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.

For more information on this film, please visit our 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.

Book Club

The story of seven women who have participated in a book club together since 1941. They're spry, intelligent and "with it" as they like to say. Filmed in various locations in the United States, the story of Book Club will unfold over the course of six of their monthly meetings. Through the juxtaposition of member's individual stories, books they are currently reading, past books they've read and rich historical footage, we will see American history as well as their own as it unfolded from 1941 through the present. Individual interviews with book club members, family and friends, archival footage, home video and photos, will all be used to tell their fascinating story.

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

The Darkest Day of Every Year

How many lives change in a moment?

The Darkest Day of Every Year 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. 

Discovering our Organic Planet - USA

Most people know a product labeled Organic is good for them and the environment. Many, though, don't know why.

The central theme of Discovering our Organic Planet - USA is to promote an exchange of local and international ideas and experiences, to help build a global community consciousness of the nutritional benefits of organic and naturally grown food, and the positive environmental impact of ecological farming practices.

Each segment of this 13 x 30 minute documentary series will focus on a specific group of small organic farms and ranches and their products in different regions of the USA. Viewers will gain insight through the experiences of a variety of volunteers as they work with and learn from the farmers and ranchers about organic processes and products. Volunteers will share their stories and learning experiences, as they pull carrots in Minnesota, pick grapes in California, feed chickens in Washington, till soil in Iowa, cure cheese in Wisconsin, herd cattle in Texas and sort potatoes in Idaho. All these aspects (mini stories) will be intertwined creating a unique introduction and better understanding to organic and naturally grown products, regional and local organic farming techniques, and the many wonderful people involved.

For more information on this series, please go to our website and click Current Projects or . Your tax-deductable contributions are vital in bringing this project to life.

DOG

Every day Philadelphia Dogs set out to sniff, play, dominate and fight with one another, dragging their human companions at the ends of long leashes. DOG takes us to the Orianna Hill Dog Run in Northern Liberties where neighbors navigate the isolation of the city by forming social networks on a perceived border between the poverty of the past and the encroaching affluence of the future. Though the human and non-human characters in DOG are quirky and unique, they represent Americans searching for networks of their own. Based on over a year of anthropological research, DOG is a story of community, connection and urban gentrification, as people gently reach out to one another through the performance and love of their furry companions.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

Land Sea Sky

A video about sovereignty in the Alaska Native community. While targeted for a television broadcast audience, we feel the program has broad implications for educational use in a classroom setting. Arlington Massachusetts filmmaker, Alice Bouvrie explores the issue of sovereignty in her second documentary situated in Alaska. Most of us are unaware of the internal politics and cultural life inside Native American communities. Very few of us know anything about the history of Alaskan Natives beyond cliches perhaps transposed from seeing Nanook of the North, or thinking that all northern Natives, Canadian and Alaskan, live in igloos and hunt for seals. This film will introduce us to strong individuals who represent diverse points of view on this important issue. The filmmaker learned digital editing at a DER workshop. Click here for the Land Sea Sky 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.

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

Mathare Project, The

From award winning filmmakers Randy Bell and Pacho Velez comes a documentary series about intensely disenfranchised orphans making their way in the poverty-ridden slums of Kenya. Through the stories of the orphaned children, the documentary provides insight into the problems Kenya faces. Focusing on the filmmakers previous subjects, Boss and Chalo, the story will follow their struggles in coming of age and also tell the story of several other orphaned children.

Rain Falls from Earth: Surviving Cambodia's Darkest Hour

On April 17, 1975, the face of Cambodia would be forever changed. As Khmer Rouge soldiers marched into the capital city of Phnom Penh, the unsuspecting people of Cambodia had little idea they would be forced into a living nightmare that would last nearly four years.

Rain Falls from Earth is a story of courage, a story of survival and a story of eventual triumph over the Communist regime that was responsible for the deaths of over 2 million people. Through exclusive, personal interviews, holocaust survivors recall their thoughts, ideas and emotions—the very things they were forced to abandon in the "killing fields" of Cambodia. Plus, former Khmer Rouge soldiers speak candidly on-camera, providing a unique testimony into one of the worst genocides in the 20th century. Narrated by Oscar-nominated actor, Sam Waterston.

www.rainfallsfromearth.com

Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army

Imagine being forced to leave your family and fight in a war you don't understand - and you are only eleven years old. Sadly, for many of these child soldiers in Nepal this is a reality and the peace process has not solved their problems. These children quickly discovered that the return home is even more painful than the experience of war.

Returned is a feature length documentary that follows several Nepali child soldiers including Asha, a young Nepali girl, who was sent home from the Maoist's People's Liberation Army after the cease fire. Asha joined the Maoist army when she was 14-years-old. For this young low caste girl, joining the Maoist was a pathway to a future with education and employment. Despite two years of being on the frontlines, her biggest concern was what would await her when she returned home. Would she turn to commercial sex work, become a domestic slave, or would she be banished from her home and forced into marriage?

Returned weaves the voices of Nepal's child soldiers, organizations working to help them, and military leader's from Nepal's opposing forces, who answer the challenging questions about their use of child soldiers.

For more information on this film, please visit www.NepalDocumentary.com.

Official website: www.takeabowfilm.com

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

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

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 Way We Get By

The Way We Get By is a story about three elderly people battling their greatest fears and finding a reason to live. The film examines the lives of three Maine Troop Greeters as they put their politics aside to keep a promise to support the American troops. The story's three characters must overcome tremendous obstacles - health issues, emotional losses and financial difficulties - to live a life on-call, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, traveling to the airport to greet complete strangers. To date, the Maine Troop Greeters have greeted over 600,000 troops, as 75% of all soldiers and marines heading to and returning home from Iraq, fly through Bangor's tiny airport. For more information, visit www.thewaywegetbymovie.com.

Who We Are in the Classroom: A Matter of Identity

Karen Schwartz of the Harvard Graduate School of Education is using film in a quest to replace existing cliches and stereotypes of teacher identity with authentic portraits of teachers as human beings. It will explore how teachers personal histories, values and imaginations shape their motivations in the classroom.

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.