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Faces of Genocide
TYPE: Documentary Feature
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Post-Production
LOGLINE
They suffered starvation and deprivation. They lived in fear of being murdered. They endured the deaths of their children. They are the Faces of Genocide.
SYNOPSIS
Faces of Genocide, the award-winning short-form documentary, is being updated and expanded to a feature-length film, The Broken Promise. Building upon the original film's unflinching and raw first-person stories told by survivors from the numerous genocides of the early twentieth century through to the present day, we confront the question: has "never again" become the world's most unfulfilled promise?
That unfulfilled promise is emotionally expressed by the descendants of survivors who reveal how the trauma of genocide ripples through generations. These descendants passionately express the resolve to fight to ensure the world never forgets the culture of cruelty that humanity has repeatedly allowed to endure.
By now, we should have certified our commitment to the idea of "never again." We have all heard thoughtful and serious news reports using the language of genocide: ethnic cleansing, death marches, eradication, crimes against humanity, mass murder…The Final Solution. Though we have heard genocide described in its many forms time and again, the reality is that the world has been caught unprepared and unwilling to act to stop atrocities in action. What are we to do? Are genocides predictable? Preventable?
Drawing upon the forward-thinking ideas of experts and policymakers, the interplay of racism, authoritarianism, and impunity is shown to be at the core of why and how genocide happens. The rise of authoritarianism globally signals the increased danger of genocide occurring unless we repair our global institutions like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. The Broken Promise makes the case for honest bold action and a renewed dedication to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights belief "…in the dignity and worth of the human person…"
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
We previously completed a documentary short (with the assistance of IFP) of the same title. That short has been very successful at film festivals (Outstanding Achievment in Filmmaking Newport Film Festival 2019) and at Human Rights conferences. We now want to expand the film to feature-length to attract and address a larger broadcast audience.
KEY CREW
Kurt Norton - Co-Director
After a successful career working as a licensed Private Investigator specializing in death penalty cases, Kurt switched paths to focus on documentary filmmaking. He co-directed and co-produced THESE AMAZING SHADOWS in 2011, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, picked up distribution through IFC, and had multiple broadcasts on the PBS series Independent Lens; produced BEING GEORGE CLOONEY, a lively look into the world of the audio dubbing of Hollywood movies for the international market (2016 –Netflix Worldwide); co-produced THE DEEP SKY (2017) a narrative feature, THE S WORD (2017) a moving documentary about suicide survivors, and co-directed FACES OF GENOCIDE, a documentary short subject (2018) that recently won an outstanding short subject award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. He is currently directing a documentary about climate change.
Gayle Donsky - Executive Producer
Gayle Donsky is a retired social worker who has worked in adoptions, foster care, a pediatric outpatient clinic, and private psychotherapy practice. Working in public settings with children, she saw first-hand the devastating effects dysfunctional institutions and governments have on innocent children and families. For 19 years, she wrote and published Pediatric and Family Practice Alert, a quarterly newsletter for pediatricians and family practitioners. Since retirement, she has been active in multiple social justice issues, including the anti-genocide movement. A recipient of the Jewish Community Relations Council’s Honorable Tom Lantos Memorial Award for Unsung Heroes, Gayle has organized numerous Bay Area events and, in New York, The Judgement on Genocide: An International Citizens’ Tribunal for Sudan. She is the executive producer of the award-winning documentary short, FACES OF GENOCIDE (2018), which is currently being expanded to feature-length. She has had many articles published in Northern California papers and is a blogger with the Times of Israel.
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