OG*
(*The Right Side of History/Wrong Side of the Law) is a feature documentary about the OGs of the Emerald Triangle – the hippies, the hustlers, the activists, and yes, the outlaws, who created the marijuana business. Today, marijuana is entrenched in our culture – we smoke it, we ingest it, and we take it for grant. But the real story of how it all happened has never been told…until now.
The Emerald Triangle OGs changed our world with their weed and fought the war against drugs, so we could all take marijuana for granted. They lived a life most of us could never imagine, and they are finally going to break their wall of secrecy to tell us their unbelievable stories – the hopes, the craziness, the heart – and what it’s really like to be on the right side of history, but the wrong side of the law.
THE BIG PICTURE (TBP) is a documentary feature that seeks to illuminate the critical role community movie theaters play in social cohesion by fostering feelings of togetherness, similarity, and cooperation. It follows the struggle of the residents of Belfast, ME, as they seek to wrest their treasured theater away from closure and create a community art center. Interwoven with this story will be the story of the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA, which was rescued from destruction in 1989 by one of the most dynamic nonprofit fundraising events in the area’s history, as well as a deep look into the neuroscience behind shared experiences and their effect on human behavior.
https://safesetsmovie.org
What is our campaign goal? Our goal is to raise $375,000
How our campaign works
Safe Sets Productions is sponsored by the Filmmakers Collaborative, a 501(c)(3) public non-profit organization, which means that your donations are tax-deductible. All excess funds will be donated to the Motion Picture and Television Fund.
Other Ways You Can Help
1. Equity investment and large donation opportunities for individuals and organizations will include contributor titles in the project. (ex. Funder, Associate Producer, Executive Producer)
2. We are actively seeking partners and underwriter virtual and in-person events and screenings.
3. In-Kind donations of time or material donations are always welcome.
4. All profits from sales of Safe Sets merch will support the film CLICK HERE TO SHOP.
*All donors over $250 get their choice of a Safe Sets T-Shirt
What is the project all about?
In an unyielding exploration of the film and television industry, SAFE SETS host, Dr. Paul Heinzelmann, fearlessly delves into hazardous conditions, exposing the toll on cast and crew. From prolonged workdays and sleep deprivation to chemical exposure and abuse of power, Through riveting accounts of accidents, mental illness, and the detrimental effects on longevity and family life, SAFE SETS reveals the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry.
To expose the dangers faced by cast and crew, the film weaves first-hand accounts from leading actors like Jon Hamm and John Malkovich to production professionals, stunt performers, and union leaders. Each reveals insight into the collective dangers involved in creating the films and streaming series we all love to consume. SAFE SETS aims to inspire a new generation of changemakers who will challenge the industry’s unhealthy norms and prioritize safety and well-being alongside the desire to compel audiences with engaging stories.
What will we do with your donations?
The funds we raise will be used for the completion and distribution of:
1. A feature-length documentary designed to enlighten and educate general audiences while also encouraging change in the film and TV industry.
2. Live events and educational discussions, screenings, and film festival participation.
3. Public Television broadcast to reach a nationwide audience.
4. Educational materials and curriculum designed for film school students and other organizations aiming to create safe and healthy work environments for filmmakers.
What is left for us to do?
● Acquire behind-the-scenes footage and cutaway material, including that from feature films as well as anatomical images that help illustrate health risks associated with chronic sleep fragmentation, second impact syndrome from repeated concussions, exposures to toxins in makeup and props, and much more.
● Complete editing, sound mixing, color correction, music acquisition, etc. for the feature documentary
● Convert over 30 hours of footage into educational materials to provide a valuable resource for current and future generations of film workers.
● Enter Safe Sets theatrical feature into major film festivals.
● Market, sell and distribute this important content to broad audiences.
● Execute a Marketing, Sales & Distribution plan.
What have we done already?
● Preproduction research and development of the story arc.
● Principle photography, including 12 shoots, totaling 45 interviews with subjects ranging from a multitude of positions in the film industry, medical experts, and many more. Production spanned both the east and west coast of the United States as well as Vancouver, Canada.
● Build a professionally designed website
● Created strategic promotional and pitch materials for partners, distributors, and our own channels.
● Seven-episode rough cut to build a course curriculum for film schools.
● Rough cut of a feature-length documentary for theatrical release.
● Collated approximately 25% of stock cutaway material.
● Created a line of industry-themed merchandise.
Risks & Challenges
We are working to get this film out to the public ASAP, while the topic remains especially timely. The project ultimately aims to foster a stronger collaboration between unions, guilds, production companies, studios, and OSHA to create a safer industry for all positions. Broad distribution will be critical if it is to spark positive industry-wide change.
The Impact
What would this mean for the industry?
In today’s ever-evolving film and TV industry, the importance of SAFE SETS cannot be overstated. As the industry adapts to compressed budgets, demanding timelines, and the growing influence of streaming platforms, the well-being of those behind the scenes often takes a backseat. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to shine a light on the hazards and sacrifices faced not only by those in front of the camera, but those behind it. By exposing the dark underbelly of the industry and sparking meaningful dialogue, SAFE SETS addresses critical issues that demand urgent attention. Telling this untold story, can serve as a catalyst to transform the workplace to one where individuals thrive, not just change and fostering a safer, more inclusive environment for all involved in the filmmaking process.
Our Team
Executive Producer, Writer, Co-Director: Paul Heinzelmann is a practicing primary care doctor, additionally trained in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Over the years of providing medical support on sets, he gained a deeper understanding of how film and TV production operates. It became clear that systemic factors were creating unique risks to those working in this industry and sharing these observations has become an important call to action in his career.
Producer: Azadeh Nikzadeh is a Middle Eastern writer, director, producer, and women’s rights activist. She wrote, directed, and produced award-winning films including feature documentaries Banned and The Credible Fear. She has won multiple fellowships and awards such as the Women Empowerment Fellowship, Asian Film Academy Fellowship from the Busan IFF, Athena Film Festival Writing Lab, and an Honorable Mention at the Charlotte Film Festival.
Director / Producer: Jonathan Schwartz is a veteran of film, TV, and new media – with a sharp focus on innovation, human rights and above all successful strategies to protect the global environment and enlist all stakeholders in the realms of conservation and activism.
Producer: Kerri Combs has worked for three decades in creative industries as a musician, producer, arts educator & film technician.She has helped shape the curriculum of film schools in BC to place a greater focus on sustainable cinematography. She launched her production company, FireDance Media, in 2021.
Editor: Richard Levien / New Doc Editing His editing credits include Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight”, short film “Remigration”, and “A Fragile Trust” about the worst plagiarist in the history of the New York Times, which appeared on Independent Lens. He also edited “D Tour”, about a rock drummer struggling with kidney failure, which won Best Bay Area documentary feature at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Levien’s debut feature film as a writer / director,”Collisions” won four SFFILM/KRF Grants.”Collisions” premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 2018, and won the Audience Award (US Independent Cinema: Gold). It has gone on to win 13 awards from 19 festivals. He has a PhD in theoretical physics from Princeton University.
Director of Photography: Zack Richard graduated from The San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 with a BFA in Film. While there he had the good fortune to study with some of the legends of Underground Cinema including George Kuchar, Lawrence Jordan and Bruce Conner. He is a creative, innovative and resourceful director and cinematographer with extensive experience shooting feature films, commercials, music videos and documentaries.
(For guidelines on how to support this project, see https://bit.ly/BTW-How-To-Donate)
Patrick Lydon is a rare bird. A ‘social artist’, his raw materials are human relations. He is a man of vision, intelligence, principle, discipline, huge energy, passion, courage, humour and, most obvious of all, he’s bursting with love for his fellow man, especially the more vulnerable amongst us.
An idealistic intellectual growing up in a high-achieving family in Boston in the 1960s and fuelled by rock ‘n roll, he was destined for a career in rock journalism. By 19 he had reported for the New York Times on The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park and on Woodstock. But a deeper disenchantment with American culture, and then a call to arms in Vietnam, took him instead to Ireland, where his discovery of the Camphill Movement, and with it the love of Gladys Kinghorn, changed his destiny, gave him his vocation and made him the legend he became.
Camphill saw people with and without disability as of equal spiritual integrity, equal in respect and citizenship. They lived a radical form of community life-sharing, guided by the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, with particular emphasis on the potential, education, integration and integrity of all, regardless of ability. Their communities were based in largely self-sustaining, organic farms and gardens. Nobody was paid. People coming to live there found their lives enriched. ‘Cared for’, and ‘carers’ and ‘service provision’ were alien concepts. All contributed according to ability. Many people spent their entire lives in Camphill communities.
In the fifty years since Patrick met Gladys in Camphill, they have been at the heart of that movement in Ireland, in the establishment of over eighteen residential communities and social initiatives, including a concert hall, a café, a biogas energy plant, social farming & gardening, social housing and town planning initiatives, an impending inclusive neighborhood and an arts centre, KCAT, in Callan, Co.Kilkenny, now a busy international hub of creative endeavor.
In 2021, just as Patrick is collaborating with his friend, the filmmaker Éamon Little, on a work to mark Camphill’s fifty years in the Republic of Ireland, he is diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
Born That Way documents Patrick’s final year, in which he looks back on a fascinating life, lays the ground for posthumous, ‘green-shoot’ projects and prepares for death. It will be an unflinching journey to the end of an exemplary life, probing ‘otherness’ in our society and asking searching questions about the future we want to create.
GOOD NEWS
At the end of February 2023, we received Production Funding from Screen Ireland to “the tune of the full sum we asked for, amounting to 28% of our entire budget. This also opens doors to other sources of traditional film funding that, all going well, should bring us up to just under 70% – so we’re happy that the momentum is growing now and the film will be made to the standard envisaged.
Born That Way now has its own Facebook page!
The children’s book Intersection Allies, published by Dottir Press, is an incredible, illustrated children’s book that addresses the important issues going on in today’s world about race, sexuality, class and gender. The three authors behind the book collectively have over a dozen years of experience in helping create constructive conversations about identity and social justice. It is my hope as a filmmaker and animator to bring their compassionate, empathetic book to life through animation, for children and adults to enjoy, engage with, and gain understanding about inclusion and diversity
Albert Corado grew up in Los Angeles raised by his parents who emigrated to the United States from El Salvador. Albert spent many years working as a barista in the city until Mely’s death awakened his political drive. After becoming deeply engaged with his local activist community, Albert sets his sights on the politicians who apologized for the LAPD after his sister’s death. What better way to engage with your local politicians than to run to unseat them?
As the only police abolitionist in the race, Albert’s strategies are unconventional at best, cursing at cops from upscale Hollywood debate stages and promising to “roast marshmallows on burning precincts.” The scope of his campaign illuminates questions that get to the center of local city politics: Who is allowed political speech? What kind of speech is encouraged? Who does it serve to ignore the voices most affected by the failings of our society?
At Albert’s side and a cofounder of the People’s City Council, Ricci Sergienko, is an abolitionist that has helped re-popularize an old form of activism in LA, “birddogging.” This causes some of LA’s most powerful social leaders – like Sheriff Alejandro Villanueva and mayoral candidate Rick Caruso – to take out Facebook ads to demonize him.
A friend and supporter of Albert and the People’s City Council, William Gube, known as @FilmThePoliceLA to his tens of thousands of followers on twitter, spends nearly every night on the streets of Hollywood, listening to police scanners and rushing to nearby police stops to film. He knows nearly every cop in the Hollywood precinct by name because he has filed hundreds of complaints against every one of them.
Throughout the film, our characters rally around Albert’s political campaign, attempting to influence LA politics towards their abolitionist mission.
The campaign, unapologetic in its rhetoric and hatred for LAPD, makes big waves in the race, but ultimately fails to make it past the primary. In the reflection of this failure, Albert and our characters are forced to reevaluate tactics. Do they acquiesce to the critics’ tone-policing of their anger or double down on their hatred of the world they desperately want to change?
No Peace will attempt to tackle structural questions with the criminal justice system in the United States through deeply personal vignettes of three characters working to change it.
This project is 2 years into filming. We intend to film for approximately 1 year more to follow Albert’s evolution as a political actor, the relationships between our characters, the status of police reform following the upcoming election, and engage with expert interviews to further analyze the ideology of police abolition as well as the use of social media in the political sphere of Los Angeles.
Pauline Boty (1938-1966) is one of the most important British artists of the 20th Century — a trailblazer in Pop Art and the burgeoning feminism movement of the 1960’s.
Within her art she analysed, subverted and skewered pop culture and major political events, while questioning the established roles of women in mass culture. Included within her paintings and collages are many of the most famous people and events of that time, such as Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Christine Keeler, the JFK assassination and the Cuba crisis, amongst many others.
Asked why she did this, Boty replied that is because Pop Art is ‘Nostalgia for now…’
Tragically, Boty’s life was cut short at the age of 28 after she was diagnosed with cancer soon after becoming pregnant. Instead of receiving potentially life-saving treatment, Boty chose to keep her baby and died 5 months after her daughter was born.
For the next 25+ years, Boty’s contributions to British Pop, early feminism and 1960’s London were nearly forgotten. Her paintings were locked away at her brother’s farm in Kent.
Only in the 1990s, thanks to the work of art historians such as David Alan Mellor and Dr. Sue Tate, did the art world start to properly appreciate Boty’s contributions to the British Pop movement and how she sought to change the way women are perceived in society.
Boty’s art stands shoulder to shoulder with any produced in London from 1960-1966, and for that reason alone a brighter light should be shone on to the story of her short life and magnificent art. If ever there was a case of ‘what might have been’ it can be applied to the painter Pauline Boty. Now is the right time for her full story to be told.
BrainStorm the Film will transform the landscape around bipolar as we know it. Our goal is to end the stigma, save lives, and maximize health for the millions of people with brains on the bipolar spectrum – and all those who love them.
BrainStorm the Film is an unprecedented initiative that combines inspiring stories of people with lived experience of bipolar, cutting-edge science, and breakthrough treatments in one coherent narrative. It tells a story of hope, substance, and beauty. The film will give viewers new knowledge and power to create real change in their lives: to go from devastation and despair to health and vitality.
The word ‘bipolar’ conjures up images of wild highs, delusions, all-night sprees, and sudden mood crashes. But this manic-depressive behavior, also known as bipolar I disorder, exists only at one extreme end of what we now know as the ‘bipolar spectrum.’ People whose brains fall elsewhere on the bipolar spectrum — bipolar II and others — experience severe, life-threatening depression, but do not exhibit classic mania.
Yes, bipolar without mania does exist. And since bipolar II depression can look so much like classic depression, misdiagnosis is rampant. One out of three people who are diagnosed with depression actually have a bipolar brain – and the antidepressant drugs they are prescribed can lead to dangerous and even lethal consequences.
On average, it takes over 11 years for patients to get a correct diagnosis of bipolar II. In the meantime, they are suffering and dying. They are among the addicted, the incarcerated, the homeless, the suicidal. People with bipolar II are twice as likely to take their own lives as those with classic depression. They are our friends and our family.
Yet it does not have to end this way. As celebrities such as Catherine Zeta Jones and Selena Gomez, as well as heroes like Major General Gregg Martin, can attest, it is possible to live a long, successful life with a bipolar diagnosis. BrainStorm the Film will feature inspiring people living with bipolar –celebrities, physicians, entrepreneurs, military generals, Shark Tank millionaires, and more — who are leading rich and fulfilling lives. Their stories provide inspiration and hope while erasing stigma and shame.
With knowledge crucial for correct diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, BrainStorm the Film will save lives by expanding awareness of the bipolar spectrum and demonstrate how the right treatments can allow every person with bipolar to unlock their fullest potential and thrive.
Please join us in this important mission!
Director: Brandon Katcher
Writer: Ken Pontac
Executive Producer: Suzanne Atherly
Out From the Ashes is the harrowing story of Milena, a young woman from Ukraine, who along with her mother and grandmother (and cat), desperately struggle to escape their war-torn home while an army of supporters on the opposite side of the world fight to keep them safe.
Milena survived the destruction of Mariupol, cowering for a month in the basement of a bombed-out building, watching her home and history burn. She managed to contact Ken Pontac, long-time facebook friend and father figure. Their conversations bolstered Milena’s spirits while Ken listened with growing apprehension. With food running low, Milena was “liberated” by Russians and taken at gunpoint to a Russian-controlled refugee camp. While imprisoned she slept on a filthy, freezing floor with her mother, grandmother, and 200 other kidnapped Ukrainians. After being rescued by a sympathetic Russian, Milena and family were released to a small apartment nearby. But she was still a prisoner. With Ken’s help and the heroic efforts of an international team, three generations of the family were extricated from their imprisonment, furtively couch surfing through Russian safe-houses until finally reaching what they believed was freedom in Estonia. A red-tape nightmare forced the family to return to their war-torn home, where they await the international documents that will help them find a life on the other side of the world…if only they’re not recaptured by Russian troops again!
This is not a story about war. This is a story about three generations of women (and a cat) caught in the middle. It’s about finding their way to freedom with the help of a group they’ve never met and the virtual father who just wants his daughter to be safe.
For More Information, Please visit www.outfromtheashes.film
During the mid-20th century International Style and Organic Architecture offered diverging approaches to architecture, ideas about humanity and the world at large. As Organic Architecture came to be misrepresented and diminished it resulted in a loss that extended beyond the creative expression it offered to lasting ramifications for environmental responsibility, cultural legacy, and individuality.
This full length documentary film project reflects on the misunderstood and overlooked history of the Organic Architecture movement coming out of 1950’s Oklahoma by exploring the work of visionary organic architect, thinker and painter Herb Greene.
The documentary film Remembering the Future with Herb Greene is an exploration of a future not chosen and how to reconnect to what is possible.
What’s happened so far:
Phase 1 – California shoot : September 2021
Initial filming began the fall of 2021 in Berkeley, CA as Herb Greene and historian Alan Hess poured over Greene’s architecture drawings discussing Greene’s recollections on the ideas and history behind his iconic works at Greene’s studio.
Alan and Herb continued their conversation in Big Sur, California where Greene and Hess visited the work of organic architect and Herb Greene student Mickey Muennig to explore the organic architecture and surrounding nature of the Post Ranch Inn as well as Muennig’s home on Partington Ridge.
Finishing the 3 day shoot was a visit with renowned ceramic artist John Toki’s studio in Richmond, CA where Greene and Toki looked at their past collaborations and envisioned how public spaces using organic and collage thinking could be realized today.
Phase 1- Oklahoma shoot : October 2021
A collaboration with the Norman Arts Council and funded by the Kirkpatrick foundation Herb Greene is filmed returning to Norman, OK for his first major solo exhibition of paintings and visited three of his most well-known and iconic buildings.
Greene reflects on his time in Oklahoma 70 years ago while remembering what these buildings meant and how it feels to experience them now in their distressed state.
Architect Stephanie Pilat & art historian Francesca Gianni were interviewed to share their knowledge of the context and relevance of Greene’s work.
Phase 1 – California shoot round 2 : July 2022
Herb Greene is filmed with great niece and architect Lila Cohen as he shares the values he’s carried throughout his life and what matters to him most as he narrows in on turning 93. Greene expresses his hopes as he remembers the 9 decades of his life.
An interview with Cohen provides her personal views and perspective of her uncle’s legacy that she’s become dedicated to preserving and sharing.
Phase 1 – goals accomplished:
- A 15 minute film work sample/sizzle reel and a 3 minute trailer have been completed compiling the 25 hours of footage that’s been captured so far.
- The 3 minute trailer will be debuted at the Monterey Design Conference where Herb Greene will be speaking on 10/29/2022 launching a public announcement for the film project
- A film web page and social media pages have been created positioning the project to begin awareness and fundraising
- $50,000 was raised during phase 1 that allowed the completion of the work to date.
What’s next:
$85,000 needs to be raised to generate a promotion and fundraising campaign and complete Phase 2
Phase 2 – some next steps highlights
- The 3 minute trailer will be debuted at the Monterey Design Conference where Herb Greene will be speaking on 10/29/2022 launching a public announcement for the film project
- The 15 film sample will be shared through private events and through larger public events as venues are confirmed to garner attention and support for the film project
- A fundraising campaign will take place starting in December with in-person & online events as well as social media
- Film interviews of additional contributors across the humanities and across multiple regions between March 2023 – September 2023
- Research for relevant archival materials
- Issue a call for materials from colleagues, former Herb Greene students, professionals, and institutions
- Materials acquisition for archival and historic footage and images
- Ongoing editing
- Ongoing archival and materials management
- 3D animation of unrealized work
- Increase film team for additional support needed to accomplish broad range of responsibilities
$87,000 needs to be raised to engage to complete Phase 3
Phase 3 – some next steps highlights
- Continue social media campaign
- Research and development for future screening and film festival submissions
- Film collaborate performance piece at a Herb Greene building, September 2023
- Film restoration of the Prairie House and Joyce Residence, September 2023
- Film upcoming exhibitions and other public presentations
- Compile original music
- Edit the full length feature documentary
- December 2023 release
We are grateful for any support you choose to donate to this project and help us create something special
Official website: rememberingthefuturewithherbgreene.com
