Video Bravo

My latest video production for CU Foundation highlights the students in the first class of the BA/BS-MD program, a new scholarship initiative launched this fall at UC Denver. The full ride scholarship provides a chance for high school students from all over Colorado to pursue an undergraduate degree and then go on to medical school. The requirements to get in are rigorous and and the students are amazing kids.

I have been working this summer with Nancy Grimes at Boulder County Aging Services to update “Project Visibility” a documentary film I produced in 2004. The film is part of a training program initiated six years ago by BCAS to raise awareness and create dialog around issues of LGBT aging. The original film has interviews with eight elders, five lesbians and three gay men, all talking about their lives and the challenges they face as they age. The updated version includes Shari Miller and elder transwoman and Dr. Anna Wegleitner a Denver physician who welcomes LGBT patients to her practice.

The new film made it’s debut at the SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) of the Rockies Regional Conference on October 8 at the Sheraton Downtown Denver. The screening was part of the Saturday luncheon program and several hundred people viewed the film followed by a panel Q&A with the creative team. On the panel were Rosemary Williams, retired division manager of Boulder County Aging Services whose leadership fostered the production of the film in 2004, Teresa De Anni, Healthy Aging Programs Manager at BCAS who came up with the idea for the film and got it funded! Kathy Glass and Carmah Lawler two of the “stars” in the film and both longtime members of OLOC (Old Lesbians Organizing for Change) Nancy Grimes, LGBT Programs Specialist at BCAS and Carol Christenson (that’s me) Director and Producer.

During the Q&A the panel was able to discuss the making of the film, the controversy that it caused (yes even in Boulder County we had some resistance) and the amazing impact that it has had over the years. I was particularly happy to be able to personally express my gratitude and pride at being part of this wonderful project.

For info about the film and trainings go to projectvisibility.org

For the past year I have been working with Gus Spheeris, Creative Director of Bent Lens Cinema and Jean Hodges of PFLAG Boulder County to produce a film about the lives of transgender people.  ” Faces and Facets of Transgender Experience” screened for the first time at the Boulder Public Library on September 15 and it was an amazing experience. The crowd was so large that we had to turn people away and the auditorium was literally packed with people standing in the aisles and anywhere else a spot could be found.

The film is made up of interviews with eighteen transgender people ages 11-72 all with different experiences woven together in a compelling story of challenge with a good dose of humor.  Families with trans children talk candidly about their paths and offer guidance to other parents who may find themselves in this situation. Adults young, middle aged, and elderly provide tremendous insight into what it is to be trans and how being who you are in every sense of the word can mean much more than many of us have ever considered. During the making of the film I learned so many things and met so many coragous and wonderful people. It is my sincere hope that the film will promote understanding and acceptance and be a small step on the journey to equality for transgender people.

For information about the film go to pflagboulder.org

Here is the introduction to the film:

I recently produced a video for Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for their annual fundraiser “Wild Night for Wildlife” held in the Glenn Miller Ballroom, CU Boulder on September 10, 2010. The event was a great success and they were able to raise $20,000 more than the year before! The video tells the story of Greenwood from the perspective of the staff and volunteers using a combination of candid video and voice over. I find that the most successful fundraising videos tell a simple story through the eyes and voices of those who do the work or benefit from the work. In this case the animals, many of them babies, provided great live video and two of the staff members Susan Honeycutt and Dahna Reichart spoke from their own experiences to create a compelling voice over. I wanted the video to describe the important mission as well as the thoughtful care given to animals that find their way to Greenwood knowing that when donors get a chance to see and hear what is going on they are motivated to give.