Documentary Film Projects

Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins

Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins tells the story of media firebrand Molly Ivins, six feet of Texas trouble who took on the Good Old Boy corruption wherever she found it. Her razor sharp wit left both sides of the aisle laughing, and craving ink in her columns. She knew the Bill of Rights was in peril, and said "Polarizing people is a good way to win an election and a good way to wreck a country." Molly's words have proved prescient. Now it's up to us to raise hell! Learn more about the film.

Life & Life

After serving 35 years in prison for murder, musician Reggie Austin faces an uncertain future back on the streets as he tries to rebuild a life, reconnect with his family, and armed with little else but his heart and his music. Learn more about the film.

Sound of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story

Kimjongilia

The Flower of Kim Jong Il, is the first film to fully expose the disaster through a tapestry of defectors’stories,North Korean propaganda, and original performance. This feature documentary shows why the defectors fled, describes their hair-raising escapes, and recounts the dangers they face in China, hunted by Chinese as well as North Korean police. These refugees are from every walk of life, from child concentration camp inmates to an elite concert pianist. But their stories all speak of body-and-soul killing repression and paint a picture of a country so far off the rails it defies belief. Ultimately, these humble heroes are inspiring, for despite their suffering, they hold out hope for a better future. Watch the Trailer Visit the Kimjongilia Website

Angels In the Dust

Angels in the Dust is the story of a courageous, self-sacrificing, fiercely loving woman, who chooses a spiritual path over a material one. It tells of the life-changing power of one compassionate heart. For a nation overwhelmed by an epidemic of HIV/AIDS, orphans, rape, violence, and Apartheid’s legacy of social and political unrest, the film offers a clear pathway of hope and a replicable paradigm for the future. Angels in the Dust won the 2007 Emerging Pictures/ Full Frame Audience Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the 2007 Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival. More On Angels In the Dust

The Defector

Directed by three-time Oscar winning director, Mark Johnathan Harris, The Defector is the extraordinary story of one man’s struggle, sacrifice, and triumph to bring truth to the world. Victor Kravchenko, a high-ranking Communist official, exposed the crimes of Josef Stalin, put the Soviet dictator on trial in Paris in“The Trial of the Century,” and was discovered dead in his Manhattan apartment with a bullet in the head. The documentary also follows Kravchenko’s son, Andrew, who journeys back in time and travels to Paris, Russia, and Ukraine to fulfill the last request of a father he barely knew, and uncover the truth about his father’s life and death. More On The Defector

Children of the Deployed

This was a collaborative effort between the Building Capacity Consortium, the University of Southern California Schools of Social Work and Education, and Command Media, a wounded warrior organization. This video is a montage of testimonies of military students, describing their feelings about being a military child in a civilian public school where the war and family sacrifices are not recognized or addressed. Schools can play a supportive role when their parents deploy. View the film.

The Jüdische Kulturbund Project

The Last Coda: The Rise and Fall of the Jüdische Kulturbund

Nazi Germany, 1933.  Jews are turned out from almost all professions, including the performing arts.  A group of Jewish musicians write a proposal to Joseph Goebbels Office of Propaganda and Enlightenment, asking to set up a cultural organization that allows Jews to perform symphonies, operas, and dramas, for Jewish-only audiences. Goebbels, sensing an international propaganda coup, accepts.

From 1933-1941, the Jüdische Kulturbund, consisting of thousands of members at its peak, performed in 42 theatres across Germany.  When the Kulturbund closed, some members emigrated or went into hiding, most were sent to the camps. This is a little-known story of the power of music, resiliency of the human spirit, and will to survive. 

The film, to be executive produced by James Egan and Gail Prensky, will tell the Kulturbund story through both the words of former Kulturbund members, as captured in recently filmed interviews, and—more dramatically and accessibly—through the documenting of a live, multi-media stage production.  Through the eyes of the young actors and musicians who portray the Kulturbund artists, the story of the Kulturbund comes alive and gains relevance in our world that continues to struggle with oppression.

The Project Team
Gail Prensky, Writer, Executive Producer

As founding producer and director of the Jüdische Kulturbund Project, Gail brings to this project a deep and first-hand understanding of the Kulturbund’s spirit.  Her interviews with the survivors form the basis of her passion and vision for this project, which is rooted in the Kulturbund’s strong regard for music and the performing arts. 

For the last 20 years, Gail has written, produced, and directed a broad range of media projects in film, multimedia, books, and exhibitions for Discovery Communications, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, Time-Life Books, and Glaxo-Wellcome.

Mark Harris - Director
Mark Jonathan Harris is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his films Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (Academy Award Best Feature Documentary 2000) and The Long Way Home (Best Feature Documentary 1997).   Educated at Harvard, Harris co-directed the short The Redwoods for the Sierra Club with Trevor Greenwood; the short won the 1967 Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject.

Ottonia Media, Berlin – Co Producer
OTTONIA Media GmbH was established in 1998 and is responsible for non-fiction TV productions within the Bavaria Film Group, one of Europe's largest and longest-running media operations.

Broadcasting around 7,000 minutes annually, OTTONIA specialises in documentaries, reportages and magazine programmes. It carries out its extensive projects in conjunction with regional, national and international partners.

Cinephil – Co Producer and Distributor
Cinephil  - Philippa Kowarsky Productions Ltd.' handles the sales of distribution rights for International, Israeli and Palestinian films all over the world. It is based in Tel Aviv and since its establishment in January 1997, CINEPHIL has become the sales agent and home for leading producers and filmmakers from around the world.