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IDA's Fiscal Sponsorship Program is a tool that allows filmmakers to use IDA's 501(c)(3) nonprofit status to fundraise. This status enables donors, wishing to support a documentary film, to receive the tax benefit of making a charitable donation. To learn more about IDA's Fiscal Sponsorship Program click here.

A Finished Life:  The Goodbye & No Regrets TourA Finished Life: The Goodbye & No Regrets Tour
Director: Barbara Green & Michelle Boyaner
Producer: Barbara Green & Michelle Boyaner
Website: www.greeniefilms.com/films/home.htm
"A Finished Life: The Goodbye & No Regrets Tour" is a feature-length documentary about Gregg Gour, a 48-year-old HIV positive gay man who is on the "Road Trip" of his life. Gregg has lived with HIV/AIDS for 24 years, and in July of 2004, after struggling with the side-effects for so long, he stopped taking the HIV/AIDS medications that were making him sicker than the disease itself. When Gregg was given six months to live in December of 2005 he gave away all his belongings, bought an RV, and decided to travel cross-country with his dog Cody, saying goodbye to family and friends in his "Goodbye & No Regrets Tour." Adding to the poignancy of his trip was the fact that Gregg intended to "hasten his death" before he would need to be hospitalized.


A Friend Indeed: The Bill Sackter StoryA Friend Indeed: The Bill Sackter Story
Director: Lane Wyrick
Website: www.BillSackter.com
"He was a little man who made coffee and played the harmonica - and that was enough!" Bill Sackter's life didn't start out extraordinary. As a child, he was abandoned by his family and spent 44 years locked in an institution. When he emerged, he could have easily been forgotten by society had it not been for unlikely friendships and Bill's incredibly positive embrace of life. His story gained international attention through the Emmy Award winning made-for-tv movie "Bill" starring Mickey Rooney. Now, through actual film & video footage and photographs of Bill himself, the real hero for people with disabilities will come to life in this riveting and uplifting feature-length documentary.


A Small Act of KindnessA Small Act of Kindness
Director: Jennifer Arnold
Producer: Jennifer Arnold, Patti Lee
Website: www.asmallact.com
1940, a young girl's future is interrupted by Nazi Laws forbidding Jews to attend school. Forced to leave her parents behind, she escapes to Sweden and begins a new life... 1974, a promising, young Kenyan boy who is a top student in his district is forced to curtail his education due to his family's poverty... 2008, a UN worker is deployed from Geneva to her own country, where her tribe has fallen victim to ethnic violence. Using three remarkable stories separated by decades, cultures and continents, this film hinges on one small act between strangers, which irrevocably changes their lives and communities.


A Taxi OdysseyA Taxi Odyssey
Director: Alexia Haidos
Producer: Dylan Rush, Alexia Haidos and Executive Producer Nia Vardalos
Website: www.ATaxiOdyssey.com
Can these taxi drivers be tamed? Find out in A Taxi Odyssey, the hilarious and insightful story about the infamous, independent, colorful and charming taxi drivers of Athens, Greece as they attend government mandated behavioral seminars to learn better manners. In their cabs, we visit modern Athens on the eve of the 2004 Olympics; experience the struggle to survive in the time of the Euro, feel the growing pains of a country changed forever by globalization, and follow these taxi drivers during charm school in this feature-length documentary which magically captures life in Greece through their eyes and their resilience in the face of change.


A Year in the Life: Healing AfricaA Year in the Life: Healing Africa
Director: David Hudacek
Producer: Robbie Leppzer
Website: www.healingafricafilm.org
"History is biography writ large." The same is true of health care. Many of the triumphs and advances in health care delivery in the developing world are intimately linked to those personalities making a difference. What are their motivations? This is a unique film essay exploring our responsibility to act in the face of suffering. The film is grounded in the reality of a health center and hospice in Africa, framed by interviews with philosophers, theologians, and leaders in public health.


All God's ChildrenAll God's Children
Director: Scott Solary & Luci Westphal
Producer: Scott Solary & Luci Westphal
Website: www.goodhardworkingpeople.com
"All God's Children" takes a personal look at the consequences of child abuse within the Protestant missionary community through the eyes of three former missionary families. While the parents were stationed in remote outposts throughout West Africa, the children were required to attend a missionary boarding school in Mamou, Guinea, run by their Church. Cut off from their parents and without any reliable means of communication, the children suffered extensive abuse at the hands of the all-missionary staff. It took the children decades to acknowledge the effects the abuses had on their lives. When they finally dared to speak out, their Church denied all allegations and refused to help. The children and their parents took action.


All's Well and FairAll's Well and Fair
Director: Luci Westphal
Website: www.GoodHardWorkingPeople.com/allswellandfair.html
All's Well and Fair gives a unique perspective on growth and identity, choice and consequence, through portraying three punk rock mothers and their five children. All's Well and Fair questions the stereotypes of "welfare moms" and alternative culture while examining the pitfalls of capitalism and living on the cusp of poverty. Do these women lead lives of integrity outside of the mainstream system or are they just feeding off the system? Did they have a choice? Through the unique approach of filming the women and their children twice over ten years, in 1996 and 2006, All's Well and Fair furthermore considers how much we all change as we grow up and how much we might stay the same.


Anna May Wong ~ Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times, and LegendAnna May Wong ~ Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times, and Legend
Director: Elaine Mae Woo
Website: www.anna-may-wong.com
Frosted Yellow Willows is the story of Anna May Wong, the first Asian-American film star. She appeared in over 60 films and her very name conjured the exotic scents of the orient and fantasies of faraway lands. Her body slinked and shimmied while her hands hypnotized her eager audiences. She sang and danced on stages throughout Europe and the United States, performed on radio programs, and starred in her own television series. This documentary film recalls her long career, in the context of the anti-Chinese bias of the time, and will introduce modern audiences to an artist who overcame cultural struggles and personal tragedies to pursue her dreams of Hollywood stardom.


Bad Blood: Hemophilia in the Age of AIDSBad Blood: Hemophilia in the Age of AIDS
Director: Marilyn Ness
Producer: Marilyn Ness
Website: www.necessaryfilms.com
BAD BLOOD details the anatomy of a medical disaster that unfolds in the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic when the cause of the disease was still unknown. The hardest hit victims were hemophiliacs, who became the "canaries in the mineshaft" warning the rest of the world that a new disease was in the nation's blood supply. In just seven years, 70% of hemophiliacs in the United States -- 10,000 victims -- would become infected with HIV. BAD BLOOD recounts the complex chain of events that led to the worst medically induced disaster of the 20th Century and considers the valuable lessons to be learned in the wake of this tragedy.


BEYOND EMPIRES: the untold story of South India's social revolutionBEYOND EMPIRES: the untold story of South India's social revolution
Director: Christopher Gilbert
Producer: Christopher Gilbert
Website: www.lamppostmedia.net/beyond_empires/index.html
Who gets celebrated three hundred years after they die? And by a foreign nation? In July 2006, India spent a week honoring a 23-year-old German, who, like a St. Patrick, revitalized South Indian Tamil culture from 1706. And we've never heard of him. He was the first ever Protestant missionary, a Lutheran, but modern India loves Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg for freeing Tamil people from the clutches of ignorance, gender abuse, corrupt rulers and European trading companies. He brought Tamils a written form of their vernacular language, printing presses, schools for girls, and indigenous churches which continue to bear much of the burden of care for India's out castes. European authorities persecuted him to an early death age 36 and his mission board archived his story. Yet, dynamic Hindu/Muslim India is grateful, celebratory. Ziegenbalg lived beyond Empire agendas. This Indian story really matters for a time like ours.


BIRTH: The Journey That Shapes Our LivesBIRTH: The Journey That Shapes Our Lives
Director: Christopher Carson
Producer: Christopher Carson
Website: www.ReverieProductions.com
Birth is a rite of passage through which all human beings pass, but for many mothers the physical realities of labor and birth are confusing and frightening. Why do some women feel deeply empowered by their birth experiences and others feel stripped of their motherhood? Is it safer to give birth in a hospital or at home? Is an elective c-section safe for the mother? The baby? What options are currently available for mothers as to where and how they can labor and give birth? What is the best scientific evidence telling us about the way in which we treat childbirth? The answers might surprise you.


Boys and Men Healing From Child Sexual AbuseBoys and Men Healing From Child Sexual Abuse
Director: Kathy Barbini
Producer: Kathy Barbini & Simon Weinberg
"Boys and Men Healing" is a documentary portraying courageous male survivors of childhood sexual abuse and incest in the process of healing from the devastating effects of this insidious crime. By exploring their intimate lives, our documentary is a powerful witness to the possibilities and hope for victims, those speaking out and ending the cycle of self-abuse, crime, and a life of turmoil and shame. However arduous the healing process, "Boys and Men Healing" illustrates that males can overcome silence and social stigmas related to sexual abuse, while leading fulfilling lives. The documentary is also a bold voice revealing a secret epidemic effecting our families and communities.


Broken PromisesBroken Promises
Director: Melinda Janko
Producer: Melinda Janko
Website: www.brokenpromisesthemovie.com
A powerful reminder that the Indian Wars are far from over, Broken Promises, follows one woman's fight for justice for 500,000 American Indians. In this modern day, David vs. Goliath story, Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet Indian, discovers fraud and corruption in Washington, DC and files the largest class action lawsuit ever filed against the federal government. Billions of dollars of royalty payments for some of the poorest people in America are unaccounted for in what many are calling the "Enron of the US government." Throughout the film we meet Indian beneficiaries who own oil rich land but live in abject poverty. We talk to Senators, government officials, lawyers, and whistle blowers to find out what went wrong and how one woman's lone voice in the wilderness is echoing a truth everyone needs to hear.


Burning Man: The MovieBurning Man: The Movie
Director: Harrod Blank
Website: www.harrodblank.com
Burning Man is the definitive American cultural phenomenon of the turn of the century. Defined by active participation, the festival has grown exponentially over its 20-year history, from a handful of spectators to well over 35,000 participants, each with their own sense of what it all means. In 1993, Harrod Blank perceived something revolutionary in the freedom and expression of Burning Man. He embarked upon an extensive inside look and has been at the festival, 16mm camera in hand, every year since. The film loosely follows Blank, as a participant/voyeur who participates with his art cars, and observes through his lens. The film will offer a cumulative look at the event and its growth, focusing on the array of artistic expression. The relationship between exhibitionism and voyeurism, seen so clearly at Burning Man, will be explored in depth. Mirroring the community spirit of the event, the film will be made up of the work and visions of many other photographers and filmmakers as well.


Challenge AlaskaChallenge Alaska
Director: Steven C. Barber
Producer: Steven C. Barber, Tamara Henry, MA
Website: www.VanillaFire.actorsite.com
Think life is over once you lose your legs? Think again! First-time filmmaker Steven C. Barber catches up with some courageous and inspirational paraplegics that stop for nothing. Traveling 267 miles in 6 days in the tough Alaskan terrain, follow the heartbreak, the laughter, and the triumph as the insanity rolls on... These men and women push their wheelchairs over 50 miles a day through the mountain passes of Denali National Park between Fairbanks and Anchorage in the six most exciting days ever captured on film. Donating to this film will help documentarian Steven C. Barber fulfill his goal to get this film to every spinal cord unit around the world. This adrenaline filled adventure shows what the human spirit can accomplish when faced with the ultimate test.


Children of WarChildren of War
Director: Bryan Single
Producer: Bryan Single and Farzad Karimi
Website: childrenofwarfilm.com
Set in the East African country of Uganda, CHILDREN OF WAR chronicles the daily struggle towards rehabilitation and reconciliation by a group of recently escaped child soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army, one of the world's longest running and most brutal guerilla militia's. To add perspective to the stories of these children, the film also follows the Chief Priest of the Lord's Resistance Army, as well as recipients of the Army's professsed healings and miracles, and victims of its atrocities. Together, these individuals illuminate the pitfalls, challenges, and triumphs of a war-sick society desperately attempting to transition from violence to peace.


Christa McAuliffe: Reach For The StarsChrista McAuliffe: Reach For The Stars
Director: Renee Sotile & Mary Jo Godges
Producer: Renee Sotile & Mary Jo Godges
Website: www.TEACHER1986.com
Everyone knows how Christa McAuliffe's story ended. Now see how this pioneering woman lived. For the first time, the heroic teacher's family, friends, colleagues and even NASA speak candidly about the memories, the pain and events surrounding the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that brought a nation to tears and tore a family apart.


Colorblind or Blinded by Color? The State of Black Equality in AmericaColorblind or Blinded by Color? The State of Black Equality in America
Director: Erma Elzy-Jones
Producer: Anthony Asadullah Samad, Erma Elzy-Jones & Pamela Bright-Moon
Website: www.blackequality.com
Racism, as overt as it's been in the past, has been cleverly disguised in modern day America as colorblindness. Colorblind means one is free from racial prejudice or oblivious to one's color. Our feature length documentary examines the evolution of the race caste system in America by proving that segregationist Jim Crow laws, disguised in modern day terms as colorblindness or race neutrality, still hinders the progress of African Americans. With facts bearing out exaggeration, we prove that inequality and systematic racism still exists in the entire social fabric of America to include: education, the legal system, media and entertainment, in health, labor, housing and economics.


Crazy WisdomCrazy Wisdom
Director: Johanna Demetrakas
Producer: Lisa Leeman, Johanna Demetrakas
Crazy Wisdom is the long-awaited feature documentary to explore the life, teachings, and "crazy wisdom" of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a pivotal figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Called a genius, rascal, and social visionary; 'one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the 20th century,' and 'the bad boy of Buddhism,' Trungpa defied categorization. Raised and trained in the rigorous Tibetan monastic tradition, Trungpa came to the West and shattered our preconceived notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave - he openly smoked, drank, and had intimate relations with students - yet his teachings are recognized as authentic, vast, and influential. Twenty years after his death, with unprecedented access and exclusive archival material, Crazy Wisdom looks at the man and the myths about him, and attempts to set the record straight. "It wasn't what he taught, it was how he taught." Pema Chodron, author, teacher, former student of Trungpa


Crossed LinesCrossed Lines
Director: Jeff Reichert & Seth Resler
Producer: Jeff Reichert & Seth Resler
Website: www.OneEyedManFilms.com
Since the dawn of our democracy, politicians have manipulated the outcomes of elections through a technique that poses a threat not just to Democrats or Republicans, but to Democracy as a whole. In 2003, fifty-three Democratic Representatives fled Texas to prevent the redrawing of state district lines. Republicans not only dispatched state troopers, but also misled the Department of Homeland Security to enlist their help with the chase. It was the latest battle in a war that has raged between the political parties for decades, in which both have used race and redistricting to manipulate elections. One-Eyed Man Films offers Crossed Lines, the definitive feature-length theatrical documentary on the hidden history of our country's redistricting wars.


Cuba: Beyond the Cars and the CigarsCuba: Beyond the Cars and the Cigars
Director: Carlos Alvarado
Producer: Carlos Alvarado & Leonard Shields
Website: www.cubabeyondthecars.org
"Cuba: Beyond the Cars and the Cigars" will shine a light on the Ballet and the arts in Cuba. This documentary-film is about the dreams, the dedication and the struggles of becoming a ballerina in Cuba. It will show how passionate these dancers are about their careers, how hard they work and the limited conditions in which they train, all to get a chance to one day dance for the National Ballet of Cuba and travel to the outside world. Photographer Carlos Alvarado has spent six years shooting the Ballet and the arts in Cuba, and aims to show the world a side of Cuba much too rarely seen.


Cult of Personality: The 2006 New Orleans Mayoral ElectionCult of Personality: The 2006 New Orleans Mayoral Election
Director: Dave Schulz
Producer: Melissa Tallerine
Website: www.hotbuttonprods.com
The New Orleans mayoral election scheduled less than a year after Hurricane Katrina was a circus filled with unique characters, heated debates and groundbreaking politics. In the weeks before the election the city became a hot bed of political, social and economic debate. The stakes in this election were unbelievably high. The winner has the opportunity to direct the city's future. The lure of that power attracted nearly two-dozen candidates, civil rights leaders and national media attention. Amid the endless chatter a voice representing the history and the possibility of New Orleans was quietly rumbling. The voice of the voter took on new shapes The question is whose voice will be the loudest?


Dear DadDear Dad
Director: Mayumi Maruyama
Producer: Mayumi Maruyama
When she was 12 years old, just minutes after a family argument, filmmaker Mayumi Maruyama's father hung himself in the garage of his family's suburban American home. DEAR DAD is her effort to both understand and come to terms with her father's tragic death and to confront the cultural wall of silence which may have contributed to his suicide and continues to separate this modern all-American girl from her traditional Japanese family.


Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His FatherDear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father
Director: Kurt Kuenne
Website: www.dearzachary.com
On the evening of Nov. 5, 2001, Dr. Andrew Bagby, 28, was murdered in a parking lot in western Pennsylvania. The prime suspect, his ex-girlfriend Dr. Shirley Turner, promptly fled the United States for St. John's, Newfoundland -- where she announced that she was pregnant with Andrew's child. She named the little boy Zachary. Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne, Andrew's childhood friend, originally began this film as a way for little Zachary to learn about his father. But when Shirley Turner was allowed to walk free on bail in Canada and given custody of Zachary while awaiting extradition to the United States, the film's focus shifted to Zachary's grandparents, David & Kathleen Bagby, and their desperate efforts to win custody of the boy.


Dislecksia: The MovieDislecksia: The Movie
Director: Harvey Hubbell V
Producer: Andrea Haas Hubbell, Eric Gardner, Jeremy Brecher, Yvonne Reelick
Website: www.capturedtimeproductions.com
About one American in seven has some degree of dyslexia. It's a condition that makes it hard to learn to read the same way other people do. With some special techniques, taught or self-invented, most dyslexics can learn to function normally. A lot of dyslexics are brilliant, talented, and successful. In the comic documentary Dislecksia: The Movie, dyslexic director Harvey Hubbell V with assistance from dyslexic writer Jeremy Brecher and several dyslexic crew members - will present the latest scientific knowledge about dyslexia and the experiences of dyslexics. Viewers will come to know dyslexics and those who teach them and study them not just as statistics or talking heads, but as people. And they'll know a lot about dyslexia: its causes, its effects, and what can be done about it.


Divertissement: Everyday Dancers StoriesDivertissement: Everyday Dancers Stories
Director: Ed Lippman
Producer: Ed Lippman
Website: www.everydaydancers.com
"Divertissement" is the story of a remarkable group of everyday people who came to the study of classical ballet late in life. Ranging in age from 40 - 61, these non-professional dancers trained for, then took part in, an adult only ballet intensive. Each had their own challenges to overcome. Each has a unique story of how they came to dance late in life, and how having the courage to do so changed their lives. For one year we followed a handful of dancers from all walks of life, from all across the country as they prepared for, then took part in, this grueling, week-long intensive. We continued to follow them afterward, witnessing the changes in their lives. By confronting social, emotional and physical obstacles, these remarkable individuals learned that it is never too late to pursue a dream.


Facing SudanFacing Sudan
Director: Bruce David Janu
Website: www.bellbookcamera.com/sudan1.html
A custodian. A housewife. A pediatrician. A grandmother. Seemingly ordinary individuals. Yet these individuals have a story to tell. It is the story of suffering and death. It is the story of refugees. It is the story of terrified villagers running for cover. Yet, at the same time, it is a story of strength, courage and hope. It is the story of Sudan. Over the last 20 years, millions have died in Sudan. A civil war devastated the South and currently a genocide is occurring in the western region of Darfur. Facing Sudan is the story of ordinary individuals, moved into action by the events in Sudan. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things, even in Sudan.


Fate of the LhapaFate of the Lhapa
Director: Sarah C. Sifers
Producer: Sarah C. Sifers
Fate of the Lhapa is a feature-length documentary about the last three Tibetan shamans living in a refugee camp in Nepal. With no other descendants to carry on their healing practices and a younger generation attending schools and modernizing, these "sucking doctors" are practicing an endangered tradition. Each lhapa requested that their story be filmed. Their fear was that the next heir might not appear until after their own deaths. Subsequently, with no lhapa alive to mentor the heirs, the documentary would be used to transmit their healing knowledge. Their tales of nomadic childhoods, shamanic callings and apprenticeships, cosmologies of disease and treatments, and of their flight from Tibet during the Chinese occupation in the late 1950s will be juxtaposed with images of present-day life in the camp, current healing practices and shared concerns of the future and the fate of their tradition. This is a touching portrayal of life in exile in a refugee camp in Nepal.


FeatFeat
Director: Deborah and Bradley Carr
Producer: Deborah and Bradley Carr
Website: www.featmovie.com
FEAT chronicles one man's coast-to-coast quest to run 63 marathons in 63 consecutive days, while pushing a jogging stroller. Endurance runner Timothy Borland seeks to raise awareness and research funds for kids battling a rare terminal disease whose own feet lack the strength to run. Ataxia-Telangiectasia or A-T combines the complexities of cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and immune deficiencies. Most kids are in wheelchairs by age ten and few live beyond their teens. We'll reveal the mystery and progression of the disease through personal portraits of A-T families across the country. While the prognosis is grim, one man's inspirational journey revives hope for a cure or life prolonging treatment.


First GenerationFirst Generation
Director: Jaye J. Fenderson
Producer: Jaye J. Fenderson and Adam Fenderson
Website: www.firstgenerationfilm.com
FIRST GENERATION is a feature-length documentary chronicling the journey of four low-income students who are first in their family attempting to attend college. While education is the most likely means of rising into another socio-economic class, our system makes it extremely difficult to break out of the cycle of poverty. We'll interview our nation's top educational experts to hear their perspective on the problems of access, affordability and guidance facing these first generation students. We'll also take a look at the history of public education and how things have changed in recent years. The film will be a thought-provoking look into what has become a major rite of passage for young people in America: getting into college.


Five SistersFive Sisters
Director: Luci Westphal
Website: www.GoodHardWorkingPeople.com
Five Sisters (working title) paints a portrait of five sisters, in their 70s and 80s. During their annual get-together shortly after the first of the sisters' husbands has passed away, the youngest sister is on a quest to learn from her older siblings about transition and aging. Moving and enlightening, Five Sisters is full of joy and grief and tackles a subject that is essential to all of us - how to live fully and gracefully and yet be realistic about getting older and eventually dying.


FlashbackFlashback
Director: Wendy Anson
Producer: Wendy Anson
"Flashback" dramatically unspools the science behind the long-standing controversy over "recovered memory" of child sexual abuse. Exclusive footage brings the social history of the hard-fought conflict to life as world-class, renowned experts come together at key flashpoints over the years to passionately and eloquently spar over whether or not you can as Elizabeth Loftus challenges, "be raped every night for a 10 year period and then totally repress it until it comes out in therapy 20 years later". Dramatic, compelling evidence from emerging brain science and the moving, engrossing stories from victims of child sexual abuse and lost memory both punctuate the story of the evolving evidence and bring it to a logically convincing conclusion.


For Taka and ManaFor Taka and Mana
Director: Matt Antell, David Hearn
Producer: Matt Antell, David Hearn
Website: fortakaandmana.com
A silent tragedy is taking place in Japan with alarming frequency and it's long past time to bring it into the light. Japan is a country where parental abduction and retention happens everyday. It goes mostly unpunished and in fact is often encouraged mainly because of terribly insufficient laws and a powerless family court system that can do next to nothing to stop it. The police don't get involved, the politicians and media largely pretend it's not a problem, and parents are left on their own to decide their fate in an environment where the first one to grab the kids and run is the one who gets sole custody. It's time for this issue to become known and it's time for Japan to take responsibility and address this dark area of its proud culture. We will examine several cases of parental abduction to show how it happens and what consequences occur as a result. We will hear from professors, lawyers, psychologists, lawmakers and parents of abducted children. We will also meet children who were abducted and we will attempt to speak to the parents who abducted them.


Girls On The WallGirls On The Wall
Director: Heather Ross
Producer: Heather Ross
Website: www.girlsonthewallmovie.com
The teenage girls of Warrenville Prison are not your average juvies. They're the poorest, most damaged, and some would say the most likely kids to remain in the prison system their whole lives. What happens when they're given a shot at redemption... via a musical? We follow four girls as this theatrical experiment challenges them to re-live their crimes, reclaim their humanity, and find their own exuberant voices in a first step toward breaking free of the prison system. With its blend of humor, grittiness and unexpected emotion, GIRLS ON THE WALL turns the prison movie genre on its head and offers a vision of a better criminal justice system: one that begins with understanding who the criminals really are.


Got the facts on Milk?Got the facts on Milk?
Director: Shira Lane
Producer: Shira Lane, Executive Producer: Thomas Sells
Website: www.unleashedproductions.com
Got the facts on Milk? a comical yet jolting feature documentary that questions the health benefits of milk and examines the dairy industry's advertised claims on milk. A hybrid Bible belt style road trip unwinds across America to uncover the compelling behind the scenes story of milk and ultimately meet with the USDA in Washington DC to get the real deal FACTS on milk. Peeking into milking farms, labeling fraud, hormones, obesity, diabetes, cancer, dairy funded experiments, food assistant programs and more. Also includes footage from pop culture, advertising, TV news, interviews and a live milk debate. "Got Milk", the most dominant marketing campaign of our time, uses little known facts about milk and celebrity endorsements to sell the beverage to consumers, as a move to reverse a 30-year decline in milk consumption. With milk allergies on the rise and 75% of the world's population unable to consume milk, who is at greater risk? Is it the milk drinker or the non-milk drinker.


Hawaii - A Voice for SovereigntyHawaii - A Voice for Sovereignty
Director: Catherine Bauknight
Producer: Catherine Bauknight
Website: www.catherinebauknight.com
Hawaii - A Voice for Sovereignty is a documentary film by photojournalist Catherine Bauknight that explores the culture of the Native Hawaiians and their connection to the land. At the forefront of the film are social, economic, and ecological issues that have developed in Hawaii since the takeover by the U.S. in 1893, revealed in interviews with grassroots indigenous people and scholars such as author, Haunani-Kay Trask. The documentary goal is to raise awareness of the issues faced by the Native Hawaiians, which threatens their ancient and environmentally sustainable culture. Bauknight hopes to bring this film to the world stage by theatrical release, screenings at international film festivals, and television programming.


HealedHealed
Director: Sam Karp
Producer: Sam Karp
Website: www.samkarp.net/healed.html
In 1989, Jim Klages - former cornet soloist of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band - was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, which prompted his early retirement. After years of declining health and unsuccessful medical treatments, Jim tried Gonstead chiropractic treatment, which has reduced symptoms since then. However, Jim was not the only one to suffer from MS. His wife and daughter were also deeply affected. Healed explores the toll that chronic illness takes on its victims and caregivers: medically, emotionally, and in Jim's case, musically. In sum, how healed are Jim and his family from this ordeal?


HitmakerHitmaker
Director: Sarah Weinstein
Producer: Sarah Weinstein
Aberdeen, Scotland. 1959. On the city's poor west side, Elsie and Dennis Edwards bring their newborn middle son Graham home to a tiny, rundown apartment in the Kinkorth housing project. 52 Caisdykes Drive would be the music of Graham's childhood - filled with the screams of his parents' drug and alcohol-fueled tumult and the funky beats that would propel him out of Aberdeen, into the most popular rock bands of the 1980s and to the top of the music industry. Today, he is a writer and producer of hit songs including Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" and "I'm With You"; Jason Mraz' "The Remedy"; Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday" and hits by Liz Phair, Korn, Shakira, Ricky Martin and others. Filmed over three years and narrated by Graham himself, "Hitmaker" paints an intimate portrait of his life and his quest for peace and understanding as he returns to Aberdeen to deal with the toll that poverty and a family tragedy have had on both him and his family.


Holy RascalsHoly Rascals
Director: Cathy Zheutlin and Marcia Danab
Producer: Cathy Zheutlin and Marcia Danab
Website: www.wisdomkeepersproject.org
"Holy Rascals" tells the story of a rabbi's spiritual identity crisis, and his journey to playfully confront his teachers from many faiths who got him there. Rabbi Rami Shapiro will face questions from film director, Bill Jersey, a former fundamentalist Baptist and inveterate doubter. Bill will question Rami as Rami questions his teachers. Together, they will travel through the landscape of "the wisdom keepers," some of today's leading mystics and spiritual sages, including Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Reverend Matthew Fox, Sister Jose Hobday, Andrew Harvey, Seyedeh Nahid Angha, Joan Borysenko and Prasana. In keeping with the playful side of understanding mystery and inter-spirituality, fellow traveler, John Cleese makes an appearance, as himself and the voice of "God."


Holy WarriorsHoly Warriors
Director: Marianna Yarovskaya & Olesya Bondareva
Producer: Marianna Yarovskaya
This film follows former Russian soldiers who became spiritual as a result of fighting in many wars. Father Nicolas, a retired colonel from the Special Forces in Chechnya and Afghanistan, is now a Russian Orthodox Priest. Sergei "The Muslim" is a former mercenary who fought "everybody but the Russian Army" and "found all the answers in the Koran." Alexander "The Shaman" was a commander of a platoon in Chechnya and because of his shamanism, he says no one in his platoon died. There is also a Russian Muslim woman-spy who fought in Afghanistan. Holy Warriors chronicles the spiritual upheaval brought about by war on those involved, and offers insight into the resilience of the human spirit during trying times. It demonstrates the traumatic effect of enlisting unwilling soldiers in wartime, while raising the pertinent question of the links between war and religion. As Father Nicolas, a sniper who became a priest, puts it, "There are no atheists in a foxhole."


In the BloodIn the Blood
Director: Justin Frimmer
Producer: Justin Frimmer
Website: www.juniorgloves.com.
"In the Blood" is a feature-length documentary film about boxing from the inside out- a prequel to the sequel. At the heart of the film is the story, both inside and outside the ring, of 16-year-old twin brothers in their last year in the tough ranks of amateur boxing where kids are raised to be world championship fighters. It is a film about boxers becoming boxers and the ritual of boys becoming men in the most unforgiving of sports. The backdrop of their journey is the intense culture of the American boxing capital of Los Angeles where there are more boxers than anywhere else in the country and where Latino immigrants are surging to critical mass. From the memories of the first time the boxers walked into a gym, to their daily training regimens, to their supportive families, to the demands of their coaches, to the trials and dangers of the sport, to their fight-by-fight wins and losses, the camera will follow the boxers' journeys as they prepare for an Olympic bid and a life in the sport.
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