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

Bodies at War: A Colombian Landmine Story

Bodies at War offers a window into Colombian people's lives as they strive to rehabilitate after landmine injury. Although unknown to most people who reside elsewhere, Colombia, a country at civil war for over fifty years, has one of the highest rates of landmine injuries in the world.

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

Bots High

Bots High is a documentary following multiple high school robotics teams as they design, build, and compete combat robots in the annual BattleBots competition. In a field dominated by boys, all-girls teams hold their ground as the future generation of scientists and engineers battle it out!

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

Canada Lee - MAN OUT FRONT

Canada Lee was one of the greatest African American actors of the 20th Century, but most people have never heard his name. Lee poured his talent into fighting for racial equality. His uncompromising stance prompted the U.S. Government to label him a Communist, destroying his reputation and career. With the support of the Canada Lee Heritage Foundation and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Canada Lee - MAN OUT FRONT is the first film to explore his life and legacy.

Visit the official website: www.canadaleedoc.com

Cartoon College

Cartoon College (working title) is the definitive story of contemporary comics as seen through the eyes of the students and faculty of the Center for Cartoon Studies, America's premiere institution of higher learning for the study of comics-making. This feature-length documentary chronicles a generation of artists at the dawn of a creative and social epiphany.

Since its inception in 2005, the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont has welcomed aspiring cartoonists from all over the world to study the art of making comics — a medium that after a hundred years of superheroes and Sunday funnies is just now beginning to tackle issues of universal importance. As celebrated cartoonist and CCS faculty Jason Lutes put it, “[Comics] are a means of expression that can encompass virtually any subject. There's this vast untapped potential.” Today CCS is helping to facilitate a new breed of cartoonist, outsider artists who, like the poets and folk singers of the early 1960s or the graffiti artists and punk rockers of the early ‘80s, are threatening to unleash their own brand of creative expression into the mainstream and claim a spot near the top of the cultural hierarchy.

Camden International Film Festival

The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) is committed to supporting and generating interest in independent documentary films. Considered the "premiere US fall festival stop for docs," 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 6th Annual Camden International Film Festival will take place Fall 2010, screening the best international documentary film to audiences in venues throughout Midcoast Maine.

Contributions to the Camden International Film Festival are now being accepted online. Gifts of any size are tax-deductible, and are greatly appreciated. Donations will go towards creating more year round programming and bringing the finest nonficiton films and filmmakers to Midcoast, Maine this Fall for the annual Camden International Film Festival.

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

Dinosaurs in Eden

What would the world look like if Darwin was sent packing, and the Bible brought back as a history book? It might look something like the 100,000-square-foot Creation Museum, where life-like dinosaurs graze while children play nearby, and Adam and Eve are extremely attractive individuals swimming in a stream. It might look like a 7-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon where evidence of Noah's flood is taught as you float through some of the world's most breath-taking scenery. It might look like the inside of any number of mega-churches, where music, dance and art workshops teach children that God created the world and humans in 7 literal days. And it might sound like an impassioned sermon condemning mainstream culture - where Darwin's theory of evolution is alive and well.

Dinosaurs in Eden is a one-hour documentary film about a national community of creationists and their quest to shape the world around them in religious, social, and political terms. By examining both the message and its method of delivery, this film presents an in-depth look into a widespread, modern-day religious movement.

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.

Visit the film's website at www.dividedfamilies.com.

To make a donation to this film, click the donate button below.

Down the Fort

Down The Fort is a multimedia public history documentary and archive project for "the Fort," a traditional Sicilian fishing enclave adjacent to the historic Gloucester harbor. It is a collection of oral histories, visual artifacts and local expressive culture gathered from individuals, businesses and families tied to the Fort. It offers a permanent record and preserves valuable memories for families and a city whose roots emanate from this historic neighborhood. It also creates a channel of expression for members of the community looking to celebrate and honor the generations of families who have lived, worked, loved and died "down the Fort.'

Visit the official website: www.downthefort.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.

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.

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

For donations of $35 or more, the filmmakers will contact you to offer a complimentary DVD of the completed film. Please note: If you are outside the United States, you must contact DER to make a donation by check or money order.

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.

An 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

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

Lunch Line

Lunch Line reframes the school lunch debate through an examination of the program's surprising past, present, and possible future.

Senators, Secretaries of Agriculture, entrepreneurs, and activists from all sides of the hunger and school lunch reform debates add top-down perspective to a bottom-up film about the American political process, its future health and welfare, and the realities of feeding more than 31 million children a day.

Visit the film's page on facebook here

Mi Chacra (My Land)

Raised in a small farming village in the mountains above the Sacred Valley of the Incas in southern Peru, Feliciano takes time from his fields to work as a porter on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in hopes of some day taking his son to live in the city.

Framed by the seasons, Mi Chacra chronicles one year in Feliciano's life, from the planting season to the harvest, and through a season of work on the Inca Trail. We see the processes, passed from father to son for generations, of planting crops, tending to them, and harvesting. We witness the transformation of the spectacular landscape from the browns and yellows of the dry season to the deep greens of the rainy season and the harvest. And we witness the back-breaking work of the porters as they make their way through the mountains on the trail to Machu Picchu.

Interwoven with Feliciano's story is the complex history of his people. In his often poetic native language of Quechua, Feliciano recounts the history of the Incas, the conquest by the Spanish, and the years of the haciendas.

The film paints a vivid picture of this man's world, of the conflict between his love of the land and the work he has learned from his father, and the desire to see his son living what he sees as a better life in the city.

Official website: www.michacrafilm.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

Oil in the Family

Oil in the Family is a feature-length documentary film that is both poetry and policy. It explores our marriage to oil through a uniquely personal journey. New England filmmaker Jon Goldman traces his roots (and good fortune) back to his family's Louisiana oil field. There, he discovers that his grandmother played a vital role in the creation of one of the most celebrated - and derided - documentaries ever made, Robert J. Flaherty's Louisiana Story.

Visit the official website: www.oilfilms.com

Opus 139

Opus 139: To Hear the Music will tell the story of Charles Brenton Fisk, a brilliant Massachusetts nuclear physicist who turned away from the militaristic developments in his field during World War II in order to pursue his passion for music.

Leaving his early involvement in the Manhattan Project and a graduate program at Stanford University, Fisk returned to coastal Gloucester, Massachusetts to pursue organ building. Over the next 50 years, the C.B.Fisk Pipe Organ Company has become a premier American builder of mechanical action pipe organs, combining exacting physics and mechanical engineering with acoustic artistry to produce the largest of musical instruments.

Now, Charles Fisk's legacy of collegial problem solving is continued by dedicated artists and craftspeople, who will undertake the design and construction of a very special instrument: Opus 139 in Harvard University's Memorial Church. To suit the changing needs of the University's worship space, the new organ will require renovation to the Church's second floor gallery and a design that will allow it to sing with the congregation and grace a landmark of Boston history and architecture.

Trained by Charles Fisk and passionately dedicated to his principles and working method, the modern day guild of artisans at C.B.Fisk, Inc. will strive to help future generations of visitors to Harvard hear the music that entranced their founder.

View the official trailer here.

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.

The Paduka of the Guru

The aim of this film is to chronicle the enigmatic and controversial life and legacy of the late religious philosopher Dr. Bibhuti Singh Yadav, from his birth into a low-caste cow-herding clan in a remote rural village of North India to his career as an international scholar and Professor of Indian Religions at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA.

The film integrates into Yadav's biography an ancient and enduring ritual performed exclusively by members of the Yadav family and rooted in a myth that narrates the Yadav's identity as a low caste clan who rejected Indra, the high caste god of storm, rain and thunder, to devote their worship to Krishna, himself a member of the low caste Yadav clan. This myth is well known to all India but this particular ritual - Karaha - is not and has never been previously documented. The Yadav ritual specialists defy laws of physics by bathing in clay cauldrons of boiling hot milk and immersing their nearly naked limbs and torso in the raging flames of the holy sacrificial fire. The ritual is a sensational, dramatic, mimetic re-enactment of the identity defining moment in the mythical history of the Yadav family.

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.

Rain Falls from Earth

Rain Falls from Earth is a story of courage, survival and eventual triumph over the Communist regime that was responsible for the deaths of over 2 million people. The voices of many Cambodians are heard as they convey their thoughts, ideas and emotions - the very things they were forced to abandon in the "killing fields" of Cambodia.

Now, with an international tribunal underway to bring former Khmer Rouge leaders to justice, survivors of this murderous regime come face to face with their past as they finally await closure.

Narrated by Academy Award nominated actor Sam Waterston (The Killing Fields, Law & Order), this film gives a voice to those whose lives were senselessly lost.

Visit the film's official website www.rainfallsfromearth.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. 

Silence Opens Doors

“Lock yourself in your bathroom for the next ten years and tell me how it will affect your mind,” remarked Charles, an inmate of the Tamms CMAX prison in Southern Illinois, where inmates spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement. Silence Opens Doors goes inside one of the harshest living situations in our country, but only to make a point about the environment in which we all live. It follows acticists with the Tamms Year 10 Coalition, as they work with legislators to create a voice for prisoners and perforate the cells. It goes into the labs of scientists who are developing a new generation of weapons that use sound to kill. It goes into conservative Quaker communities in Ohio that practice a form of worship rooted in silence. Silence Opens Doors weaves a story about invisibility, transcendence, the struggle to be heard, and our efforts to imprint our identities on personal and political soundscapes.

Soy Andina

Two Peruvian dancers raised in different worlds - an immigrant folk dancer from the Andes, a modern dancer from Queens, NY - return to Peru to reconnect with roots and an astonishing world of traditional dance and culture.

After fifteen years in New York, Nélida Silva returns to her Andean birthplace to host the fiesta patronal - a week of dance, music, and ritual honoring the town's patron saint. But Neli's changed, and so has the village...

Meanwhile, Cynthia Paniagua, a dancer raised in Queens by a Peruvian mom, embarks on her own Peruvian journey after meeting Neli - determined to "quench a burning desire to know the real Peru, to unearth the mystery of the dances."

Soy Andina is an exuberant cross-cultural road trip, propelled by traditional music and dance rarely seen outside the country. But the core story is intimate and universal: a yearning for roots and connection in a globalized world.

Visit the film's website: www.soyandina.com

Sunlight Man: The Life & Times of John Gardner

Novelist John Gardner – bestselling author of Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues, Nickel Mountain and other works – died in a motorcycle accident in 1982. Sunlight Man is the story of Gardner’s complex life and turbulent times, as seen from the point of view of his filmmaker son, Joel.

Through interviews, archival film, still photographs and present day location shots, Joel Gardner’s odyssey weaves together several parallel stories in Sunlight Man. Joel examines the myths surrounding his father’s early years, including the death of a younger brother in a farm accident. He traces his father’s swift rise to fame with the publication of Grendel, his subsequent fall from critical favor, and tells of his father’s personal struggles – in art and in life – which led to his death at 49.

Alongside his exploration of John Gardner’s life and work, Joel Gardner tells his own story in intimate terms. Joel compares and contrasts the choices he’s made against those of his father. By the end of the film, Sunlight Man, Joel Gardner is able to come to terms with his father, with himself, and with the tangled legacy John Gardner left in his wake.

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

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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.

If you are outside the U.S., please contact us to make a donation by check or money order. All checks should be made out to DER.

To the Village Square

To the Village Square: Democracy and Nuclear Power In The New Millennium, a new feature-length documentary film which chronicles citizen participation in the political battle over the future of Vermont Yankee, one of America's oldest-running nuclear power plants.

Vermont is the only state in the U.S. where the legislature is empowered to make a decision about the future operation of an aging nuclear power plant after its operating license expires. The original 40-year license of the state's only nuclear reactor, Vermont Yankee, is set to expire in March 2012.

Grassroots environmental and anti-nuclear activists have worked for decades calling for the closure of Vermont Yankee, citing environmental and public health dangers from both the routine and accidental releases of radioactivity from the reactor, as well as the unresolved issue of long-term storage of high-level nuclear wastes. Pro-nuclear power advocates and Energy company officials argue that Vermont Yankee and other nuclear power plants operate safely and provide a reliable source of jobs and electricity, without adding carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

With over 100 hours of HD video material already filmed, To the Village Square will feature the perspectives of people on all sides of the nuclear power debate, including Vermont state Senators and House Representatives, former nuclear power engineers (now turned whistleblowers), grassroots activists, Entergy officials, Vermont Yankee engineers and other plant workers, local residents at town meetings and community forums, state officials, federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission representatives, and the candidates for the Vermont Governor's race.

The film is directed by Robbie Leppzer of Turning Tide Productions, whose previous documentaries and commissioned magazine segments have been broadcast nationally on PBS, CNN, CNN International, HBO/Cinemax, Sundance Channel and HDNet, Link TV and Free Speech TV.

Visit the filmmakers website: www.turningtide.com.

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.

U.S.E.D.

From the State Capitol and the back-alleys of Denver to above ground syringe exchanges throughout the world, U.S.E.D., a one-hour documentary, sheds light on the politicians, drug addicts, social justice activists, people of faith, police, scientists, and medical professionals raising tough questions about why public parks are littered with dirty syringes and drug users are dying from Hepatitis C and HIV. From one group so fed up with policy that they disobey the law to hand out clean syringes, to concerned citizens working to pass a pro-syringe exchange bill at the Colorado State Legislature, U.S.E.D. chronicles people challenging public health practice and political process. Examining multiple sides of the harm reduction debate, U.S.E.D. tells an internationally relevant story about a neglected population in crisis and a public deciding how to respond.

Uprooted: Memoirs of Jewish Iran

Uprooted: Memoirs of Jewish Iran is a character driven documentary about the exodus of the Jews of Iran as a result of the Islamic Revolution of 1979. This story is remarkable in many ways: it is the story of the evolution of the Islamic Republic; it is the story of uprootedness and acclimation--an example of the American immigrant experience; and a story of danger and adventure as many immigrants left Iran clandestinely, at night, with the aid of smugglers--on camels and trucks, and through mountains and deserts. The film will explore the experiences of three women while simultaneously depicting the history of the period through scholarly commentary, stock footage and images. It will examine the fluctuating environment of the time and its effects on Iranian Jewish identity and culture both in Iran and in the United States. Dating back 2500 years, the Jewish community of Iran has a wide girth, deep roots, broad boughs, and a high crest.

Volcano People

Elizabeth Rose and Alexander Berman are making a documentary film about people living in the shadow of the world's most dangerous volcano. Koryaksky – a UN “Decade Volcano” that looms over the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – has a history of destructive eruptions. Despite this menacing classification, the aboriginal Eveny herd reindeer at the volcano's base and consider it an important cultural landmark. These reindeer herders have not been seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union when the subsidies for their indigenous way of life disappeared and their herds were culled by the thousands.

Today, a self-made Eveny shipping entrepreneur, Aleksandr Adukanov, has bought up a herd of 500 reindeer to reestablish his culture's ancestral pastoral practice. He sees volcanic eruption as a metaphor for his own situation: disaster happens, but opportunity often lies in its wake. Now, his son Maxim is studying the same volcano as a scientist at the region's state-funded University, fulfilling a passion that sprang from the legends of his youth.

This documentary is about the terrible beauty of disaster and the human ability to rise above it.