22 April 2007

I’m not sure how we’re doing it, yet, but we will. Below are some links to explore options in your area.

But go ahead! Do something for yourself and our beautiful, blue planet. And, while you’re at it, thank Gaylord Nelson.

Earth Day 2007 – Envirolink

earthday.com

The Nature Conservancy

World Wildlife Fund

First Person

Documentary | work-in-progress

Producer-Director
Benjamin Herold with Producer Kate Slovich

Producer-Editor
Sharon Mullally

First Person unfolds through the eyes of six inner city Philadelphia teens struggling to make it to college. Although confronted with similar choices, their divergent paths lead to community college and to the corner, to pending motherhood and to prison. Over two years, these young people take viewers inside their pursuit of higher education—and their struggles to navigate the responsibilities of family, the pressures of the streets, and the challenges of a school system that fails to graduate almost half of its students. The result is a deeply personal examination of the price that low-income urban public high school students must pay in order to take the road less traveled.

for more information on First Person

10 April 2007

Ann Tegnell and extendedPLAY’s KNEE DEEP will be the keynote presentation at Pennsylvania’s 4th Statewide Summit for Volunteer Watershed Monitors.

Organized by EASI, the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement, the two day event focuses on information, training and inspiration for volunteer water monitors state-wide. KNEE DEEP features the Center in the Park Senior Environment Corps, which is one of many groups of senior water monitors that EASI helps support. It is the past success and on-going committment of the SEC that makes KNEE DEEP the inspiring keynote.

For more information go to EASI

ROSITA

Documentary | 2005 | 58 mins | view clip

Producers-Directors
Barbara Attie and Jante Goldwater

Editor
Sharon Mullally

ROSITA traces a young girl’s journey from innocent victim to unwitting victor. When a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl becomes pregnant as a result of a rape, her parents — illiterate campesinos working in Costa Rica — seek a legal “therapeutic” abortion to save their only child’s life. Their quest pits them against the governments of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the medical establishment, and the Catholic Church. When their story gains international media attention the repercussions ripple across Latin America and Europe.

“. . . only the most hardhearted of viewers will not be moved by the quandaries faced by Rosita and her impoverished but proud family.”
— Video Librarian March, 2006

Selected Awards & Screenings
CINE Golden Eagle
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, New York
SilverDocs
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Cinefestival en San Antonio
Latin American Film Festival, London
Women’s Film Festival, Vermont
Chicago Latino Film Festival
San Diego Latino Film Festival
Cine Las Americas, Austin
Western Psychological Association Film Festival
United Nations Association Film Festival
INPUT 2007

For purchase information contact Bullfrog Films

Reviews
“ROSITA is the riveting, prize-worthy story of how good people rescued a little girl from the combined tyranny of church and state.”
–Daniel C. Maguire, Professor or Moral Theology, Marquette University

“A heartbreaking true story about a 9-year-old Nicaraguan girl who was raped and impregnated but whose unwanted pregnancy . . . became a political football between abortion rights advocates and antiabortion forces in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.”
–The Washington Post

“ROSITA truly is eye-opening. It chronicles a violation of her [Rosa's] human rights and her dignity. This film is not just for activists in the reproductive rights movement, it is for all who work in social justice and who work to defend our human rights. Her story is both moving and inspiring and demonstrates the tragic realty of a young woman who was stripped of her dignity and denied her fundamental human right to decide her own future.”
–Sylvia Henriquez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

“Emotionally complex…”
–Philadelphia Inquirer

“ROSITA should find an audience with both advocates and opponents of reproductive choice… only the most hardhearted of viewers will not be moved by the quandries faced by Rosita and her impoverished but proud family. Recommended.”
–Video Librarian

“This video provides a glimpse into the views of childhood pregnancy and women’s rights in a region where the Catholic Church has much influence over public policy and is recommended for collections in Latin American and women’s studies, as well as medical ethics.”
–Educational Media Reviews Online

“Film-makers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater piece together the complex story of Rosita’s young and illiterate parents’ fight to get an abortion for their only child… [they] allow the story to unfold through the words of all those involved… Rosita’s story is appalling, yet is sobering to reflect that she is one of the very few lucky ones… [the film-makers] have succeeded in portraying Rosita’s terrible story without resorting to sensationalism.”
–The Lancet

“Talk about a film that has all of the elements of great human drama and pits the marginalized against the powerful – such is the story of Rosita…See this movie. You will never forget ROSITA. I know I won’t.”
–Marcy Bloom, Reproductive Health Reality Check blog

Reunion: A Decade of Solas

CD/DVD

Producers / Directors
John Anthony and Seamus Egan

Editor
Sharon Mullally

The acclaimed Irish band, Solas, recently released Reunion, a CD/DVD retrospective of their ten year career, featuring material from a live concert recorded at Indre Studios in Philadelphia in September, 2005. The DVD tells the story of the band’s formation and growth through interviews and rehearsal footage captured during the run-up to the anniversary concert. Band members reflect on the challenge of losing old members and incorporating new musicians and vocalists as they continued to play and create their singular approach to contemporary/traditional Irish music.

For more information contact Greenlinnet

Fadi Flies a Kite

Documentary | 2003 | 4 mins | view clip

Producer-Director-Editor
Sharon Mullally

Poem
Sue Pierce

In the Spring of 2002, during the second Palestinian intifada, the Israeli army invaded most of the cities in the Occupied West Bank. They declared curfew, placing entire civilian populations under house arrest, often for days at a time. In response, Palestinian children began flying kites off the roofs of their homes to symbolize their desire for freedom of movement and their hope for a peaceful Palestinian state.

As Israeli tanks and jeeps patrol the streets, 14-year old Fadi goes up to his rooftop to fly a homemade kite — an act of defiance, hope and a refusal to be made invisible. The simplicity and beauty of this action confirms the value of every small movement toward nonviolent resolution to conflict.

Selected Awards & Screenings
Painted Bride Art Center – Philadelphia
Philadelphia Film Festival, 2004
ADC Film Festival, 2004
Media(PA) Film Festival, 2004

Broadcast
Through the Lens – a project of WYBE-TV35

to purchase by check
link to order form

buy now
(paypal link)

Short Credits
filmmaker
Sharon Mullaly

writer
Sue Pierce

Arabic translation
Sami Al-Kilani

music
Joseph Tayoun
Roger Mgrdichian
William Tayoun

poem performance
Tom Teti
Barbara Romaine

photo credit
Linda Hanna

Queen of the Mountain

Documentary | 2005 | 56 mins | view clip

Producer / Director
Martha Goell Lubell

Writer / Editor
Sharon Mullally

Theresa Goell started her career as an archaeologist with four strikes against her: she was a female, divorced, a Jew working with Muslims and hearing impaired. But with unshakeable determination, Goell abandoned the comfortable yet restricted lifestyle of her conservative Jewish family in 1933 to pursue her passion at Nemrud Dagh, an isolated mountaintop in Southwestern Turkey that had been shrouded in mystery until Goell’s pioneering excavations. Struggling with a hearing disability, her work at the site was nothing short of extraordinary, bringing roads, tourists and employment to the impoverished local population. After living most of her life as an outsider, Goell became “queen of the mountain,” gaining worldwide attention for her work and finding a new home among the Kurdish community there.

Lubell’s tender film takes the shape of an epic adventure; Goell’s saga comes to life through breathtaking National Geographic archival footage of the excavations, hundreds of family photographs and finally Goell’s stunning oral history and letters, read by acclaimed actress Tovah Feldshuh. Lovingly restoring the legacy of this pioneering Jewish woman, QUEEN OF THE MOUNTAIN offers a unique and intriguing portrait of an eccentric spirit and a true American original.

Selected Awards & Screenings
Archaeology Channel Film & Video Fest, Best Film
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
Broadcast on PBS stations WNET in New York & WHYY in Philadelphia

Quotes
“RECOMMENDED. The tenacity, dedication, and drive of renowned archaeologist, Theresa Goell, come to light in QUEEN OF THE MOUNTAIN. Letters read by actress Tova Feldshuh compliment the detailed research and creativity of this production. Abundant archival footage shot by Goell’s brother, Kermit, and the National Geographic Society allow us to experience the dig as it actually happened and learn about the indigenous people hired to help with the excavation. In addition, the fine cinematography gives us close-up views of these astounding monuments and makes us want to book a tour to Nemrud Dagh ASAP.”
–Educational Media Reviews Online

“An inspiration for women today and for the physically challenged to break through and cross orders and explore possibilities that many think of as impossible. Besides being a woman and deaf, Theresa crossed another border and one with powerful contemporary meaning—she was a single Jewish woman working in Turkey with counterparts who were male and Muslim.”
–John Raines, PhD, Professor of Religion, Temple University

“I was enthralled from beginning to end, with my head almost glued to the screen. The personal as well as the professional aspects of Theresa’s career… and the marvelous films of her work on the excavation at Nemrud Dagh. I just can’t say enough good about the film.”
–Eileen Markson, Librarian, Bryn Mawr College

For purchase information contact Women Make Movies

DARING TO RESIST

Three Women Face the Holocaust

Documentary | 1999 | 57 mins

Producers-Directors
Barbara Attie and Martha Goell Lubell

Editor
Sharon Mullally

Why would a young person choose resistance rather than submission during Hitler’s reign of terror while her world was collapsing around her? In this gripping documentary, three Jewish women answer this question by recalling their lives as teenagers in occupied Holland, Hungary and Poland, when they refused to remain passive as the Nazis rounded up local Jewish populations. Defying her family’s wishes, each girl found an unexpected way of fighting back–as a ballet dancer shuttling Jews to safe houses and distributing resistance newspapers; as a photographer and partisan waging guerrilla war against the Germans; and as a leader in an underground Zionist group smuggling Jews across the border. Enriched by home movies, archival footage, and previously unpublished photographs, the women’s varied and vibrant stories provide a unique look at Jewish resistance to Nazism, a subject all too often consigned to history’s footnotes.

Selected Awards & Screenings
First Prize for Holocaust Biography – International Jewish Video Competition
Grand Prize Documentary – Atlantic City Film Festival
Double Take (now Full Frame) International Documentary Festival
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
Women in the Directors Chair

Broadcast
National PBS broadcast 2000 – 2002

Quotes
“Women’s roles during the Third Reich have received little attention in monographs and films; even less work has been done on the contributions women made to resistance under Nazism. [This] film will begin to fill in information on this much neglected subject.”
–Mary Johnson, Facing History & Ourselves

“A powerful example for young people, especially young women, of how to take a stand and make a difference in their lives and those of others.”
–Joyce Apsel, Anne Frank Center USA

“What really impressed me, in addition to the women’s narratives and warm, lively manner, was the professionalism of the editing. This is such important work.”
–Claudia Koonz, Department of History, Duke University

“Given the lack of focus in existing materials on what women were doing to resist, not just what women suffered under Nazi power, this video should receive wide reception and use in schools and synagogues and churches.”
–John C. Raines, Department of Religion, Temple University

for more information on DARING TO RESIST

for purchase information contact Women Make Movies

KNEE DEEP, extendedPLAY’s documentary on the Center in the Park Senior Environment Corps, will begin a three year run on public television stations around the country beginning April 1, 2007. It’s no joke! American Public Television is putting up a satellite feed of KNEE DEEP in late March. Participating public stations around the country sign up to download the show and can then program it anytime over the next three years. So, keep your eyes peeled and on your local PBS station schedule. APT expects dense programming of KNEE DEEP in conjunction with Earth Day, which is April 22 this year.

Everything you pour down the storm drains end up in the water supply. And the only way to find out is to check the rivers and streams that empty into the Schuylkill where we eventually get our water.

Ed Chun, retired chemist

The half hour television program follows the Senior Environment Corps over the course of a year as they sample and test the waters of creeks in and around Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. Putting pressure on public agencies to correct problems with pollution, educating schoolchildren about the environment, and simply looking out for each other makes them quiet heros that the entire nation will now get to meet.

KNEE DEEP is produced by Ann Tegnell and Sharon Mullally of extendedPLAY inc., distributed nationally by American Public Television, and presented by WHYY-Philadelphia.