Flash Update on Interlock Activities As always, Mission-Driven. We are mindful of our roots, these days more than ever. We will always advocate for access to the media by the world’s most vulnerable, those who have been trafficked and enslaved, native peoples, children-at-risk, and the elderly. Interlock is an independent film company, and we produce pro-active social (narrative) dramas, consult, and make documentaries. Docs are increasingly distributed outside of the classical broadcast regime, and the level of funding by major foundations and philanthropies is on the decline. The bad news is that non-fiction programming has been degraded by fear and shlock reality TV. The good news is that the best docs are having more influence than ever on policy. Major Works Interlock is on the move. We are finishing two major film works: Faith in the Big House and the Extraordinary Passage of the Great White Hunter. While both are still in the cutting room, Faith is far enough along that the epilogue is being written and rights and clearances are being wrapped up. Faith in the Big House Today, one in one hundred of our citizens are behind bars. Faith investigates the role that religion plays in America’s burgeoning prisons and supports religious tolerance. Evangelical revivals and bible studies operate alongside traditional social services in prisons. We ask-- can spirituality be sustained in lock up? Is it secular or religious interventions that best influence who stays out of prison? Who is behind today’s surge in faith-based prison ministries and what is their agenda? Extraordinary Passage of the Great White Hunter The film has had a technical tune-up and a conceptual reworking and is now back in the cutting room for a hard and fast edit. It opens at the end of WWI when scientific expeditions tended to promote a eugenics-based outlook on white superiority and ethnic cleansing. Those in today’s movement to slow global climate change and defend biodiversity still confront the remnants of the same attitudes prevalent in the 1920s The film’s protagonist is Harold Jefferson Coolidge; expeditionist, zoologist, and global conservationist. During the course of his life, he comes to believe that indigenous peoples, whom he once disdained, do play a pivotal role in the protection of endangered species. Short Takes Childhood Obesity Interlock produced an interactive website for the first inner-city children’s gym established to target the deadly pandemic of obesity amongst minority youth. Ocean Nourishment, Inc. An Australian team of marine scientists is seeking to prove that controlled phytoplankton blooms can revive fish stocks. This in turn could provide sorely needed protein, and income, for malnourished villagers. The team contends they can accelerate carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere. Though their experiment is not without controversy, with 50% of the world’s population living 25 miles from the coast, such bold efforts are intriguing. We did some filming for them domestically but have ceased while they work out their differences with some watchdog agencies. The Orange Innovation Center Interlock came up with the concept of The Orange Innovation Center as a business incubator for green manufacturers. This privately owned building is a central part of environmentally sustainable regional development efforts in rural Orange, Massachusetts. Interlock has an auxiliary studio in this Central Massachusetts facility. The Domestic Anti-Slavery Movement The Latino Health Institute asked Interlock to document a campaign to identify and restore victims of human trafficking in Southeast Massachusetts. A video may help the former captives, as well as community and business leaders, understand the challenges of rehabilitation. Office of Refugee Resettlement Interlock consulted for a sub-contractor for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services. These parentless children are vulnerable to crimes such as trafficking and sexual abuse. Staff counselors in the shelters need training to avoid “Vicarious Trauma”. If care givers are overwhelmed and unprepared they may ironically perpetrate trauma. Turned Out: Sexual Assault Behind Bars Interlock has made solid progress with distribution of this new-to-DVD documentary. It is now widely used within the correctional establishment. Cinema Guild carries it as one of their first works priced for Home Video. The DVDs will be further disseminated through direct marketing, targeted ads, sub-distributors, and fee-for-downloads. Interlock’s target is to disseminate tens of thousands of DVDs. Funding We came very close this year to major grants from CPB/ITVS, the National and Massachusetts Endowment for the Humanities, and several other major foundations. Close however does not mean a big check for production. We will need your help in getting these two high-end works to a TV/Download, theatrical and festival release. We are increasingly turning to you, our public, for support for our mission and activities. Please volunteer, donate online at www.interlockmedia.com/donate.php and shop or contribute items to our online auction at www.interlockmedia.cmarket.com We welcome your inquires, your feedback and your client referrals at info.interlock@gmail.com. |