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.

In Search of Soil

A lyrical examination of the farming practices of campesinos in the rural highlands of Peru and follows the work of The Cusichaca Trust. The project hopes both to capture and validate the fragile balance currently in existence, and to support the use of sustainable agriculture worldwide by showing a balance between the two.

“I love Clint Eastwood; Jon Wayne!” Prisco says. He sports a leather jacket with fringes along the arms and shoulders. Prisco is an agronomist working for The Cusichaca Trust, an NGO that is working to rehabilitate ancient terraces and fortify a way of life which many in Peru see as backwards. “My cousin sent me this coat from the U.S.” He’s sitting in a general store in the middle of Pampachiri, Peru, drinking a beer, surrounded by canned milk, oranges and clothing for sale. Outside people ride by on horses and shopkeepers keep the dust down by splashing buckets of water on the dirt road. Sitting next to him is Andrea Dunlap, organic farmgirl turned documentary filmmaker, who is waiting to be joined by partner and filmmaker Hannah Heinrich. They are here In Search of Soil.

Indigenous knowledge has very little value in contemporary Peru, which like many developing nations faces extreme poverty as it tries to use technology as a quick fix. Though many of the older generation are illiterate and some speak only Quechua, they still follow the same sustainable agricultural processes that their ancestors and the Incas perfected before the time of the conquistadors. While malnutrition and poverty are rampant, thousands of hectares of terraces, called andenes lie abandoned and unused. What began as a mass exodus from the country to the cities in the age of Sendero Luminoso is now reversing itself, as people move back to the land of their birth. Without the andenes, which modify vast tracts of steep cactus-covered slopes into arable land and prevent erosion, the scarce resources that exist in the sierra would be even scarcer.

In the Beginning Was the Word

An hour long documentary about the board game Scrabble and the journey the game has taken around the world, bringing a most diverse group of people together from America to Zimbabwe: Blacks, Whites, Arabs, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, men. women, rich, poor, senior citizens, schoolchildren, prisoners. the blind, even the Queen of England, Martha Stewart and Sting have been seduced by this competitive game of words, probability, bluffing and luck. Alfred Butts, a down and out architect was the games inventor. Cambridge Massachusetts filmmaker Deborah Fryer has produced, written or directed many programs for The History Channel, MSNBC, Frontline/WGBH, NOVA/WGBH but this is her first independent documentary.

Island to Island

The United States imprisons roughly 25% of the world's inmates. Half of those imprisoned are African-American. A man of color born today in New York City has a 1 in 2 chance of spending time in jail, most likely on Rikers Island.

Island to Island, a feature-length documentary, follows two young men, Steven (age 17) and Eugene (age 21), as they struggle against the overwhelming challenge and uncertainty of life after prison. Each day they make choices that carry them either forward towards the opportunity of an education, or backward towards the punitive consequences of the streets. While hope for a brighter future remains, the odds are against them; 75% of Rikers detainees return to the jail within a year.

Journey to the City of Dawn - Auroville, India

Can the blueprint for the future of mankind be found in a tiny community in a developing country? This film tells a timely and inspirational story of human unity and critical issues of environmental sustainability. The story is a journey, both literally and metaphysically, that begins in the US and culminates in the small community of Auroville, India. Ann and Ali, two young post graduate students from the US, will embark on a tremendous adventure from their home in Massachusetts half way around the world to Auroville. Their goal is to learn from a place they believe is undeniably important to human existence. Embracing the opportunity to live a more eco-friendly life-style, Ann and Ali decide to sail from the US to the UK, and then continue on by any means necessary to Auroville. After 40 years of development it's time for the world to hear their stories of progress, setbacks, and their role as an evolving example to the world. Many of the initiatives long undertaken by Auroville are the same issues prominent in the US and many western societies today.

Film website: www.CityofDawn.com
Film distribution website: www.DocumentaryTV.com

Justice Louis D. Brandeis – A Biographical Film

This compelling one-hour documentary will tell the story of Justice Louis D. Brandeis—a life of struggle, conflict, and ultimate triumph. On the occasion of his death, Justice Louis D. Brandeis was universally regarded as one of the great champions of liberty, progress, and justice. This posthumous consensus belied a life of controversy and conflict, spent on the edge of the great social and political struggles of his day. This sweeping biographical film will chronicle Brandeis’s rise from small-time Boston lawyer to one of the nation’s most controversial figures, and in the process put a fresh lens to some of the most critical junctures in American history, including the development of modern American law, the causes of the progressive politics, and the growth of the Zionist movement. Emmy and Dupont Award winning Stuart Television Productions will tell this story, and renowned Oregon Public Broadcasting will present this landmark biographical film on PBS in late 2006.

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.

Last Season; The Trawler Isabel S.

This is the story of the men on the Isabel S., a fishing trawler based in New Bedford Massachusetts. These hardworking individuals in one of America's oldest industries are eking out a living in an economy under siege. This portrait focuses on the microcosm of this particular boat and crew with the dynamics of the boats hierarchy from the Skipper to its Vietnamese crew member fully explored.

Living Architecture

a one-hour documentary film examining the origins and development of the culture of the Madeiran Feast. This longer film will be produced concurrently with a series of short films to be used as installation pieces in The Museum of Madieran Heritage of New Bedford, MA. Allston Street Films overall goal will be to highlight the unique beauty of Madeira Island and to showcase the rich cultural traditions of the city of New Bedford. Versions of Living Architecture will be produced in both English and Portuguese. In this way, Allston Street Films will help to increase awareness of the relationship between Portugal and her immigrant communities throughout the world.

Lucas Lost and Found

A documentary exploring the nature of family and cross-cultural identity by award winning Watertown Massachusetts filmmaker Alexandra Anthony. Has received partial funding from The Pinewood Foundation, The LEF Foundation and The WellSpring Foundation.

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.

New Woman, The

Until 1894 there were no female sports stars, no product endorsement deals, and no young mothers with the chutzpah to circle the globe on a bicycle. Annie Kopchovksy changed all of that. A spicy blend of adventure story, social history, and portrait of an athletic pioneer, The New Woman: Annie "Londonderry" Kopchovksy is a documentary film about an improbable journey by bicycle and the eccentric, fiery woman who dared to undertake it.

Described as "the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman," the odyssey was reportedly set in motion by a wager made by two wealthy clubmen in Boston. Annie's challenge was to circle the globe by bicycle in 15 months, earning $5,000 en route. This was not only a test of a woman's physical endurance and mental fortitude, but also of her ability to fend for herself in a man's world. Annie Kopchovksy embarked on her journey in June 1894 as a 23-year-old Jewish immigrant and working mother of three. She returned, 15 months later, as Annie "Londonderry," who fashioned herself as a bloomer-clad, PR-savvy, international celebrity and bachelorette. Traveling with only a change of clothes and a pearl-handled revolver, Miss Londonderry had earned her way, in part, by turning her bicycle and her body into a mobile billboard, carrying advertising banners around the world.

A reflection of the powerful social forces of the 1890s — the bicycle craze, the women's rights movement, and yellow journalism — The New Woman will engage and educate public audiences. But it will also inspire. It is the story of a woman who transformed herself into the woman that she wanted to be and needed to be in order to achieve her version of the American dream.

Nurse Practitioner

A documentary chronicle the profession of the nurse practitioner from it's inception in 1965, through the present day and examines the role these clinicians play in the health care system, the social climate that spawned the profession, and the political forces that currently threaten it's survival. The film establishes a new paradigm for the nurse practitioner and dispels the belief that nurses are simply "doctors helpers". Viewers will come away from this program with a clear definition of the role of nurse practitioner and the the vital role that they play in the health care system now and why our need for their services will be even greater in the future.

The Peace Patriots

is a new, one hour documentary by Robbie Leppzer. It is an intimate portrait of a group of peace activists and their response to war. It examines the deep sense of community and citizen responsibility felt by people in Western Massachusetts where there is a long history and tradition of dissent. With over 40 hours filmed, we are currently seeking funding to complete he principle photography and editing.

Leppzer's last feature length documentary, An Act Of Conscience, premiered at The Sundance Film Festival, received completion funds from HBO and was nationally broadcast on Cinemax's REEL LIFE documentary series. The Sundance Channel is currently airing the program through 2003.

Project Kashmir

Two Americans, one Hindu and one Muslim, sneak into the warzone of Kashmir to uncover the truth of what is happening in what is deemed as one of the most dangerous places in the world. As news headlines boast peace in Kashmir, these two Americans learn that dead bodies are found on a daily basis. They hear gunshots at night. Will the people of Kashmir speak, in spite of a virtual gag-order? Project Kashmir is a documentary thriller about the struggle of two young immigrants on a mission to understand war and its lingering effects on their community.

Relief Riders International

Pioneering adventure travel/humanitarian aid company Relief Riders International partnered with DER to raise money for its humanitarian programs in India. Brought together by common goals – to support and foster connections between people and cultures – and united in the belief that unconventional methods can work best to achieve these goals.

Recommended by Outside Magazine its Best Trips of 2005, Relief Riders International provides a 15 day trip through Rajasthan that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Traveling on horseback, camel or Jeep, guests support the organization's team from the Indian Red Cross in a grass-roots relief mission. At night, guests stay in desert encampments or centuries-old historic forts. During the days they travel through the countryside, supporting the set up and operation of a mobile eye surgery clinic, helping distribute educational materials at three schools and giving away goats in three villages. All medical and educational supplies are sourced in-country, maximizing the benefit provided to local communities by the organization's presence.

In addition to their fundraising partnership, our two organizations are in preliminary discussions for a future documentary film project, featuring the villagers from RRI's relief missions in Rajasthan.

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

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

Note: Returned is now in active distribution through DER.

Scenes from a Parish

Life in Lawrence, Massachusetts is hard. The former mill city north of Boston is the poorest in the state. Unemployment rates hover at twice the national average; three out of four children are at risk for hunger. After five decades of Latio, and more recently Asian immigration, Anglo citizens are now a minority in a city rife with language barriers and ethnic tension.

Four years ago, Paul O’Brien, a young Catholic priest, arrived at Saint Patrick’s Parish on the city’s south side. His new church had always been an Irish-American enclave, but that had begun to change. The Harvard-educated priest announced his intention to “embrace multiculturalism in all its forms” and pledged to build a safe place for all parishioners.

Father O’Brien had inherited a divided congregation. The church had added Spanish and Vietnamese Masses, which some parishioners viewed as an affront to the American ideal of assimilation. Feeling they had lost their city and now their church, they fled to parishes in other cities and towns.

Scenes from a Parish is a documentary film about those who stayed. Latino, Asian and Anglo-Americans all. They are the faithful who aspire to a communal “body of Christ”, but who have known the human conditions of loneliness and alienation. Scenes from a Parish, an independent film for PBS currently in production, will tell the stories of a committed priest and a fragmented group of believers – strangers in search of community.

The School Don Agustin Built

Born in 1933, in a small town along the Amazon River, Don Agustin Rivas spent his young adulthood as an accomplished sculptor exhibiting his works in his native country as well as Germany and Austria. After recovering from a severe injury to his hands that ended his career as an artist, he devoted himself to medicine and the shamanic path of the Ayahuasquero. In 1990, he returned to his birthplace in Tamshiyacu to find a town overwhelmed with problems: no jobs, rampant alcoholism and a community living well below the poverty line.

So in 2000, Don Agustin founded a school, with thirty or so students, built on the land of his grandfather's farm. A few years later, he established a co-op plantation for its graduates where they learn how to manage a company and practice sustainable agriculture. Today, over eight hundred students are enrolled. Although sanctioned by the Peruvian government, Don Agustin must provide for the building and maintenance of facilities and acquire textbooks and supplies for all the students. To do this, he relies almost entirely on donations.

The School Don Agustin Built will be an hour-long documentary film that explores the value that education and sustainable development has for impoverished children and their extended community in a rural Third World nation; raises awareness about the problem of a chronically undereducated rural class, which contributes to and maintains a cycle of poverty; and examine ways to create a sustainable agricultural system from the inside out that empowers future generations to thrive in rural environments.

Most importantly, this film will reveal the power of an individual to improve the lives of hundreds of children in his community, children whose only barrier to a more promising future is their ability to pay for it.

Science Out There

Documentary Educational Resources in partnership with Rich Blundell and Omniscopic Productions is producing the Science Out There Profiles - a series of personal profiles of early-career scientists. Each 8-10 minute digital video profile will follow one of five natural scientists through a week of their fieldwork. Expedition footage will be edited into a news story for web streaming and made available to broadcast news bureaus, the Annenberg/CPB Channel. Edited together, the each stand-alone story may also serve as a segment of a 1-hour documentary. Using biological field stations as base camps, these stories from the field will deliver credible science content, cast science as an attractive career path for young people, and promote educational field-trip opportunities for all ages. Footage from these expeditions will also be used by the scientists, their universities, and field stations for development, outreach, education and promotional purposes.

Son of Ghana

A documentary film intimately recording a young Ghanaian man’s return to his native land to travel on a bus with his father for eleven days before his thirtieth birthday. His father Reverend Blackson is head of over 300 churches in Africa. Their family fled from Ghana to London when Kute was three, when the Reverends good friend the President, Ignatius Kutu Acheampong (Kute’s namesake), was killed under a coup. Kute won a greencard and left home at seventeen to go to California. Now thirteen years later he is going back to Ghana.

The documentary captures their unfolding relationship while engaging with the rich culture, exposing beautiful imagery of Ghanaian dance, Shamans, ecstatic drumming, the shocking historic slave trade castles, and meetings with caretakers at AIDS hospitals, school children; the King and President John Kufuor.

The story is about the history of their relationship, their reconciliation, and who they are for each other and in the world now.

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.

Spirit And The Bride

A docudrama about Ann Lee, the woman who founded the Shaker movement in America. She first came to the USA in 1774 from England, a Christian female profit with a blueprint for creating a utopian society. This program promises to be the documentary of record of Shakerism in America. Produced by Jeannine Lauber, on-air reporter/journalist for Maine public television will be guiding this all New England production crew. Maine PBS will be the presenting station if funding is secured. Jeannine has been awarded 2 Regional Emmy awards and nominations for 5 others. She received the Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting, an Associated Press award and numerous other honors. This is her first independently produced program.

Official website: www.takeabowfilm.com

Taking on the Dharma: American Buddhist Women on Practice and Commitment

is a documentary that explores how contemporary women have created meaning within the context of American Buddhism. Sylvia Sensiper, a successful media producer is currently teaching "Documenting Culture" in the MIT Anthropology Program. Her new film project is in the research phase. The filmmakers first film was an experimental piece of visual anthropology.

Tall

A documentary from the perspective of men and women of excessive stature will explore the physical and emotional ramifications of immoderate height in a world that is built for the norm by New York based filmmaker, Adam Blank.

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

Tracks to Somewhere

Tracks to Somewhere is an intimate look at Hobos and their rail riding life set against the historical background of rail travel in America. On a cross country odyssey the filmmakers seek to shed light on a dying way of life and will reveal the symbiotic relationship of opposing cultural values, the struggle for freedom and yet the recognition that we are all dependent upon a well functioning society, even if we wish to escape.

The Truth About Cats, Dogs, and Lawn Chemicals

A documentary by Sanford Lewis and Jody Shapiro. This broadcast documentary will explain the link between lawn-care treatments and serious illnesses in our companion animals. The truth: lawn chemicals are toxic; they stick to paws and fur when dogs and cats walk on grass, sidewalks, parks, and streets, and are ingested and absorbed through the skin. The film will use humor, reality-TV documentation, and expert interviews to show pet owners how to have beautiful, chemical-free lawns that are safe for animals.

The pre-production trailer was generously funded by a grant from the Mitchell Kapor Foundation. To view the trailer, and for more information, visit catsdogslawns.org.

Urgent Issue

The dawning of the 21st century has found our scientific world accelerating like never before toward curing the horrible diseases that once devastated whole societies. Urgent Issue, a feature length documentary directed by Mark Richman and Roberta Pacino and produced in association with Filmmakers Supporting Science, addresses stem cell research and why some oppose it. Although major medical advances are on the horizon, and our generation stands to reap the rewards of our scientists’ hard work, there still exists an ethical dilemma that must be confronted. At the core of the documentary is the passionate conflict involving those people who believe that stem cell therapy could cure devastating ailments such as spinal cord injuries, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, and those on the other side who are so adamantly against tampering with embryonic life that they say no cure can justify such action. For many people today and perhaps for all of us someday, this roadblock to stem cell research is a matter of life and death. It is indeed an “Urgent Issue,” and in the words of Nancy Reagan, “We have lost so much time already.”

Tugging Through Time

Tugging Through Time is the first documentary film on the history of tugboats in New York Harbor, written, and produced by historic maritime filmmaker, Tom Garber. The history of tugboats, their owners and operators, is vastly significant, and yet amazingly, has not been produced on film. The growth and evolution of the tugging industry, is a mirror to the social, political, and technological history of New York City. It is a prime example of how technology, politics, and business interacted over time to achieve positive results. The story culminates in one of the largest and most successful maritime evacuations in history, the 9/11 rescues from Manhattan. This film illustrates the strength of spirit, and ideals, that has made New York City, what it is today.

Twisted: A Balloonamentary

A comedic and poignant documentary about the life stories of people who attend balloon twisting conventions. When balloon twisters arrive at these conventions, they become more than the shy kid, the serious stockbroker, or the woman in the wheelchair. Just as a lifeless piece of latex can be magically transformed into a dog or a hat, so too can these people become someone new. Balloon twisting breathes change into them. It becomes a career, a passion, an escape. This film follows the lives of several members of this community, uncovering their origins as twisters, their goals, accomplishments, and aspirations.

A Visit To Asmara: architecture, memory and the making of a nation

A documentary focusing on the preservation and development of Eritrea's capital city of Asmara to reflect upon the much larger process of national self-determination by award winning New York based filmmaker and scholar Caterina Borelli. Several grant proposals being considered for funding. DER distributes "Architecture of Mud" the filmmakers last project on indigenous architecture of Yemen.

Water Documentary – Hart Productions

A documentary project on the global water crisis that takes the loves of 6,000 children every day. Kalani is a 12-year old girl in Malawi, Africa who spends 5 hours each day hauling water from a mud hole in the ground. Jabou is young activist in South Africa protesting against the installation of pre-paid water meters. Mariam is a mother of 4 in Tanzania who is forced to buy water of questionable quality in anti-freeze containers from a street vendor. These are just a few of the 1.4 billion people around the world who do not have clean water. With all the resources and technology available to us we can stick a space probe into the backside of mars to see if there’s water there or not – but we can’t get a bucket of clean water to a village in Africa? Why not? That is the question that propelled filmmaker Amy Hart to initiate this project in order to see if we could find clearer answers to the questions, learn more about the obstacles and illuminate the solutions. Please visit the official Hart Productions' Water Documentary web site for more information.

Waterbuster

Waterbuster (working title) will be a one-hour documentary chronicling the dislocation of the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara) of North Dakota due to a hydroelectric dam project that inundated their homeland along the banks of the upper Missouri River. It is also the personal story of the directors family (Hidatsa-Mandan) and community, whose life choices were directly and indirectly influenced by this powerful re-shaping of the landscape. The film will examine the events that led up to the building of the Garrison Dam, the subsequent flooding of over 150,000 acres of prime, agricultural bottomland on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, and the resulting responses of a people who have survived centuries of hardship through adaptation and cultural resiliency. The audience will see members of the Three Affiliated Tribes reflecting upon, interpreting, and telling stories about this cataclysmic event, and how they continue to negotiate its legacy. This will be an opportunity for a group of contemporary Native Americans to tell a very personal version of their history to a national audience.

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.