We are moving stories

“I was determined to make this film about the collective experience of the people who were at Columbine on 4/20/99 and not about the crime. I wanted it to be solely about the kids that went through it and we have been healing on our own, but also about how we have come together to help each other.

This film is for anyone who has experienced trauma and can’t believe how we can move through and beyond it.”

“An audience member should watch the film to learn more about Moms Demand Action and how to become a gunsense voter in the next and ongoing elections. The film is not anti-gun. It is anti-gun violence. Gun violence in the US is a national non-partisan public health epidemic. We must all become aware of how to get involved to protect our kids and future generations. ”

“Lola: Girl Got a Gun bares witness to a young and angelic girl who experiences the emotional weight of her mother’s abuse by her conservative NRA member father. The heaviness of the abuse permeates her home, and she searches for an outlet for her anger and fear. She feels that all is lost, until one day she wanders into her parents’ room the morning after a particularly violent night. What she finds changes her worldview permanently: her father’s loaded pistol. She decides to keep it as her own, names it Lola, and paints it bubble gum pink. The girl’s got a gun now – her very own defense – and nobody can take it away from her.”

“My film was inspired by my mother who runs a beareavement center in Baltimore, MD. Thanks to her, she introduced me to 4 mothers who each lost their sons from gun violence in the city. They all had different perspectives about what went down, their process in grief, and seeking the why in the matter. ”

“The America that existed in 2009, which is when them takes place, was very dystopian; only a year removed from the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. This laid the groundwork for the perfect modern Film Noir journey. Blueprinted front and center into the narrative is an Arizona family’s vicissitudes of fortune. Led by a father whose love is so fierce, he ultimately becomes blinded by it in the wake of the carnage unleashed by walking guns”

“Whether you are a believer or not is something we all deal with or experience on some level. The choices our characters make in our story can be directly effected by their personal beliefs. Racism is at the forefront world wide. In God I Trust delves deep into the relationship between racism and how it relates to gun violence in America.”

“I wanted to deal honestly with the subject of violent vengeance. Television and movies usually present this kind of event simply and without nuance. I hope to make people think about how complicated an act like this is for the person taking vengeance.”

“While we have progressed in many ways, ... School shootings have become all too commonplace. I wanted to pivot the conversation (which is typically presented from the male’s point of view within the media) to the female perspective. I also felt it necessary to draw attention to the experience of first responders in our modern-day world. Rarely is the trauma to first-responders even mentioned in gun control debates as a reason to push legislation. ”

“Women who take on tough causes tend to succeed when men fail because women, in my opinion, are far better at compromise. They also know how to delegate. And, most importantly, they know how to share credit. Hence the title “Five Awake.” Not “One Awake.” Even Susan Willis and I in making the film had some differences of opinion. And we worked through them. That’s what women do. ”

“People don’t know much about South Sudan and it’s a great opportunity to start to understand the people and the situation in the country. The wider world usually only associates South Sudan with war and violence, so I’d like to find a different narrative and the wider audience can see a different side of South Sudan where the young generation using creativity to tackle the country’s considerable problems. ”

“The film is predominantly the voice of the artist William Kelly and we examine his personal life against a background of war, poverty and racial conflict. Kelly takes us on an intriguing journey through the history of violence and a study of the human condition through his artwork the”Big Picture”. ”

“What happens to the families who have lost loved ones? What happens to the community members who were witnesses? What happens to the survivor with life-changing PTSD? What happens to the onlooker who doesn’t know how to help?

Film and movement were always my go-to therapy, and TOO MANY BODIES brings the two together as a means to express something that is as important to my soul as is being an American. The music video is partnered with a website for survivors, advocates, and loved ones.”

“Anyone who has suffered mental illness or experienced PTSD – either themselves or friends or family - will gain strength from this film. Many viewers will have personal experience with depression and drug and alcohol problems caused by workplace stress. This film has universal themes that delve into the rights of employees to feel safe and fully equipped with the skills to deal with the trauma they witness or are directly affected by. Emergency service employees, humanitarian workers and those within the media industry will find Jeremy’s story particularly poignant.”

“Most people recognize Son of Sam as an infamous serial killer case, but after 40 years many have forgotten the visceral impact it had on the citizens of New York at the time. This film was designed to capture that feeling of paranoia, fear and hysteria during the summer of ’77. We want modern audiences to experience a sense of what New Yorkers went through.”

“I think seeing two vastly juxtaposed serial killers speak about their creative differences when it comes to murdering the same woman is not an experience you could achieve outside of watching The Fawn Response. Through my film, audiences get a firsthand look at the human psyche when things go wrong, and get a chance to view love, attraction, and affection in a whole new and twisted perspective.”

“I fell in love the idea of a bickering clan of sociopaths with the same dysfunctions as a typical American family and how that could play against the horror of what was happening, sort of an Arrested Development meets the Sawyers from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

“I live in Ottawa. When Cpl Nathan Cirillo was murdered at our National War Memorial I was shocked. I got my camera and went to the Memorial on Elgin Street. Didn’t even think why, I just felt the need to document what had happened a short drive from where I live. That’s pretty personal, don’t you think?”

““In Villereau, a village of five square kilometers in the north of France, a terrorist alert was set off as a result of the villagers’ hysteria. After investigating the matter, the police and army discovered that what they thought was a terrorist attack was actually the result of two overlapping events, the beginning of the hunting season and an argument between two drunken Polish workers. The villagers thought they recognized the words ‘Allah Akbar’ in the foreign language that they could not understand.” I laughed a lot at the story, but it also made me stop and think, which led me to want to make Excess Will Save Us”

“When Renato Curcio, founder and head of the Italian terrorist group Red Brigades, was asked whether he regretted the multiple murders and kidnappings that he committed in the name of their organization, he replied that he didn’t. Something had to be done to disrupt the status quo, and although their revolution ultimately failed, he doesn’t regret doing everything he could have done to, in his eyes, help the cause. ”