Blogs from 2009

Feb, 2009

Soldiers of Conscience update:
Lots to report, so in brief – our educational distributor BULL FROG FILMS and our international distributor JOURNEYMAN TV are on the case, so the film is being seen in schools and around the world.   So, to our new fans in Poland and Finland, thanks for tuning in and thanks to the TV stations for buying it.

Meanwhile, the film was one of 4 selected to represent the USA at INPUT, the prestigious international public television conference.  Quite the honor, INPUT is kind of like the Olympics of public television (without the athletes and medals).  So we will be going to Warsaw in May to attend.

and did we mention, 2 listings in Top 10 Films of 2008 … sweet!

March 2009
We are just back from Detroit and Flint Michigan, a 10 day shoot for the Diversity in Philanthropy Project and the Council of Michigan Foundations.  We taped the “Symposium on Transforming Michigan Philanthropy through Diversity & Inclusion” and then taped with member organizations and some of their grantees.  What a great way to get a perspective on a place, and a sector.  It was the best of times and the worst of times.  The group that participated in the symposium are diverse and committed.  The conditions of Detroit and the state are daunting and sobering.  The emptiness of downtown Detroit is ghostlike.  But people are meeting the challenges, in Michigan philanthropy, by pushing themselves to respond fairly and creatively in these times.  Several people asked us to come back in 5 years and see what they’ve done.  We hope to and are really rooting for their success.

July 14, 2009

Soldiers of Conscience has been nominated for a national News and Information Emmy Award.  What an honor!  What a joy.

The nomination is in the catagory  “Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Editing” and so the nominees are … Gary Weimberg and Josh Peterson.

Win or lose, it is a great honor to be nominated.  We are truly thankful.

August – Sept 2009

Luna Productions helps save the rainforest.

Commissioned by Amazon Partnerships; a wonderful NGO non-profit operating out of Tena, Ecuador; we do a 6 day HD shoot and 4 week edit of a short video, explaining both Global Warming and local initiatives to preserve the rainforest – in the local Kichua language.
Wonderful adventure, and a wonderful video.

Dec. 2009

Years end at Luna Productions witnesses the completion of our tri-lingual saving-the-rainforest doc for Amazon Partnerships, entitled Virdi Samay: Nucanchi Makipi Tiaum in Kichwa, or in English Life and Breath: Kichwa Peopple Confront Climate Change in the Amazon, and in Español,  El Aire Da Vida: Salvando La Amazonía; Ian Slattery directing and editing, Catherine co-producing, and Gary shooting in vivid lovely HD.

Meanwhile, for the good people of Detroit, we nearly complete Arts League Moves to Paradise, a short video about the new home for the Arts League of Michigan in the wonderful Carr Cultural Center.  While the original music is being scored, the video is already in use, at fundraising events supporting the building fund of the organization.

On the editing/consulting scene, Gary is editing with and for his dear friends Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine, thus reuniting the Ballet Russes team.  Together with Jen Bradwell they are cutting on two feature length documentaries: a true story murder mystery set in the Galapagos Islands in the 1930’s, and a history of Venture Capital and the long strange unlikely road that has lead the world as we know it today.

Soldiers of Conscience in the spotlight

Soldiers of Conscience was reviewed in the September 2009 issue of  StressPoints, the newsletter of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, the premier society for the exchange of professional knowledge about severe stress and trauma.

In the review, Dr. Kent Drescher of the VA’s National Center for PTSD, called the film “a powerful look into the ethical complexities of war, and the moral decisions faced by those who fight them … the film resonates with a growing awareness of traumatic experiences that can lead to PTSD.” Read the full review here >>

The New York Times recently reported on new research by Dr. Shira Maguen at the San Francisco VA that highlights the traumatic impact of killing on service members and veterans.  Dr. Maguen has previously used excerpts from Soldiers of Conscience as discussion prompts in her group counseling work with veterans.

Soldiers of Conscience received an excellent review in Video Librarian, the most comprehensive video review magazine in the world.

“Soldiers of Conscience does not denigrate the work of the U.S. military or the sacrifices made by soldiers in harm’s way, but instead presents a balanced and mature acknowledgement that some people will follow the dictates of their own consciences over the commands of a temporary ‘superior.'”