Portraits of Emotion: The Story of an Autistic Savant

Portraits of Emotion is a feature length documentary film that follows over the course of four years. the life of 14-year-old Jonathan Lerman, an artistic prodigy who is diagnosed with autism, a lifelong developmental disability that affects learning, communication and social interaction. While capable of drawing astonishing portraits that capture the nuances of human emotion, Jonathan is unable to effectively verbally communicate his feelings.

Saved by Deportation:

An Unknown Odyssey of Polish Jews

Saved By Deportation is the first feature length documentary film to tell the dramatic story of Polish Jews who escaped the Holocaust through their deportation to the Soviet Union. The film recounts the 1940 deportations of Polish Jews from Soviet-occupied eastern Poland to Gulag labor settlementsin the Arctic north; life in Soviet Central Asia after release from the Gulag; and the deportees' experiences upon returning to Poland at the end of World War II and confronting the aftermath of the Holocaust. In recounting the epic saga of the deportations the film examines the essential constructs - family, culture, religion, personal relationships - upon which the deportees relied during their years of exile from 1940 to 1946. The film also addresses how inter-ethnic relations played out in the remote areas of the Soviet Union among the disparate nationalities of Jews, Poles, Russians, and Central Asians.

Płonący Facet 'Burning Man'

On the 20th anniversary of Burning Man, the biggest open festival of art in the world, we followed a dozen Polish artists as they experienced this unique American tradition. This picturesque event, shot in HDV, which brought over forty thousand participants to the Nevada desert, is visually stunning. Because none of the Polish participants had ever been to such an event, their virgin reaction and fresh feelings created a dramatic as well as humorous narration for the film.

Michael & Svetlana

A fascinating transatlantic love affair journey and a documentary about an American who subscribed to matchmaking service to find himself a Russian bride. Michael ultimately chooses Svetlana, a young woman living in a small village in central Russia, who doesn't speak Russian and has never traveled outside of Russia.

The Legacy of Jedwabne

The Legacy of Jedwabne (Dziedzictwo Jedwabnego) is a feature-length documentary that tells the story of a pogrom in 1941 in Jedwabne, Poland and explores the implications of the past for present constructions and negotiations of personal, national and religious identity.

The Closure Myth

The Closure Myth tells the story of Aba Gayle, a woman whose daughter was stabbed to death in 1980, yet who now visits the murderer on death row and acts as an advocate on his behalf. Tracing Aba Gayle’s dramatic transformation from before her daughter’s murder to the present, The Closure Myth tells a powerful story of forgiveness and gives voice to an often overlooked perspective in the death penalty debate.

The Warsaw Ghetto

The Warsaw Ghetto 1940-1943 is documentary project that features three films. The main film is 912 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the two short ones are Children in the Ghetto and Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. These films were created for the Jewish Historical Institute as part of its permanent exhibit on the fate of Warsaw's Jews during the period from 1939 to 1945. They present the daily lives and deaths of those imprisoned in the ghetto, their hopes and efforts to survive, their armed resistance and struggle, and finally their total extermination. Unique Polish and German archival materials were used in the preparation of these films.

BORDERLINE:
The People v. Eunice Baker

BORDERLINE is a feature length documentary that tells the story of Eunice Baker, a borderline mentally retarded woman who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for murdering a young child, despite evidence that the death was accidental.

FENCELINE:
A Company Town Divided

Fenceline follows the story of Margie Richard, who claims that her African American community is suffering adverse health effects, due to the chemical emissions of a neighboring plant owned by the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company.

SCHOOL PRAYER:
A Community at War

A Mississippi mother of six sues her local school district to remove intercom prayer and Bible classes from the public schools. Christian community members rally against her to protect their time-honored tradition of religious practices in the schools. Both sides claim they are fighting for religious freedom.

Zielona Karta (Green Card Gamble)

In Polish

Jest to 31-odcinkowa filmowa telenowela opowiadajaca o losach Polakow, ktorzy wylosowali 'zielona karte' w loterii wizowej organizowanej przez rzad amerykanski. Kilka pierwszych odcinkow pokazuje zycie bohaterow filmu przed wyjazdem do USA - czym sie zajmuja, jakie motywy sklonily ich do wziecia udzialu w loterii i jakie nadzieje wiaza z emigracja. Nastepne odcinki zrealizowane sa juz za oceanem, gdzie 'Polonusi' staraja sie ulozyc nowe zycie.

In English

The documentary series Zielona Karta (Green Card Gamble) follows the lives of three Polish families who, as a result of winning a Diversity Program visa lottery, each received a green card, allowing them to become permanent residents of the United States.

B&B Guestbook 9/11

This half-hour documentary, shot at a bed and breakfast four hours Northwest of New York City, captures the reactions of guests to the September 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath. Regular people, many of whom witnessed the World Trade Center attacks in New York City, describe where they were, what they felt and the actions they took on that day. They speak at the breakfast table, outdoors against a backdrop of fall trees with decaying leaves, and at other locations around a rural log cabin inn. The documentary, entirely shot on digital Betacam and edited digitally, captures the strikingly personal stories of regular people forced to consider fearful realities of humanity in the blink of an eye.

CHELYABINSK:
The Most Contaminated
Spot on the Planet

For forty-five years, Chelyabinsk province of Russia was closed to all foreigners.Only in January of 1992 did President Boris Yeltsin sign a decree changing that.Shortly afterwards, I made my first trip to this region, which later Western scientists declared to be the most polluted spot on earth.

From Chechnya to Chernobyl

The tiny, little-known country of Belarus suffered more than any other in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Winds scattered the heaviest radioactive deposits across the country, where, even after a decade, 25% of the land is judged uninhabitable. Thousands of villages and towns were abandoned or evacuated, and their populations resettled to safer areas.

Like a Butterfly

After spending half of his life in a home for handicapped people, the severely physical handicapped Przemek is given the chance to express himself for the first time. Presumed to be “a vegetable”, gradually he realized that nobody had any idea that he was mentally completely healthy. Accidentally, a therapist discovered the signals which Przemek was sending. She taught him the special picture language Bliss, which allowed the handicapped boy at age sixteen to begin communicating with those around him for the first time. This reflective picture is narrated by Przemek himself

Adopting Olya

Four-year-old Olya has lived in the Children's Home in Chelyabinsk all her life. She has been diagnosed with a vague "developmental disability." Olya knows her future American family only from a little photo album:

"This is Daddy Sam, this is Mom, this is my kitty."

When the Family Gets AIDS

This documentary traces, over a 15-month period, the ravaging impact AIDS has on the Strenger family of rural Pennsylvania. Bill Strenger narrates the video. He, along with his son, was infected by his wife, Donna, who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion.

Is This Life Worth Living?

The new technologies that allow us to prolong life have raised many questions of medical ethics. What is "quality of life?" Who determines or defines this concept? Is This Life Worth Living? examines the different cases of families forced to ask such questions.Their difficult circumstances and their varying reactions are rendered without bias, leaving the audience to continue the debate and grapple with the issues presented.

A Tower of Babel, USA

Dutch from Amsterdam, NY is a family portrait that demonstrates how Americans are as diverse in their ideas and lifestyles as they are in their aspirations and interpretations of the "American Dream." Part of an original four-part series A Tower of Babel-USA, screened on select PBS stations.

My American Dream

This video collection of three episodes is part of a larger ten-part series that explores the "American Dream." The three segments presented in this collection are portraits of unique individuals whom the filmmaker met during his travels to Middle America.

Anna Proletarian

Weeks before Christmas in 1970 the government, under Gomulka's leadership, raised the prices of food, fuel, and other basic goods, and furthermore cancelled the Christmas bonuses for workers at the shipyards. Strikes erupted in the port cities of Gdansk, Szczecin, and Elblag and casualties ensued. Eventually Edward Gierek replaced Gomulka, and after continued strikes, the price hike was finally rescinded in 1971. However, workers had won neither the freedom of speech nor the right to organized free trade unions. In 1978, the Polish activists organized the Constituent Committee of Free Trade Unions of the Baltic (KWZZ) to promote non-violent collective action. The members in the underground organization included Lech Walesa and Anna Walentynowicz. This is the story of Anna Walentynowicz, a seminal figure in the history of the Poland's Solidaronsc. To know Anna's story is to understand the story of Poland.

The Sunday

The boredom of a typical Sunday is relieved when the circus troupe, comes to town. The politically charged performance given by the "Arnoldo and Mellissa Boticellissa" performers turns out to be the troupe's last show.