PTSD and Suicide in the military have reached crisis levels.
Winner of the New York Women in Film and Television Award for Excellence in Documentary Directing as well being nominated for Best Documentary Showcase at the Soho International Film Festival 2023.
Final Fight goes deeper than any documentary to date in revealing the root causes of this tragic epidemic by profiling a diverse group of veterans struggling with either combat or sexual assault-related Post Traumatic Stress, a major cause of suicide.
As the devastating war in Afghanistan and Iraq continued on, U.S. military brass who struggled to fight the longest-running war in United States history, largely ignored not only the connection between traumatic brain injuries and suicide but also uncontrolled sexual assault among the rank and file. Leading experts in the field of PTS therapy and brain science offer hope and answers to the struggling veterans profiled in the series but also to the family and friends who love them.
Produced in 2023, director Frances Causey wrote “While I was researching Final Fight, it became painstakingly clear that the US Military had few – if any – answers to the ongoing, historic epidemic of PTSD-related suicide among its veterans. THIS FILM IS THAT ANSWER.”
Largely unknown to most Americans, over the last 20 years, the United States has lost almost five times as many active service members and veterans to suicide than were lost in theentirety of the Global War on Terrorism combat operations.
11 out of 20 veterans of the global war onterrorism have PTSD.
Final Fight offers insight into the issue, but more importantly points to a path of forward hope.
DSL’s available now / DVD’s avail early January 2024
Latvian teen Anastasija clings to the hope of returning to her biological mother despite being paired with a wealthy American couple for adoption.
“Sensitively written… sheds light on the reality of orphanages and international adoptions.” —Cineuropa
Rebellious 13-year-old Anastasija (Emma Skirmante) and her younger sister Diana (Gerda Aljena) live together in an overcrowded Latvian orphanage. While Diana is excited by the news of their pending adoption by a wealthy American couple, Anastasija acts out in defiance, clinging to the hope that they can be reunited with their biological mother who has recently been released from prison.
The award-winning feature debut from Latvian writer/director Linda Olte, SISTERS “adroitly navigates that liminal space between childlike vulnerability and bullish independence” in a moving film highlighted by “strong naturalistic performances from its young cast” (Screen Daily).
WINNER: Best Film, Competition 1-2 Award, Warsaw International Film Festival
WINNER: FIPRESCI Award, Warsaw International Film Festival
WINNER: Best Director, Latvian Film Prize
WINNER: Best Supporting Actress, Latvian Film Prize
WINNER: Audience Award, Bolzano Film Festival
WINNER: IDM Film Award, Bolzano Film Festival
NOMINEE: Best Film, Golden Linden Award, Golden Linden International Film Festival
NOMINEE: Best Film, Tiantan Award, Beijing International Film Festival
NOMINEE: Golden Duke, International European Competition, Odesa International Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION: Tallin Black Nights Film Festival
OFFICIAL SELECTION: NY Baltic Film Festival
2022 / 104 minutes / Color / Foreign Drama (Latvian) w/English Subtitles / A film by Linda Olte
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When a young First Nations client dies in police custody, free-spirited social worker Stevie (Astrid Van Wieren) goes the extra mile to keep the people she works with away from the system she no longer trusts.
Opening her home as a safe haven for George (Marcel Stewart), an ex-con and gambler, Tracy (Claire Burns), a drug-seeking musician, then Mina (Sharmila Dey), a battered wife, Stevie expertly masks her own issues with those of the broken lives she struggles to mend – until she’s confronted with the real dangers of crossing professional lines.
The River You Step In is a gritty, female character-driven Canadian drama.
“Astrid Van Wieren anchors this ensemble drama… Stevie seems driven by an uneasy combination of charity, white-knighting and white guilt. The film’s smartest decision is to put her contradictions out there and leave us wondering.” – Radheyan Simonpillai , NOW Toronto
Set in East End Toronto neighborhoods Leslieville and Riverside, THE RIVER YOU STEP IN is a character-driven drama about how the best intentions can go awry.
“A resonant exploration of the cost and rewards of caring, the pain of losing, and the grace of learning to move on.” – Erika Warmbrunn, author, Where The Pavement Ends.
Multiple awards and a festival favorite from Rotterdam to Madrid to Toronto:
WINNER – Best Canadian Feature, Toronto Independent Film Festival of CIFT
WINNER – Best Actress (Astrid Van Wieren), Toronto International Women Film Festival
WINNER – Best Actress (Astrid Van Wieren), Chicago Indie Film Awards
SEMIFINALIST – Rotterdam Independent Film Festival
SEMIFINALIST – Capital Filmmakers Festival Madrid
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Socially Relevant Film Festival; Great Lakes International Film Festival; Forest City Film Festival; IndieFEST Film Awards
“Strong performances. This film creates a lot of tension all the way through as it explores violence against women and the institutional blindness to this issue.” – Film Director Carolyn Combs
2019 / Drama / English / 97 minutes / Color / A film by Jon Michaelson
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WINNER: Best Documentary, The People’s Film Festival.
New York City is undergoing a period of “hyper-gentrification” unlike anywhere else, but courageous communities and activists are fighting back.
Gentrification is not a new phenomenon. In fact, New Yorkers have been talking about gentrification ever since the term was first coined in the 1960s. But over the decades, as more and more wealthy real estate developers and giant corporations have sought to reconstruct urban landscapes for economic gain, what was once a process of gradual change has turned into a nightmare of radical transformation and displacement.
New York City is currently undergoing a period of “hyper-gentrification” unlike anywhere else in the world.
There Goes the Neighborhood presents a portrait of the communities and activists who are courageously fighting back against the powers of greed and corruption in order to preserve the diversity and culture of their city.
WINNER: IndiePix Vision Award, Winter Film Awards
Documentary / 2022 / English / 74 minutes / A film by Ian Phillips
“Pure Cinema. A bold, dazzling cinematic experiment.” – Film Threat
The Myth Comes to Life as Contemporary Folk Horror in this new and bold reimagining of the Greek myth Leda and the Swan.
Five years in the making, LEDA completed in 2022 as a multi-genre film that straddles MYTHOLOGY and FOLK HORROR with a technical excellence that is unique and cutting edge.
Shot in spectacular STEREO 3D, Leda is available to deliver in 3D as a Bluray 2D/3D unit, as well as a standard 2D DVD.
Winner: Audience Choice Award, Festival of Cinema, New York
Winner: Best Cinematography, Austin Arthouse Film Festival
Winner: Best Art/Experimental Feature, Another Hole in the Head Festival
Winner: Independent Music Awards
Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces and impregnates Leda. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. The subject owed its sixteenth-century popularity to the paradox that it was considered more acceptable to depict a woman in the act of copulation with a swan than with a man.
In this re-imagining of the tale into a contemporary Folk Horror re-telling, Leda lives alone in a family estate. Haunted by a divine presence and recurring memories, she begins to lose touch with reality and time. Her dream-like world spirals into a nightmare of madness as her belly begins to grow.
Director Samuel Tressler IV took on this ambitious production on numerous fronts. Not only is the film in black and white, but it is wordless with cinematography by Nick Midwig (Mars) that will be studied for years to come . The result is an Arthouse cross-over from Ancient Myth to Folk Horror/Thriller.
“Tressler’s film is a captivating fever dream that uses music, sound effects, and startling imagery to weave its magical spell.” – John Seal, Berkeleyside.
“There is something nearly museum quality about this film. Highly Recommended” – Jason Zimmerman, The Sound View
“A joy to behold. A beautiful, literate masterpiece that stands out on its own in a world where cinema has become so frustratingly repetitive.” – Musique Machine
The ensemble cast includes Adeline Thery(Are We Not Cats) as Leda / Mother, CC King(The Murder of Nicole Brown) as the Young Leda, Douglas Cathro(A House of Sparrows) as the Father and Nicolle Marquez (The Geometries of Desire) as the cousin as well as others.
2022 / 75 Minutes / English / Black and White / A Film by Samuel Tressler IV
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Monumental writer in the age of transcendentalism, groundbreaking feminist, critic and parlor conversationalist, Margaret Fuller was the foremost female intellectual of the mid-Victorian Age.
As the first American front-line international war correspondent, she covered the Italian Risorgimento and she herself tilted towards a global utopian revolution.
Margaret Fuller is brought to life through the intimate revelations of award-winning biographers and is animated with a rich period tapestry and an authentic musical score.
The film brings Margaret Fuller out of historical obscurity, exposes her inner life, bridges the gap between her time and ours, and illuminates the gender divisions she challenged in an effort to highlight her achievements.
Margaret Fuller became a member of the elusive Cambridge, Massachusetts intellectuals; the Harvard student’s boy’s club that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, and James Freemen Clark to name just two.
Ralph Waldo Emerson called Fuller “The Greatest Conversationalist that America had”.
Family circumstances had her move to Boston where she became an influential leader and teacher of women’s group.
This film has huge potential in Women’s Studies, History, Sociology, Journalism and Philosophy American Studies and English.
What’s truly fascinating is the growing number of Fuller enthusiasts emerging from affinity groups not usually drawn to the humanities, but who identify with Fuller’s struggles as a woman who overcame economic odds and gender discrimination to create work of true importance.
With her brilliant, socially awkward demeanor, she has a potential following among women who self-reference as nerds, first and second-generation female immigrants who are facing obstacles and limitations in their culture’s patriarchal societies.
Those who use social media and other means to combat inequality may find in Fuller a salty heroine.
2021 / 40 minutes / color and Black & White / English / A film by Jonathan Schwartz
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Based on the true story of Orson Welles, Rose McClendon and their revolutionary Shakespeare production!
Produced by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts in association with Warner Bros., this 14x Festival Winner tells the dramatic story of when, in 1936, Broadway star Rose McClendon and producer John Houseman convinced a gifted but untested 20-year-old Orson Welles to direct Shakespeare’s Macbeth with an all-Black cast in Harlem.
Set in Haiti, the production first earned the nickname “Haitian Vodou” fulfilling the element of witchcraft contained in the Shakespeare original. It later became more famously known as “Voodoo Macbeth”.
A box office sensation, the production, which toured the nation, was regarded as a landmark theatrical event for its innovative interpretation of the play, its success in promoting African-American theater, and its role in the development of Orson Welles as a new and powerful theatrical force.
It was before Citizen Kane and before War of the Worlds. It was dynamic and included Orson and Rose – who also played Lady Macbeth – clashing over everything from scene blocking to crew hires, while Houseman contended with a congressman hell-bent on shutting down what he deemed to be communist propaganda. In the end, Welles and McClendon overcame the political pressure, personal demons, and protests to realize their groundbreaking vision.
This 2021 film / 2022 theatrical release tells the story how Voodoo Macbeth was conceived and developed. Its dramatic and theatrical style is due, at least in part, to the extensive collaboration that went into the production itself. The large cast, numerous directors, multiple producers and the USC/Warner Bros. relationship results not only in incredible storytelling, but also in a new and exciting style of production itself.
The Volume of Festival Wins to Date Speak Loudly. Here are a few…
WINNER
Best Film – Harlem International Film Festival
Best Production – Harlem International Film Festival
Best Actress – Harlem International Film Festival
Best Film – Vail Film Festival
Best Director, Charlotte Black Film Festival
Best Ensemble Cast – San Diego International Film Festival
Director’s Choice Award / Independent Spirit Award – Sedona International Film Festival
Best Director – Catalina Film Festival
Best U.S. Feature – Catalina Film Festival
Best Actress – Catalina Film Festival
Best Actor – Catalina Film Festival
“A moving tribute to an indelible slice of history, that is finally being shared and celebrated! One of Orson Welles’ most pivotal moments, right before Citizen Kane, brought beautifully to life. This story was hidden for far too long, along with Rose McClendon’s wonderful legacy. Some say better late than never, but this story should be shouted from the rooftops, uncovering one of America’s hidden jewels, that was always meant to shine!” – Suzanne Marques, CBS Los Angeles.
“Impressive…the film’s production is itself a collaborative effort in the spirit of the Harlem theatre…”– J. Paul Johnson, 25 Years Later.
“This retelling of a very innovative part of theater and African American history is precious.” – Dwight Brown, National Newspaper Publishers Association.
“A fantastic example of team unity as there is never a sense of multiple voices trying to steer this project…with solid production design up and down the line and never a sense of doubt in the story that it is trying to capture.” – Dave Voigt, In The Seats.
“By all odds, my great success in my life was that play, because the opening night there were five blocks in which all traffic was stopped. You couldn’t get near the theatre in Harlem. Everybody who was anybody in the black or white world was there. And when the play ended there were so many curtain calls that finally they left the curtain open, and the audience came up on the stage to congratulate the actors. And that was magical.” – Orson Welles (1982 interview)
BONUS MATERIAL ON THE DISC VERSIONS
Audio Commentary
Actual 1936 footage from National Archives of the play that toured the country to interracial audiences.
2021 / Drama / 108 minutes / Color / English Language / A film directed by Agazi Desta, Sabina Vajrača, Hannah Bang, Christopher Beaton, Dagmawi Abebe, Victor Alonso-Berbel, Tiffany K. Guillen, Zoë Salnave, Ernesto Sandoval, Roy Arwas, and produced by Xiaoyuan Xiao, Miles Alva , Jason Phillips, John Watson.
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“I had my red hat. It was like… like something that kept me safe.”– Hanka Neiger Ablin.
Winner for Best Historical Documentary, New York Emmy’s 2022 following its WNET-NY Broadcast Premier (Dec. 2021). They Survived Together is a true story of endurance, unity and hope…
“Horrifying eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust eventually lead to an inspiring story of one family banding together to survive the evils of Nazism. [An] extraordinary story of strength and courage.” – Irv Slifkin, Film Critic
“They Survived Together” is the incredible, true story of the Neiger family as they desperately tried to stay alive… and together… as a family with four small children, escaping certain death at the hands of the Nazis.
When Nazi soldiers forced them from their home in Krakow and into the harsh life of the Ghetto, the elders of the family made a vow… they would somehow escape together and survive as a family.
How the family escapes is extraordinary. Their trek to freedom involved forged documents, help along the way from non-Jews who risked their lives to protect them, and a difficult journey to Hungary where they they ended up imprisoned. Ultimately, the Niegers beat the odds and became the one of the few families to survive the Holocaust intact.
Broadcast Premier via WNET NY (Dec. 2021) resulted in an EMMY Nomination (results coming October 2022)
Winner: Best Documentary Feature – Chicago Indie Film Awards
Winner: Best Directors – Euro Film Festival Geneva
Winner: Best US Documentary – International Golden Age Festival
Winner: Best Documentary Feature – SoCal Film Awards
2021 / 75 minutes / Color and Black & White / English / A film by John Rokosny.
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