Katahdin Foundation

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Precious Objects of Desire In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee
IN FESTIVALS: In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee is a feature-length documentary exploring the thorny ethical issues surrounding international adoptions through the personal journey of Korean adoptee Deann Borshay Liem, who travels to Korea in search of her “double” – a girl whose identity was switched with hers immediately before Liem was adopted by an American family. This is a follow-up to Liem’s film First Person Plural, which premiered at Sundance and aired on the POV series on PBS.more >>
On Coal River On Coal River
WORLD PREMIERE JUNE 25, 2010: On Coal River is a verite-style documentary film set in the heart of West Virginia, where longtime residents are forced to take a stand against an increasingly mechanized and destructive coal industry. Following in the tradition of documentaries like Harlan County, USA, the film portrays four ordinary Americans facing extraordinary challenges. Dramatic, entertaining and humorous at times, On Coal River captures the nuances and textures of life at the fault lines of our nation's energy and environmental policy debate.more >>
Tierra y Libertad The Garden
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE! Directed by award-winning filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy, this verite-style documentary follows the plight of a 14-acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles. It started as a form of healing after the devastating riots in 1992. Since that time, the South Central Farmers created a miracle in one of the country's most blighted neighborhoods. But in the summer of 2006, after a heavily publicized struggle with a powerful developer, the garden was leveled by bulldozers to make way for a warehouse. It was a tragic end to a long and complicated story.more >>
The End of America The End of America
ON DVD: You may have seen the bumper sticker that says, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” The slogan aptly describes Naomi Wolf’s call to activism in the bestselling book, The End of America. Now from the award-winning directors Annie Sundberg & Ricki Stern (The Trials of Darryl Hunt) comes The End of America documentary. The film puts the recent loss of civil liberties in the U.S. into sharp historical context, and sounds a clarion call for defending the rights so clearly etched in the U.S. Constitution.more >>
A Jihad for Love A Jihad for Love
ON DVD: Filmed in twelve different countries and in nine languages, A Jihad for Love is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex global intersections of Islam and homosexuality. With unprecedented access and depth, the film brings to light the hidden lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims and goes where the silence has been loudest, to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, as well as to Turkey, France, India and South Africa.more >>
Special Circumstances Special Circumstances
ON DVD: At 16, Chilean native Héctor Salgado was arrested, tortured and imprisoned for three years by Pinochet’s forces. By 20, Héctor was without a country, living in exile in the U.S., the very place whose devastating foreign policies in Chile caused the death and torture of thousands. Special Circumstances follows Héctor as he returns to Chile almost thirty years later, looking for answers and justice from the perpetrators and his former captors. In the process, the documentary takes an unflinching look at the legacy of Pinochet in Chile today.more >>
Out in India Out in India: A Family’s Journey
IN FESTIVALS: A documentary about the transforming power of love, and the universal power of the arts, Out in India follows David Gere and Peter Carley, a gay couple with two young children, as they journey to India, where Gere tries to stop the deadly march of AIDS through collaborations with a range of courageous artists. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Tom Keegan, who worked intimately with the participants in the U.S. and India for over a year.more >>
10x10 10x10 (Fiscal Sponsorship)
IN DEVELOPMENT: 10x10 started with a question: Is there a way to end extreme poverty around the world? Yes, there is! Educate girls. Change the world. Now, as part of a worldwide media event and social action campaign, The Documentary Group and Academy Award-nominated director Richard E. Robbins are creating a feature-length film focusing on the lives of ten girls living in extreme poverty in ten communities around the world -- transforming a subject that is vast, complicated and daunting into one that is intimate, personal and accessible. more >>
10x10 Dai Hei (Fiscal Sponsorship)
IN DEVELOPMENT: Dai Hei: A Chinatown Portrait is a story of redemption. While dumpster diving in San Francisco's Chinatown, Wylie Wong, a recent California College of Arts and Crafts graduate, excavated 700 photographs and glass plate negatives. Amid the debris, the eyes of a beautifully hand-painted Cantonese opera star stared out at him. Recognizing the historical and artistic significance, Wylie has sought to bring these photographs to light. more >>
Mama, L'Chaim! Mama, L'Chaim! (Fiscal Sponsorship)
IN FESTIVALS: 61-year-old Chaim lives with his 95-year-old mother, a concentration camp survivor. Knowing what his parents had endured, Chaim made it his mission in life to care for them as they got older and now attends to his mother 24 hours a day. This film shows how Chaim deals with the long-lasting effects of terrible trauma with a generous spirit and a kind heartedness that is inspiring. As the title "Mama, to Life!" shows, it is not about reliving the horrors of the Holocaust but about how one can make this legacy bearable with vitality, love, and even humor.more >>
Outsider at Home Outsider at Home (Fiscal Sponsorship)
IN PRODUCTION: Outsider at Home follows Asian American filmmaker Danny Lee, as he searches for reasons why Hollywood continues to depict Asian American stereotypically in movies and on television. Lee seeks to discover the core reason for the stereotypes, and to find ways to combat these portrayals with positive Asian American images. Educational and informative, this documentary short is also an entertaining cinematic journey into the social and political relationships in the United States’ movie industry.more >>
Wounded Warrior Wounded Warrior (Fiscal Sponsorship)
IN PRODUCTION: Danish director Helle Toft Jensen met Florentina Garnanez in Copenhagen in 2006. "Tina was speaking about her experiences as a medic in Iraq. Everybody was riveted. I knew this young woman's story could reach people all over the world, beyond borders, between generations." Jensen followed Tina to America and gave Tina a camera to make her own video diaries. Tina's story is an iconic one, of people in the new millennium whose young lives have been prematurely shaped by war and trauma.”more >>