butlerfilms

A BUTLERFILMS PRODUCTION FOR THE RELIGION, RACE & DEMOCRACY LAB

In God $ Green: An Unholy Alliance viewers are taken on an eye-opening journey through decades of religious polarization, political propaganda, corporate deal-making, and environmental injustice based on systemic racism. It’s a story often told in light of social and cultural issues. It’s told less so in relation to the biggest crisis facing us today—climate change.

Featured in the 33rd annual Virginia Film Festival

WATCH GOD $ GREEN: AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE

Jeanine Butler- Director/ co-producer/ co-writer

Catherine Butler- Co-producer/ co-writer

©Butlerfilms/Contemporary Dialogs

American Heretics: The Politics of the Gospel offers a poignant glimpse into the deeply-entwined, polarizing, and often misunderstood history of religion, race and politics as seen through the point of view of a courageous group of Oklahomans working to bridge the divide within their communities. Leading historical, religious and constitutional experts also bring compelling perspective on how the conservative Christian agenda emerged over the last 30 years to become a powerful and divisive force in today’s political landscape. Directed and Produced by Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Jeanine and Catherine Butler; Edited by award-winning editor Jamie Lee Godfrey; with cinematography by Peter Hutchens.

More information about American Heretics: Politics of the Gospel

Jeanine Isabel Butler, Director/Producer for Newseum Productions  

Footage and images © Newseum Productions     

“How do you cover 100 years in 12½ minutes? That was the question when we set out to make a short film to celebrate the centennial of the Pulitzer Prizes.

We wanted a film that paid homage to the past but also conveyed the present and pointed to the future. We wanted the film to reflect the four themes of our celebration, all subjects of much prize-winning work over the years: Social Justice and Equality, War and Peace, The Presidency, and Power and Accountability.

We turned to the Newseum in Washington, D.C., for help with the film. We invited several Pulitzer Prize winners for on-camera interviews. Jeanine Butler, who heads Butlerfilms, produced and directed the film. Nancy Earle, our centennial coordinator, tracked the project in its every detail.

The result, which debuted last Thursday night during the Poynter Institute’s Pulitzer centennial marquee event, will be shown at events around the country throughout the rest of the year.

Here we share it with you.

Thank you,”

Mike Pride, Administrator, The Pulitzer Prizes

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prizes, the Newseum will update its exclusive Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery with new photographs and new ways to experience the stories behind the images. 

The Pulitzer Prizes at 100 was Awarded a Gold Medal at the 2017 New York Festival's World’s Best TV & Films. 

For More Information

  2002 Pulitzer for Feature Photography "Pakistan and Afghanistan" The New York Times photo staff (Photo Credit: James Hill)

Catherine Lynn Butler, Co-Producer for Journey of the Universe LTD/KQED/Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

Footage and images  © Journey of the Universe LTD

Weaving modern science with enduring wisdom from the world’s cultures, Emmy-winning Journey of the Universe explores cosmic and earth evolution as a profound process.

Journey of the Universe

Winner Best Documentary
Northern California Emmy®

Jeanine Isabel Butler, Director/Producer

Catherine Butler, Field Producer

Footage and images © Newseum Productions  

“Justice for All” tells the story of the iconic act of protest during the 1968 Olympics, by U.S. Olympic medalists John Carlos and Tommie Smith. A pivotal moment in U.S. history, their act of defiance continues to resonate with us today. The film features interviews with NFL player Michael Bennett, Harry Edwards, co-founder of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, author and sports historian Dave Zirin and USA TODAY columnist Christine Brennan.

Jeanine Butler,

Producer/ Writer/ Director            

©National Geographic Television 

Lost Cannibals of Europe chronicles an excavation team in Herxheim, Germany as they unearth a Stone Age burial site. Using the latest archaeo-forensic techniques, investigators seek to understand what happened at this mysterious site where an unprecedented number of human bones, pottery shards and stone tools have been discovered.

Explorer : Lost Cannibals of Europe

PBS: DOCUMENTING THE FACE OF AMERICA

Jeanine Butler, Director / Writer / Executive Producer,  

Catherine Butler, Co-Producer  

Alastair Reilly, Co-Producer   

©Butlerfilms                

It was a time of crisis and possibility. A time when Americans saw each other’s faces for the first time and saw the what life was like across the nation – north, south, east and west, rich and poor — during the 1930s and 40s. 

Giving hope to a nation in despair, President Roosevelťs New Deal programs were also responsible for giving some of America’s greatest photographers the opportunity to travel the country to create the largest documentary project in history. 

This one hour PBS special features the compelling – and often surprising — stories from those who were behind the lens, including such legendary photographers as Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, Marion Post Wolcott, Walker Evans, Louise Rosskam and others. 

A short version of the show was featured in the 2002 Sundance On-Line Film Festival. Program support includes PBS affiliate SCETV and the Southern Humanities Media Fund.

For International sales or videos contact: Jeanine Butler

To Purchase DVD For Educational Use Contact; Films Media Group

”If you could get all the work that Stryker was responsible for, you would see the face of America in the 1930s and 40s that nobody has ever seen together.” Gordon Parks https://youtu.be/p-J0tU47XQ4

“Documentary TV at its best.” —New York Daily News, “The Year’s Best Shows and TV Moments—2008”

“The politics and the photographers who shaped those images under the auspices of the federal Farm Security Administration come to life in Documenting the Face of America: Roy Stryker and the F.S.A./O.W.I. Photographers …. F. Jack Hurley, professor emeritus of history at the University of Memphis and author of a book on Mr. Stryker said in an interview that Documenting the Face of America helped put a few dozen widely reproduced Depression-era photographs into a broader context.” —The New York Times

Footage and feature doc © Butlerfilms

Jeanine Butler, Field Producer                              

©EveryHill Films/ The National Geographic Channel 

It’s a big story, and possibly at the root of everything we’ve ever done as a species. The trajectory of the six-hour series loosely follows the advances in food technology from simplest to the most complex: from our ancestors throwing raw meat on a fire to teams of engineers and flavor technologists spending years perfecting the crunch of a Dorito.  

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEORGE STEINMETZ

NatGeo

Jeanine Butler, Writer                                    

©Wilma TV/ The Discovery Channel/ BBC       

Each year hordes of grizzlies come out of hibernation and are thrust together in a life and death frenzy of feeding, fighting and mating. Their drama culminates with the annual salmon run. Each grizzly bear must double their body weight in less than 6 months in order to survive the looming winter. These vulnerable grizzly bears face many obstacles on the road to survival.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER - DEAN POTTER: THE MAN WHO CAN FLY

Jeanine Butler,  Co-Producer / Writer     

Footage and images ©National Geographic Television         

Legendary rock climber and BASE jumper Dean potter mounts an expedition to free climb the massive peaks of Canada’s Mr. Butte and break his own record for longest wingsuit flight.

Dean Potter - The Man Who Can Fly  (Photo Credit: Jimmy Chin ©National Geographic)

Jeanine Butler, Writer                                    

©Wilma TV/ The Discovery Channel/ BBC        

A team of experts brave the frozen forests of Russia to track one of the world’s rarest animals, the Siberian tiger. When three orphaned cubs are discovered, a desperate rescue mission is launched.

Watch Here

An international team of scientists get their first glimpse at rare camera trap footage of Siberian tigers in the wild.

For more..

Jeanine Butler, Executive Producer / Writer                 

©Duke University Center for Documentary Studies

A butlerfilms Productions

A fifteen minute retrospective to accompany Center for Documentary Studies exhibition on the work of F.S.A.

Louise Rosskam (1910–2003) is one of the elusive pioneers of what some have called the golden age of documentary photography, whose strong work helped to shape the documentary aesthetic from the 1930s through the 1950s via its publication in widely circulated newspapers, magazines, and books. Working for more than three decades in collaboration with her husband, Edwin (1903–1985), she photographed for the Farm Security Administration, the Office of War Information, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, the Puerto Rico Office of Information, and the New Jersey Department of Education. Few of her images bear individual credit — she has explained that at the time the teamwork and the greater social purpose of the camera projects were always paramount.

A Life in Photography is the first contextual exhibition to feature this gifted photographer’s contributions to the larger field of social reform photography.
Footage and images © butlerfilms, llc

Jeanine Butler, Producer/ Writer

© TLC/ National Science Teachers Associates, Summer Productions 

Nominated for a Daytime Emmy, this poignant half-hour film features the intimate stories of a small group of teenagers living with HIV/AIDs. 

1998 Emmy Award Nomination, The Monitor Award's Best Achievement; Cine Golden Eagle; New York International Film Festival Silver Award; Houston International Film Festival Gold Award, WIFV Peer Award; Festival of Science Film and Video for Young People 's Most Inspiring Award

Jeanine Butler, Producer / Writer,

Catherine Butler, Line Producer

©NDI

Win with Women - The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs

A butlerfilms Production

In this powerful short documentary, “Building Bridges” shares inspiring first person accounts of a small group of remarkable Bosnian women who are working together reclaim the peace after years of devastating warfare. 

Narrated by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, this 10-minute short premiered at the 2006 Madeleine K. Albright “Win with Women” Awards Luncheon, and was featured at the 2006 Sarajevo and Prague Film Festivals, and on Current TV’s online “Seeds of Tolerance” website.

Jeanine Butler, Executive Producer

Catherine Butler, Writer/Producer/Director                
© NDI

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs

A butlerfilms Production

To mark its 25th anniversary, the Institute created a film, NDI's First Quarter Century: Working for Democracy and Making Democracy Work. Premiering at the Institute’s awards dinner, and narrated by Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent. This film highlights the Institute's history of supporting the efforts of political parties, civic groups, parliaments, elections and women's groups in more than 100 countries. The Institute also created an anniversary report tracing NDI’s history and focusing on the work it has done around the world through the last quarter century.

Watch the NDI 25th anniversary film, NDI's First Quarter Century: Working for Democracy and Making Democracy Work

Footage and images © NDI

Jeanine Butler, Director/ writer/ co-producer

Catherine Butler, Producer/ Co-Writer

Jamie Lee Godfrey, Editor

Patrick Sheehan, Cinematography

Rueben Aaronson, Cinematography

©Westar Institute

A fifteen minute overview about the work of the organizations biblical scholars and 12 two minute web shorts featuring different scholars expertise. 

Catherine Butler, Senior Co- Writer

©Frame of Mind Films 

In this award-winning series of PBS documentaries, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, along with three generations of Tibetan women, and other powerful visionaries such as Alice Walker, Angeles Arrien, and Dr. Marion Woodman, explore the heroic contributions Tibetan women have made in one of the great movements of nonviolent  resistance, and in re-building and preserving their families and culture in exile.

2009 Emmy Award for best documentary  San Francisco/Northern CA 2010 NATA Insight Award 

Women of Tibet

Catherine Butler, Producer

©Lily Films, INC 

There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America, a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat, and the seeds that we grow. THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truths behind the unlabeled, patented, and genetically-engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for over a decade.  

Described as "One of the best docs of 2005" by the Oscar-nominating committee, the Future of Food has been used to effect positive public awareness around labeling laws, and continues to be widely screened globally in film festivals, conferences, and classrooms.

THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Jeanine Butler, Series Producer, Season 1  

Catherine Butler, Segment Producer, Season 1                                        

Footage and images © The Discovery Channel & Halfyard Productions

A seven-hour reality series for the Discovery Channel exploring the manufacturing process of everything from cheddar cheese to Gibson guitars. Humorist Brian Unger and physicist Dr. Lou Bloomfield take ordinary, everyday objects from the drawing board to the production line.

Catherine Butler, Writer/ Producer

©Active Voice/ Participant Media 

Food, Inc., the Academy Award® nominated documentary by Robert Kenner, lifts the veil on America’s highly mechanized, corporate-controlled food industry. 

The Ingredients for Change Campaign, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Participant Media and Active Voice used the film as part of an interactive engagement campaign targeting lower-income communities nationwide lacking access to nutritional foods, causing disproportionately high rates of obesity and other diet-related health problems.

Jeanine Butler, Producer/ Writer

Catherine Butler, Researcher/ Associate Producer

©Southern California Earthquake Authority, Summer Productions 

This award-winning documentary stars the living Earth, and the powerful unpredictability of earthquakes. We follow the parallel stories of two similar fault lines – the San Andreas in California, and Turkey’s North Anatolian, where we accompany a team of geologists responding to the major 1999 tremor. Weaving together science, history and the challenges faced by scientists, emergency responders and public officials, this half hour profiles the wide variety of experts working to understand and minimize future natural disasters.

Broadcast on The Discovery Channeľs “Assignment Discovery,” the Learning Channel and the National Geographic Channel. Recipient of the 2001 CINE Golden Eagle Award.