Filmmakers are
keeping their knives sharpend by honing
their craft with documentaries. We expand
that notion with screenings of various
styles and storylines on documentaries.
- FILM SHOWCASE
LISTINGS -
Lillian Benson- "All
Our Sons - Fallen Heroes of 9/11"
Tracie Dean Ponder
- "One Ordinary Woman, One Extraordinary
Journey"
Jerry
Henry - "I Promise Africa"
S.
Pearl Sharp - "The Healing Passage"
- FILMMAKERS
& FILMS -
Lillian
Benson - Producer/Director
Lillian E. Benson, was nominated
for an Emmy for her work on the landmark
Civil Rights series Eyes on the Prize
II. In 2001 she edited ROOTS- Celebrating
25 Years, PBS Hollywood Presents: The
Old Settler, an adaptation of John Henry
Redwood's play directed by Debbie Allen
for KCET, and Robert Young's True to the
Game . Ms. Benson has edited feature films,
television series, and numerous documentaries
for HBO, CNN, A&E and PBS. Ms. Benson
is the first African American female member
of American Cinema Editors, an honorary
society of film editors.
"All Our Sons - Fallen Heroes
of 9/11"
In a profoundly moving new documentary,
"All Our Sons – Fallen Heroes
of 9/11," the families of those African
American firefighters who perished in
the World Trade Towers share their pride
and their pain. Skillfully integrating
news footage with s
ometimes
wrenching, exclusive interviews, this
thirty-minute film paints a vivid portrait
of men like Leon Smith Jr., who declared
at age nine, "Yes I am, Mommy. I
am going to become a firefighter."
And he did. But on 9/11, Leon entered
one of the towers just minutes before
it collapsed.
"All Our Sons" is a loving tribute
to men like Leon; but it is also the willful
effort to document the lives of a people
whose faces are frequently framed outside
the focus of American media, and whose
history is too often scribbled in the
margins of the American journal.
Tracie
Dean Ponder- Writer/Director
The youngest of twelve children,
was born and raised on the south side
of Chicago. She graduated from New York
University with a dual degree in English
and Philosophy. Tracie then went on to
receive her Master of Art degree in Writing
from De Paul University in Chicago. After
graduating from
De Paul University, she moved to California
to pursue her career in filmmaking. In
1999 tracie launched her own film, television
and literary company Ponder This Productions.
She went on to write, direct, and produce
three short 16mm films entitled “When
The Time Comes,” “Our Journey,”
and “Daughter of Sin.” They
have been screened as finalists in several
prestigious film festivals across the
country. She associate produced a feature
entitled “Nikita Blues,”.
She later directed television pilot “Urban
Kloset,” for Plase Roland Productions,
co-produced 35mm short film “The
Message,” for No Weapon Productions
and subsequently wrote directed and produced
her own television pilot entitled “Bourne
Xclusive.” tracie is now treading
documentary waters with the completion
of her first feature documentary “One
Ordinary Woman, One Extraordinary Journey”
and the production of another feature
documentary entitled “Genius In
Motion: The Light Riders” which
she serves as the director and co-producer.
She is an active member of Women In Film
(WIF), American Film Institute (AFI) and
Independent Feature Project West (IFP
West). tracie has written numerous screenplays
and is currently developing several film,
television and literary projects.
"One Ordinary Woman, One
Extraordinary Journey"
One
Ordinary Woman, One Extraordinary Journey"
is a unique and compelling documentary
about the heart and sheer determination
of a single mother, Carrie Ponder, who
overcame, poverty, spousal abuse, homelessness
and gang violence to successfully raise
eight children in the tough inner city
of Chicago and guide each of them to the
best educational institutions in America.
Her stunning, and at times humorous, story
is told through the words of her children,
friends, admirers and Mother Ponder, herself,
as they all come to grips with Carrie's
final debilitating battle with lung cancer.
It is the ultimate story of triumph and
love; a reality tale of one woman's philosophy
about life and her dedication to her family
and community.
