for nearly four decades. What began as an informal piano camp, founded by Rein and his wife, Rosamond, for their children and their playmates, grew rapidly to become the unique and inspiring piano camp it is today.

In a grand old house with twenty-six pianos filling every nook and cranny, children of all levels and from all around the world learn from a diverse faculty at Summer Sonatina. The Sonatas - live-in piano camp for adults, some who have returned annually for over twenty years - are offered for ten days each month of the year. The Giant Music Box will capture the passion of the four van der Linde daughters and one son, as well as the energy of their mother, Rosamond, a vibrant, unorthodox, yet brilliant teacher. We will follow Polly van der Linde - program director and piano whisperer - and her staff and students through the four seasons, beginning and ending with the Autumn Sonata.

The Giant Music Box will be a moving and inspiring film - rich in sound, full of drama and heart - as we join those who love piano on their individual and collective journey. From the pratfalls of the practice room through pre-concert jitters, we will share, finally, the transformative and joyous experience of making and sharing music in The Giant Music Box.

Gone to Mali

This insightful and thoughtful documentary explores one man's journey from his birth hometown, well-to-do Princeton, New Jersey, to the dusty West African town that was his hometown during his years serving in the Peace Corps. He returns to find the woman who he called his mother in Mali, a year after the death of his birth mother. In the process he examines the lives of these two remarkable women from such different backgrounds, and yet who share so much, how his Peace Corps experience has changed his views of life, America and what's important, and what the concept of a motherland truly means.

The Great Turning

What happens when a culture faces unprecedented crisis? What do we do when so much of what we've taken for granted seems in danger of being lost?

What if we have only a very short time to respond to the challenge of global warming before runaway systems cause irreversible change?

How do we, as Joanna Macy puts it, "look straight into the face of our time, which is the biggest gift we can give: to be present to it?"

The Great Turning will tell this story.

This is a film about how we can, individually and collectively, respond to the perfect storm of peak oil, economic chaos, and climate change - and to the fear and despair that threaten to overwhelm us at the very moment when we most need access to our creativity and power.

The film will describe what Paul Hawken calls "the largest social movement in human history" through interviews with Buddhist scholar and activist Joanna Macy and others, and through the stories of ordinary people who are creating extraordinary change.

We will show that the great turning from destruction to sustainability is not only possible, but is already well underway. We will show that the future is not only about loss, but about what we will gain as we reconnect to our purpose, our communities, and our interconnectedness with all life on earth.

The Great Turning will tell this story of hope through the words of Native elders, young activists, and leaders of the corporate sustainability movement. Viewers will see not only the vast scope of this global revolution, but also the diverse and distinctive roles we all can play in it.

These are extraordinary times. It's time to tell a new story, one about letting go of what has been so we can make room for something better.

For more information, please go to: www.thegreatturningfilm.com

How to Grow a Band

What happens to a musical prodigy after his wife leaves and his band splits up? By the time he turned 25, Chris Thile had already sold two million records with the Grammy-winning, pop-bluegrass trio Nickel Creek and had been called "perhaps the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin."  Now, broken-hearted and restless, Thile is beginning again. 

How to Grow a Band is an up-close look at Chris Thile's daring new project and the musicians he has drafted to help him find his way. The film follows the new band, Punch Brothers, on their first tour as they debut "The Blind Leaving The Blind," Thile's four-movement suite with lyrics inspired by his divorce and the band's intense collaboration. On the road, the Punch Brothers soon face questions about whether Thile can lead them - and his audience - where he wants them to go. 

From Punch Brothers' first show at a folk festival in Scotland, to their triumphant performance at Lincoln Center in New York, How to Grow a Band tells a musical coming of age story. It explores the tensions between individual talents and group identity, art and commerce, innocence and wisdom.  An intimate portrait of dizzying young talent at a crossroads, How to Grow a Band is ultimately a film about growing up and starting over.

Icaros: Songs of the Amazon

Traditional Amazonian healers or curanderos, claim the spirits of the plants communicate with them through lullabies, called Icaros. Every being in the rainforest has an Icaro and its melody alone is believed to possess curative powers. A curandero will sing a plant's song while preparing and administering it as a medicine to invoke the spirit of the plant as an ally in healing. These songs have been described as the "quintessence of shamanic power."

The lullabies are melodic transmissions from earth to man and they display an intimate relationship to nature that is in jeopardy. As we are losing species of plants to deforestation we are also losing Icaros to the buzz of the modern world. The trend of indigenous youth migrating to cities and away from traditional cultural practices leaves elder shaman as the sole keepers of these sacred songs.

We will create an audio-visual archive to preserve the Icaros and a feature documentary to explore their power and history. We will investigate how the songs are used to promote healing, how one learns an Icaro, and how/if speficic songs vary throughout the Amazon.

watch trailer

The Joy of Sox

Who would have thought that Western science, Eastern metaphysics, and prayer would converge in Fenway Park?

For most Red Sox fans, being crowned as World Champions, was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. For two fans, however, it was the beginning of a quest to uncover the deeper truth behind that magical season and behind the player-fan interaction, in general.

The Joy of Sox documentary film explores the world of subtle energy science through the lens of baseball fandom. Do fans affect players through the power of their attention? Is it better to pray for your team or against the opposition? Is Fenway Park a sacred space?

Join Eric Leskowitz, MD, a board certified psychiatrist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, as he journeys from ballpark to laboratory interviewing fans, players, baseball commentators, and pioneering scientists including: Larry Dossey, MD, author of Reinventing Medicine and Prayer is Good Medicine; Dr. William Tiller, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, and featured scientist on What the Bleep?; Rollin McCraty, Ph.D the founder of the Institute of HeartMath; and Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., author of The Sense of Being Stared At.

A recent article on MLB.com profiles The Joy of Sox, calling it "nothing short of shocking, heartwarming, and illuminating."

This provocative film will be the What the Bleep? for sports and spirituality, quirky and informative enough for everyone to enjoy and learn from. The Official The Joy of Sox web site.

A Lighter Footprint

Today, the national debate is not about climate change, but what we need to do about it.  A Lighter Footprint, our 60-minute documentary, answers the question 'how can I make a difference?' by highlighting a growing movement of environmental activists of all ages who are catalysts for change in neighborhoods, businesses, city halls and colleges.  Students motivate families and their universities, local and regional coalitions prompt "green collar" jobs, business people change the way they handle waste, and mayors help "green" their cities. Individual eco-activism and citizen-inspired initiatives are leading our nation toward a sustainable future and challenging each of us to do our part.  Click here for the Lighter Footprint web site.

Like River, A Girl

The Lost Girls' story has never been told, explored or even documented. The story of the Lost Boys and their life in the United States has gained lots of media attention, while the heroic story of these young women has been harder to uncover. Like River, A Girl is a character driven documentary feature that explores the life of Aduei Riak, one of the Lost Girls who came to America through a resettlement program in 2000. Through Aduei, we will learn about the Lost Girls and chronicle her journey and her ongoing struggle to help the people in her home village of Malek in Southern Sudan through the building of a school for girls. The film will focus on her passion to empower young Sudanese women through education, and the parallel story will be a history of the Lost Girls through Aduei's personal account.

Visit the film's official site: www.likeriveragirl.com

Live from Bethlehem

In January of 2007, the Ma'an Network based out of Bethlehem in the Palestinian territories launched the first daily TV news program for, about, and by Palestinians. Live from Bethlehem will be a documentary film that follows the evolution of the news program in its first few months as it faces the challenges of newsgathering and the pressures of putting together a daily news program. Our cameras will follow correspondents as they piece together the facts, travel to different news sites, and endure the relentless working hours of a television journalist. The adrenaline soaked daily grind that television journalists everywhere face will be further compounded by the special challenges that Palestinian journalists faceÑincluding deadline busting Israeli checkpoints, power and utility failures, and the constant specter of violence that can come at any time, from any direction. The correspondents who will be our central characters are smart, open-minded, English-speaking individuals who we expect to bring strong measures of unique thought and biting wit to this film. With proven PBS credentials, JCS Productions will seek to create an edgy film that gives viewers a unique perspective on one of the most chaotic conflict areas in the world.

Loving Lampposts

The public views autism as a terrible, epidemic disease that can destroy children's lives. Sometimes described as a disorder that steals children's souls, autism has been the subject of fear-inspiring stories on the front page of the New York Times, on Oprah and in People Magazine.

Loving Lampposts takes a different view of autism. Inspired by the filmmaker's own experience with a son on the autism spectrum, the film looks at the "neurodiversity" movement, a growing group of people who view autism not only as a disorder that must be treated, but as a different way of life that must be accepted and supported.

Told through the stories of autistic children and adults, the film examines the politics surrounding autism and the neurodiversity movement. Ultimately, it shows that it's possible to lead a happy, successful life and be autistic.

Film web site: www.lovinglamppostsmovie.com

Mustang to Menri

This film is about the challenges of Asonam's journey walking overland as a young boy with an old lama from Mustang to Menri Monastery, center of Tibet's oldest spiritual tradition Bon. The monastery, Tashi Menri Ling Monastery, first built in Tibet in 1405, was re-established in Dolanji, India in 1969 by Bon monks who had escaped from Chinese dominated Tibet with their centuries old teachings. As an educated Geshe determined to help his people by supporting the preservation of their cultural heritage, he later returns to Mustang to help his villagers start a cultural center teaching Tibetan language, woodcarving, weaving and Bon traditions. His story is interwoven with the story of Bon and the story of Menri Monastery.  In the current age of wars and turmoil, this is a relevant and uplifting story of lasting traditions that are meaningful in the modern world with values that potentially can inspire us and help the modern world transcend global challenges.

With the blessings of His Holiness, Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, the 33rd Abbot of Menri, we are making this film in order to communicate Bon's unique place and story in history and to illuminate how and why the work that monks do is important in this modern world.

Filmed on location in Mustang, Nepal and Menri Monastery, Northern India, the story illuminates the interconnectedness of education, spiritual dedication and persistence.  

Official website: www.bon-mustang-to-menri.com

Our Mockingbird

Our Mockingbird, a one hour documentary about the influence of Harper Lee's story To Kill A Mockingbird, examines how one work of art can continue to reach millions of people almost fifty years after its creation. Our Mockingbird will show how themes involving class, race, justice, tolerance, and coming of age as depicted in a story about a small southern town, resonate for people from Birmingham to Boston and beyond.

Peace Through Education

Peace Through Education is a feature length documentary film that examines the role of education in minimizing conflict and creating critical opportunities for children in Afghanistan.

We will examine this theory through the story of Mohammad Khan Kahroti and his determination to create and build a school for Afghani children in his home village of Shin Kalay. The school existed successfully for eight years, starting with only 16 students and growing to 1200.

Sadly, tragedy struck mid October 2008; an unidentified group of people took it upon themselves to loot the institution, bulldoze it, and destroy everything, leaving it in a heap of rubble on the ground. Their reason: they didn't agree with a secular education for the children of his village.

Through the words of former students and Mohammad himself we will be able to see the impact that Green Village School had on the students and the village of Shin Kalay and the devastating aftermath of its loss. We will follow Mohammad on his emotional journey to rebuild his school; from the fundraising efforts in the US to the brick by brick reconstruction of the Green Village School.

Will Mohammad be able to rebuild his school? Will his village survive this tragedy? These questions will be answered through the journey that lies ahead in Peace Through Education.

Visit the film's official website: www.peacethrougheducationfilm.com.

Pelotero

In the Dominican Republic baseball is experiencing a golden age. From the streets to the stadiums, the youth of the Dominican Republic dream of one day emerging from the dugout onto a Big League field. From the time they can walk, kids practice with rolled up sock balls and broomsticks, waiting for the day they are old enough to sign. That day comes at the age 16 when players are given the chance to try out for professional teams. The best will sign, changing their lives forever as they try to advance through the system.

Pelotero is a feature length documentary that follows five teenage players intimately as they train and try-out for MLB teams, all while trying to balance life as a teenager in the run up to July 2nd, the day they become eligible to sign. While their stories delve into the dark side of Dominican baseball - age falsification, steroid usage, and corruption - at the heart is a story of young players battling incredible odds to play the game they love.

Pelotero

In the Dominican Republic baseball is experiencing a golden age. From the streets to the stadiums, the youth of the Dominican Republic dream of one day emerging from the dugout onto a Big League field. From the time they can walk, kids practice with rolled up sock balls and broomsticks, waiting for the day they are old enough to sign. That day comes at the age 16 when players are given the chance to try out for professional teams. The best will sign, changing their lives forever as they try to advance through the system.

Pelotero is a feature length documentary that follows five teenage players intimately as they train and try-out for MLB teams, all while trying to balance life as a teenager in the run up to July 2nd, the day they become eligible to sign. While their stories delve into the dark side of Dominican baseball - age falsification, steroid usage, and corruption - at the heart is a story of young players battling incredible odds to play the game they love.

The Promise of New York

In the midst of Michael Bloomberg's controversial third bid for mayor of New York City, The Promise of New York, proves to be a very timely call for citizen involvement in politics.

A blogger turned stand-up comic, an obsessive political gadfly and a high-school math teacher compete against each other and arch rival incumbent Michael Bloomberg for the post of New York City mayor. As these ordinary citizens take politics into their own hands, The Promise of New York explores the meaning of democracy and the identity of a city with hilarious irreverence and thought-provoking sensitivity.

For more information about the film please visit www.thepromiseofnewyork.com

Romeo

A new film project by Lorna Lowe Streeter. Romeo, a documentary, examines the complexities of battering through the eyes of Antonio, a 32 year-old, Haitian-American counselor for violent men.

Most of us are unaware of the full extent of battering not only in American society but world-wide. The ramifications of these acts of violence across generations is devastating. Many people in the target audience for this program lead secret lives as a batterer or a victim who struggles to exist in conditions such as those that appear in the film.

Visit the film's official website here.

Since

How many lives change in a moment?

Since is a feature-length documentary on the long-term effects of terrorism, profiling victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland through the 20th anniversary.  The film takes an unflinching look at the losses incurred by a terrorist crime, and the unique pathways of grief taken by the families left to pick up the pieces, stories that have become all to familiar in the post-9/11 world.

One sculptor whose son died in the bombing turned her sorrow into art by freezing in time the moment she and 76 other mothers, sisters, and daughters heard the plane had gone down.  A couple still angry about the death of their daughter reacted by vigilantly keeping Pan Am 103 alive in the press, and by writing a book detailing their impassioned quest for personal justice.  Another bereaved couple keeps the memory of their photographer daughter alive with an organization devoted to achieving peace through photojournalism.  Also profiled is the sleepy village of Lockerbie, known to few before December 21, 1988 as a place with more sheep than people.  As this landmark anniversary looms, the town whose name is synonymous with disaster quietly moves forward, attempting to cleanse itself of the horrible fate that fell upon it on a damp winter night twenty years before. 

Ski Week Legacy

As the world around us moves faster and faster, the Hotel St. Bernard with its old world charm through the vision of hotelier and legendary French ski school director Jean Mayer and his staff offers their guests a rare traditional European opportunity to enter a deep mountain experience and authentic connection with nature through skiing, excellent cuisine and camaraderie. The St. Bernard will celebrate fifty years in December 2009 and this film will document the history, charm and elegance of a unique and magical place, its guests, stories, staff and the man who created it.

Tea on the Axis of Evil

When Syria was admitted to the "Axis of Evil," filmmaker Jean Marie Offenbacher decided to move there, alone, to record ordinary life and create a document to stimulate healthy curiosity about this Arab community to counter the negative image that dominates the media. Discussions about dating, marriage, education, art, politics, and religion with a range of sensual and amusing characters reveal Syria's intricate dance between tradition and modernity. Myriad different religions and sects coexist harmoniously. People are kind and educated. However, while the country is left in a diplomatic vacuum, the government becomes less progressive and the fear of radical Islam grows. A writer blames the government for using this fear to control society. A government minister identifies the rise of Islam as a response to external pressures against Arabs. Offenbacher concludes that the current political climate encourages Islamic extremists and undermines moderate voices.Tea gives voice and face to this moderate majority as it lyrically spins a tale of contemporary Syrian life.

For more information about the project, including letters from Syria , photos, and video clips, please go to www.reorientfilms.org.

Thy Will Be Done: A transsexual woman's journey through family and faith

Thy Will Be Done follows Sara Herwig, a Male-to-Female transsexual and her dream of becoming an ordained Minister in the Presbyterian Church. In Sept. 2002 Sara was accepted as a candidate for ordination. She is now on the path to becoming a Minister with a church of her own, but her openness about her personal history has made the road to completion difficult. Sara's sexual transition goes against many members' understanding of biblical guidance and has become a divisive issue in the Church.

Sara's chances for ordination have come up against yet another stumbling block with her recent marriage to Jenn, a biological female. Presbyterian Book of Order states that anyone who is in a same-sex relationship is not eligible to be ordained. The Church's conservative groups do not recognize Sara as female, but rather see her as a gay man. And yet, they are unable to acknowledge her eligibility as a candidate for ordination because she is in a "same-sex" relationship... as a woman.

The complex and contradictory nature of this issue is evident as we see a major religious institution caught between established policy and social conservative groups on the one hand, and the need for progressive social changes in the church on the other. The acceptance and ordination of LGBT clergy as a basic justice issue, is fiercely played out in the Christian battleground for LGBT equality. Thy Will Be Done explores these complex issues present in this and other organized Christian Churches, and promises to empower those affected and motivate those who may be in positions of power to make changes. And as for Sara, she actively seeks not only to participate in the Ministry as an openly transgendered person, but as an activist, she seeks to transform a world - spiritual and otherwise - that operates by conventional notions of sex and gender.

Visit the filmmaker's website: www.mineralkingproductions.com

Tiapapata Art Centre

The Tiapapata Art Centre was established in 1989 with various art courses offered informally to children and adults. Since then the Art Centre has grown to be a dynamic and innovative contributor to the art scene in Samoa and, in June 2006, was registered as a Charitable Trust with the Government of Samoa. Printmaking, ceramics, fabric printing, wood and bone carving, and paper recycling are some of the more popular courses taught. Filmmaking is also a growing field for the Art Centre with particular emphasis on human rights education documentaries (three produced to date with work on a fourth about to start) and ethnographic recordings, mainly of oral traditions associated with archaeological sites in Samoa.

At the end of March 2007, the Tiapapata Art Centre burned to the ground in fire caused by a Raku firing attended by students and teachers from a local high school and university. Luckily no-one was injured but there is now an urgent need for financial support to rebuild the Art Centre.

To Timbuktu with Vieux Farka Toure

Journey on a musical pilgrimage following the extraordinary life and work of Vieux Farka Toure. Born in Mali, West Africa, on the banks of the Niger River just outside of Timbuktu, in a country rich in cultural and ancestral wealth yet bound by economic poverty, Vieux is son to the late guitarist and multi Grammy Award winner Ali Farka Toure. Ali is legend in Mali and one of the most celebrated musicians out of Africa. Rooted in the traditional music from his father, and moved by popular sounds from around the world, Vieux has just made his musical debut and is now at the cutting edge of the world music scene.

We begin the journey in Bamako, the capital of Mali, where Vieux now lives (when he's not on tour), and we'll travel with him throughout the country by 4x4, camel and boat, into the Sahara desert just outside of Timbuktu, where Vieux will perform at the Festival in the Desert. After experiencing the music, variety of cities, people and landscapes in Mali, we'll move to the United States. Here we'll see Mali's connection to American history - a story that goes back the origin of the American blues in West Africa, and the later influence of American soul music in Mali.

Today the musical connections live on through Vieux. As he travels around the world, moving audiences and critics virtually everywhere he steps foot, his universal spirit is connecting him to popular musicians from all walks of life; from NY based DJ's that created his remix album, to American country folk musicians. Beyond a successful debut album, largely due to his ability to make music that is palatable to any ear, his increasing musical collaborations and inspiration throughout the world suggest that his music is bound for an even larger audience and world sound.

With the most frequent media images of Africa focusing on disease, poverty, violence, or an attention to culture that's so specific that we lose any sense of humanity, Vieux's story will show another side. To follow Vieux, we'll experience how music is lived, we'll see the complexities of Africa's fight for survival in the 21st century, and we'll learn how we as an international community are inextricably linked and celebrated through the music of Vieux Farka Toure.

to further explore visit www.totimbuktu.com

A Tree of Life

A Tree of Life will track the progress of the DNA Shoah Project, an effort to use DNA to link relatives separated during the Holocaust, as well as introduce relatives that might not even know the other existed. DNA will also be used, eventually, to identify remains that are accidentally being unearthed in Germany and Poland. This identification could facilitate a proper burial, possibly by a surviving relative. The DNA Shoah Project could drastically change the lives of many. A Tree of Life will reveal this incredible story of survival, renewal and hope.

view the trailer at Kurtis Productions

Unorthodox

A year spent in Israel is a rite of passage for most teenagers brought up in the American Modern Orthodox Jewish community: nearly all high school graduates, both religious and non-religious, embark on this journey of spiritual renewal. Filmmakers Anna Wexler and Nadja Oertelt followed three teenagers - Chaim, Jake, and Tzipi - as they spent a year studying in Israel. Unorthodox is a film that not only documents the unique year in Israel amongst the Orthodox Jewish population, but also represents a more universal narrative: that of anyone who has ever questioned her most deeply-rooted beliefs. For more information, visit www.unorthodoxmovie.com.

The Work of 1000

The Work of 1000 is a story about a small town Massachusetts housewife in the 1960s who led the charge to clean up one of the nation's most polluted rivers.

After World War II, industry in America boomed. Economic growth seemed limitless and environmental regulation was virtually nonexistent. In the 1950s and 1960s, rivers across the country became more polluted than they ever had in the course of human history. One of those rivers was the Nashua.

Cleaning up the Nashua seemed hopeless-which is why it appealed to a restless housewife named Marion Stoddart. Against all odds, Marion persevered. Eventually, her efforts helped get the Massachusetts Clean Rivers Act passed. In the process, she won a United Nations award, was profiled in National Geographic, and had a widely-read children's book written about her. Marion's story looks at the timeless question of what impact one person can have in the world, and at what private cost.