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Documenting the Face of America - docam_press.pdf

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:32:36 -0400

Documenting the Face of America
Nominated for 30th Annual Emmy® Awards for News & Documentary

New York Times Review - Recalling a Mission to Capture an Era’s Misery

It was a time when Americans saw each other’s faces for the first time and saw what life was like across the nation – north to south, east to west, rich and poor.

For the first time on television, inspirational “behind the lens” stories from some of the most celebrated photographers in history will air nationwide on PBS. Narrated by Julian Bond, Documenting The Face of America: Roy Stryker and the F.S.A Photographers highlights the forgotten collective pieces of our past. This story celebrates the courage and vision of a small group of legendary photographers and artists such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee and others who worked with the U.S. Government under the unorthodox leadership of Roy Stryker from 1935 to 1943. Together they helped change the course of documentary photography, and introduced Americans to America.

This documentary brings to light, for the first time, the vision, drama and controversy that helped create and preserve a portrait of a decade. With a keen eye for detail and moments of truth, the photographers were given unprecedented freedom to travel and photograph American life from
coast to coast. As Stryker would later comment “Our photographers had one thing in common, and that was a deep respect for human beings.” Their resulting achievement –now considered a national treasure -- includes over 270,000 images archived at the Library of Congress.

Legendary photographer, artist and filmmaker Gordon Parks remembers on-camera how Roy Stryker helped him get to the heart of the matter with his first assignment. “Roy proved to me that you could not photograph a person who turned you away and say ‘this is a bigot’ because bigots have a way of looking just like everybody else. What the camera had to do was expose the evils of racism, the evils of poverty, by showing the people who suffered most under it. That was the way it had to be done.”

Documenting The Face of America - features on-camera interviews with the surviving photographers and their colleagues, as well as candid commentary by respected historians and photo curators who spotlight the stories that emerge from the rich archive of shooting scripts, letters and diaries from the photographers.

“What we think of as social documentary, it starts here,” - Jack Hurley

A one-hour documentary, Documenting The Face of America was produced in cooperation with South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV).

Written and directed by Jeanine Isabel Butler and co-produced by Alastair Reilly and Catherine Lynn Butler, with post-production assistance by The Park Group, this program was also made possible by a grant from The Southern Humanities Media Fund.

www.documentingamerica.org

All videos and images on the Website are copyrighted and they are the properties of butlerfilms or its affiliates.
© 2009 butlerfilms LLC

Building Bridges

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:51:09 -0500

Meet Amira, Snjezana, Ifeta and the women of the Mostar Women’s Citizen Initiative, an exceptional group of community leaders, political activists and ordinary citizens who have launched a joint effort to transcend ethnic and religious strife in a country fractured by war. More than a decade after the Dayton Peace Accords quelled Bosnia’s conflict, the people of Mostar remain divided by the war’s legacy of prejudice, and by a single bridge –the historic Stari Most- the dividing line between Croats and Bosniak Muslims. With narration provided by former U. S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Building Bridges recounts the inspirational story of this remarkable group of women who set aside sharp differences to heal the painful wounds of war. The Mostar Women’s Citizen Initiative’s disciplined and sustained advocacy efforts produced a new law protecting women and families. Through friendship, courage and common purpose, the women find they are changing an entire community, discovering their own inner strength and protecting a future that they came so close to losing.

All videos and images on the Website are copyrighted and they are the properties of butlerfilms or its affiliates.
© 2008 butlerfilms LLC

Yemen: Force Behind the Veil

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 16:58:20 -0500

A ten minute film focusing on women's political participation in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The Win with Women Initiative, launched by NDI Chairman Madeleine Albright, aims to help women increase their political involvement in countries around the world. A nonprofit organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide, NDI provides practical assistance to civic and political leaders advancing democratic values, practices and institutions. Note all photos courtesy of Judy Hallet.

All videos and images on the Website are copyrighted and they are the properties of butlerfilms or its affiliates.
© 2008 butlerfilms LLC

Modern Alchemy: The Material World

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:52:46 -0500

This one-hour pilot about the scientific world of “the stuff of life” was produced for Summer Productions in cooperation with CalTech University’s CENTER FOR THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING OF MATERIALS. The presenting station for the pilot is WETA.

All videos and images on the Website are copyrighted and they are the properties of butlerfilms or its affiliates.
© 2008 butlerfilms LLC

The Future of Food

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 09:14:15 -0500

Catherine Butler - Producer
Lily Films, Inc., Mill Valley, CA , 2001-2004

There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner
tables all over the world. This powerful feature-length documentary
offers an in-depth investigation into the controversy behind the
patented and unlabeled genetically engineered foods that have quietly
filled grocery store shelves for over a decade.

From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca,
Mexico, the film gives voice to the farmers negatively impacted by this
new technology, and investigates the complex web of market and
political forces that are changing the nature of what we eat. Since
it’s initial release, it’s enjoyed theatrical release nationally and
internationally, as well as appearing in numerous film festivals,
schools and in other grassroots community gatherings around the world.

www.thefutureoffood.com

All videos and images on the Website are copyrighted and they are the properties of butlerfilms or its affiliates.
© 2008 butlerfilms LLC