Unbound At The High Museum

I hope this finds all of you well as we head into 2010. Since our last update we have been busy on a number of projects. “Robert Weingarten: Creating The Portrait Unbound”, opened at The High Museum on January 23rd as part of the museum’s exhibition of Robert Weingarten’s latest project, The Portrait Unbound. Weingarten, has created dozens of large (60”x90”) portraits of leading figures from the arts, sciences, sports, and politics. In the series, Weingarten re-defines our traditional understanding of portraiture.

Stephen Sondheim, Colin Powel, Jane Goodall, Sandra Day O’Connor, Chuck Close, Dennis Hopper, Mikhail Baryshnikov and others made lists of the 5-10 things that metaphorically define who they are. The only caveat placed upon the creation of the list was that no family, friends, or pets could be included. “Creating The Portrait Unbound” presents the viewer with Weingarten’s approach to the series as we spend time with him as he gathers images for the portrait of Hank Aaron and then watch him as he creates the composites in his Malibu studio. A behind the scenes look at the creative process. The exhibition will be at The High Museum of Art until May 30th. Show times for the profile piece are every 9 minutes! You can also watch it on the High Museum of Art Web site.

From The High To 15,000 Feet

Production has begun on a very exciting documentary on schizophrenia and its possible prevention. The piece is being produced in partnership with Richard Chapman who co-wrote and co-produced the HBO Film “Live From Baghdad.” Utiqay (Quechua for schizophrenia) follows Harvard research professor Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin on the road to discovering what could be a major milestone in schizophrenia research: a proven method of identifying those most likely to develop the disease later in life which could then lead to a course of treatment to prevent the disease from developing.

Dr. de Erausquin is conducting part of his research in the Andes of Argentina. The Quechua, descendents of the Incas, are a medically underserved population. Dr. de Erausquin has established a grassroots network of medical providers across the Andes who work in these small communities to identify those suffering from mental illness. The aim is to to provide medications and treatment to ease the suffering. Because these communities are so isolated they are also the perfect control group. A simple DNA test and a sonogram are used to compare with population groups elsewhere; groups that have received western medicine throughout their lives. This ensures that the results he has seen elsewhere are not a function of childhood vaccines or other courses of medicines taken earlier in life.

After a visit to a psychiatric hospital in Jujuy our trip took us across several mountain ranges to the tiny village of Caspala where we filmed Dr. de Erausquin and his team at work and where we met a young man tormented by schizophrenia. Production continues with a scheduled completion of late summer.

50,000 DVDs

At The End of Slavery, the documentary One Production Place produced with International Justice Mission and narrated by Danny Glover has been an extremely important component of IJM’s continued work to eradicate slavery around the world. Special screenings and at-home screening parties have been well attended. We are in the process of producing a revised international version with a duplication run of 50,000 discs for distribution. To find out how to host a screening with your friends and neighbors and to learn more about the documentary, visit www.attheendofslavery.com. There is also a clip from the film on my Web site.

Voices of Freedom Heads To The Bronx

Voices of Freedom, the CINE Special Jury Prize-winning Civil Rights piece One Production Place produced for The High Museum is finishing a three-month run at The Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and will head to The Bronx Museum in March. (March 28-August 11).

Road To Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968 for which the film was produced has been on the road for almost two years and has received critical acclaim in every city it has visited. The Bronx Museum exhibition promises to be a very special finale to the US portion of its tour. If you are in NYC in the spring or summer make an afternoon of it and head to The Bronx.

Noteworthy Projects

Social Responsibility

A significant area of interest at One Production Place is corporate social responsibility and helping companies that make positive contributions to local communities tell their story. We have just finished one such project with LexisNexis. Employees from the Risk Solutions division of LexisNexis donated more than 24,000 volunteer hours last year to charitable groups that in Atlanta included Project Open Hand, Foster Cares and Atlanta Boys and Girls Clubs.

We accompanied LexisNexis on several of their volunteer projects to watch them in action and to learn why it so important to give one’s time to those in need. The short piece, with an original musical score written by our favorite composer Patrick Kirst, will be featured on-line soon.

History Comes Alive

Production begins this month on a short piece commissioned by The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York celebrating the founding of the organization and its mission as steward of the legal history of New York. Through educational programs, publications, lecture series and preservation of legal artifacts, the Society brings together people who share a love of history and they work to ensure that future generations will have access to an influential part of US History.

Looking Ahead

Thank you very much for your continued interest in quality production and the latest work from One Production Place. I hope to hear from you in the coming months. Please feel free to share this with friends and colleagues who may be interested in learning more about our work and production possibilities. 

Cheers,

Neal Broffman

One Production Place, LLC

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