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Sleepovers
TYPE: Documentary
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Completed
LOGLINE
4 girls + 3 sleepovers + 10 years = 1 important conversation about how girls today can successfully navigate adolescence despite the pressures they face. "Sleepover" calls attention to the importance of friendship and helping someone you know whos in tro
SYNOPSIS
The film observes four suburban Milwaukee girls at three sleepovers and in individual interviews over a decade. It takes an unabashed look at how they develop into young women, facing issues such as gender stereotyping, body image, relationships and how they communicate. "Sleepover" shows girls that they can overcome their personal challenges by reaching out to others.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
No TVs, refrigerators or computers. I grew up in India pre-technology, listening to stories from my grandparents and my mother all the adults I encountered had a story to share about their own lives. And then came the magic of radio, which only added to the storytelling environment in which I thrived. Everything I learned growing up came from messages hidden within these real-life stories no one preached or told me what was right or wrong as I learned life's lessons. Despite the decades that have passed since my childhood, the storytelling still holds my attention. While I certainly am comfortable communicating in this age of television and computers, Facebook and Twitter, satellite radio and Web blogs, I am drawn to what I know best: retelling peoples stories with the help of this important visual medium. Making documentaries allows me to return to that pure, magical place of communicating a message through stories. People sometimes confuse stories with fairy tales that have happy and unreal endings. When told well, real stories can evoke emotion, challenge thinking, prompt discussion about difficult topics, contribute in a meaningful way to dialogue in our society and be a catalyst for change.
KEY CREW
Ramon Rivera-Moret - Co-Producer, Cinematographer
Ramón’s films have been shown at Anthology Film Archives; Millennium Film Workshop; The Queens Museum of Art; PBS; the Chicago Latino, Ann Arbor, San Francisco Art Institute and Athens International film festivals. He has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts / American Film Institute, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the Puerto Rico Institute of Culture, the Puerto Rico Film Development Fund, the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the Amherst Art Series fund.
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ramón studied film at the Université de Paris VIII and received a MA in film production from the University of Iowa. He is currently Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and the History of Art at Amherst College, and lives in Brooklyn, NY
Sean Kafer - Editor 1
Sean Kafer is a filmmaker and freelance videographer/editor. He has over ten experimental short films that have screened nationwide. Premiering his first feature length film in 2011, at the Milwaukee Film festival, Valley Maker, follows Kafer and his hand crafted barrel raft down the Mississippi river to New Orleans.
Jessica Farell - Editor 2
Jessica Farrell is a North Dakota native and a recent graduate of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Film and Photography. Jessica has assisted on film & video productions ranging from shorts, features, commercials, and television programs. She is currently producing three short films, along with producing and editing a feature documentary film. Since graduation she has taken a full-time position at Independent Edit and Studios in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Peter Batchelder - Music Composer
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ACCOLADES
UPDATE - January 16, 2020
I am very excited to share that in 2019 after a 7-year hiatus I interviewed the main characters in the film, Molly, Mariah, Isabel, and Suzanna. Currently, I am editing this footage and simultaneously looking for opportunities to screen the original film along with the update.
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