SCARLET ROAD

Broadcast on CBC Sunday December 9th at 11 PM

Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression, Australian sex worker Rachel Wotton specializes in a long overlooked
clientele— people with disabilities. Working in New South Wales—where prostitution is legal— Rachel’s philosophy is that human touch and sexual intimacy can be the most therapeutic aspects to our existence. Indeed, she is making a dramatic impact on the lives of her customers, many of whom are confined to wheelchairs or cannot speak or move unaided. Through her graduate studies and her nonprofit group Touching Base, Rachel both fights for the rights of sex workers and promotes awareness and access to sexual expression for the disabled through sex work—and brings together these two often marginalized groups. We follow her from conducting sex and disability workshops to speaking to the World Congress on Sexual Health about her mission to observing her overnight stays with severely disabled clients who blossom under her attention—with one man even gaining back lost movement and sensation thanks to his time spent with her. Rachel has made it her life’s work to end the stigma surrounding these populations; the depth, humor and passion in this positive and pro-active documentary will transform the way we see sex workers and people with
disabilities forever.

Fall 2012

MIDDLE OF EVERYWHERE

Broadcast on South Dakota PTV on Aug 9, 8 PM and WGTE Public Media on Sept. 6 at 11PM and Sept. 7 at 3AM.

South Dakota has been at the center of the abortion dispute for many years. In MIDDLE OF EVERYWHERE, native daughter Rebecca Lee returns home to discover the abortion rights debate to be complex, with both sides claiming compassion for women and the same desire to stop the need for abortion. MIDDLE OF EVERYWHERE reveals that the issue goes beyond the simple choices of being for or against abortion to the much deeper national question of what values we hold dear as Americans and as human beings.

October 2 2012 on APTN Reel Insights

October 21 2012 on American Documentary

Renowned for their balance and skill, six generations of Mohawk men have been leaving their families behind on the reservation to travel to New York City, to work on some of the biggest construction jobs in the world. Jerry McDonald Thundercloud and his colleague Sky shuttle between the hard drinking Brooklyn lodging houses they call home during the week and their rural reservation, a grueling drive six hours north, where a family weekend awaits. Their wives are only too familiar with the sacrifices that these jobs have upon family life. While the men are away working, the women often struggle to keep their children away from the illegal temptations of this economically deprived area. Through archival documents and interviews, Academy® Award nominated director Katja Esson (FERRY TALES, LATCHING ON) explores the colorful and at times tragic history of the Mohawk skywalkers, bringing us a nuanced portrait of modern Native American life and a visually stunning story of double lives.

TEA & JUSTICE

Broadcast on local TV stations throughout the US during the months of May, June     and July. Check local listings here.


Tea & Justice chronicles the experiences of three women who joined the New York Police Department during the 1980s—the first Asian women to become members of a force that was largely white and predominantly male. In this award-winning documentary, Officer Trish Ormsby and Detectives Agnes Chan and Christine Leung share their fascinating stories about careers and personal lives, as well as satisfactions and risks on the job, the stereotypes they defied, and how they persevered.

 

THE PRICE OF SEX

Broadcast on Doc Channel, March 10 2012, 8PM ET


An unprecedented and compelling inquiry into a dark side of immigration so difficult to cover or probe with depth, THE PRICE OF SEX sheds light on the underground criminal network of human trafficking and experiences of trafficked Eastern European women forced into prostitution abroad. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova's feature documentary caps years of painstaking, on-the-ground reporting that aired on Frontline (PBS) and 60 Minutes (CBS) and earned her an Emmy nomination, Magnum photo agency's Inge Morath Award, and a Webby for Internet excellence.
 

Winter 2011/2012
 

SARABAH

Broadcast on Link TV January 15, 2012


Rapper, singer and activist, Sister Fa is hero to young women in Senegal and an unstoppable force for social change. A childhood victim of female genital cutting (FGC), she decided to tackle the issue by starting a grassroots campaign, "Education Without Excision," which uses her music and persuasive powers to end the practice. But until 2010 there's one place she had never brought her message - back home to her own village of Thionck Essyl, where she fears rejection.
 

Fall 2011

PINK SARIS

Broadcast on HBO, November 30, 2011

"A girl's life is cruel...A woman's life is very cruel," notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the center of PINK SARIS, internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto's latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women. Sampat should know - like many others she was married as a young girl into a family which made her work hard and beat her often. But unusually, she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh, many of whom find their way to her doorstep. Like Rekha, a fourteen year old Untouchable, who is three months pregnant and homeless or fifteen year old Renu, whose father-in-law has been raping her. Both young women, frightened and desperate, reach out for their only hope: Sampat Pal and her Gulabi Gang, Northern India's women vigilantes in pink. More.

SIN BY SILENCE

Broadcast on Investigation Discovery, October 17, 2011

Since 1989, Convicted Women Against Abuse, the first inmate-initiated and -led group inside the US prison system, has changed laws for battered women, raised awareness for those on the outside, and educated a system that does not fully comprehend the complexities of domestic abuse. From behind prison walls, SIN BY SILENCE shatters misconceptions and reveals the extraordinary lives of women who have killed their abusers and now advocate for a future free from domestic violence.  More.

SISTERS IN LAW

Broadcast on ITVS, October 9, 2011

Festival favorite Kim Longinotto's latest work (co-directed with Florence Ayisi) is a totally fascinating, often hilarious look at the work of one small courthouse in Cameroon. With fierce compassion, the tough-minded state prosecutor Vera Ngassa and Court President Beatrice Ntuba handle cases of abuse with wisdom, wisecracks and justice in fair measure. A cross between Judge Judy and The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, SISTERS IN LAW has audiences cheering when justice is served. More.

Broadcast on POV, September 20, 2011

THE LEARNING chronicles an emotionally charged year in the lives of four Filipino women as they leave their homeland to teach in Baltimore's inner-city schools. With their increased salaries, they hope to transform their families' impoverished lives back home. But the women also bring idealistic visions of the teacher's craft and of life in America, which soon collide with Baltimore's tough realities.  More.

Summer 2011

FAR FROM HOME

Broadcast on the Doc Channel, July 21, 2011

While busing is a rapidly-fading memory in most American schools, it continues to be a reality for over 3,000 Boston students every year. Kandice is one of them, an African-American teenager who has been bussed to a predominantly white suburb since kindergarten. In this revealing doc, she takes us inside her triumphs, struggles, and conflicted feelings about traversing these two worlds. She also reveals her family's long history of integrated education and activism. More.

Broadcast on KCET, Tuesday, June 14 at 10:00 pm.

Meet Georgina Beyer, the latest "it" girl of New Zealand politics. A one-time sex worker of Maori descent turned public official, Georgina stunned the world in 1999 by becoming the first transgendered person to hold national office. Born George Beyer, this unlikely politician grew up on a small Tarankai farm and later became a small-time celebrity on the cabaret circuit in Auckland. With charisma, humor and charm, Beyer unapologetically recounts her fascinating life story, shares how she overcame adversity and discloses the reasons she decided to run for office in a mostly all white, conservative electorate. More.

Broadcast on TV Ontario, June 22 at 9pm

"A girl's life is cruel...A woman's life is very cruel," notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the center of PINK SARIS, internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto's latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women. (SISTERS IN LAW, DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE, ROUGH AUNTIES) Sampat should know - like many others she was married as a young girl into a family which made her work hard and beat her often. But unusually, she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh, many of whom find their way to her doorstep. Like Rekha, a fourteen year old Untouchable, who is three months pregnant and homeless or fifteen year old Renu, whose father-in-law has been raping her. Both young women, frightened and desperate, reach out for their only hope: Sampat Pal and her Gulabi Gang, Northern India's women vigilantes in pink. More.

 

Spring 2011

PUSHING THE ELEPHANT

Broadcast on PBS - Independent Lens, March 29, 2011

In the late 1990s, Rose Mapendo lost her family and home to the violence that engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo. She emerged advocating forgiveness and reconciliation. In a country where ethnic violence has created seemingly irreparable rifts among Tutsis, Hutus and other Congolese, this remarkable woman is a vital voice in her beleaguered nation's search for peace. More.

MRS. GOUNDO'S DAUGHTER
Broadcast on Afropop, PBS,
February 9, 2011

Mrs. Goundo is fighting to remain in the United States. Threatened with deportation, her two-year-old daughter could be forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), like 85 percent of women and girls in Mali. Using rarely cited grounds for political asylum, Goundo must convince an immigration judge that her daughter is in danger. More.

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