Directors statement Influence

These three Directors statements are from Documentaries about victims. The first one is Somewhere Between, a documentary about stereotypes of  Chinese adoptees and how they are coping in society/ what they are faced up against. The Second is about victims of homophobia in sport and the third is about the healing process from being a victim of desease. 

Somewhere Between - Directors Statement

My daughter's name is Ruby Goldstein Knowlton. She’s seven. When my husband and I adopted her from China, we had no idea what lay ahead. We became a family in an instant. But as I began to think about Ruby's future, I started to wonder how her coming of age would differ from mine. I began talking to older girls who had been adopted from China and brought to the U.S., and plunged into a world not just of identity but of what it means to be who we are.

This film, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN, was born.

The primary themes of SOMEWHERE BETWEEN are identity formation, family, adoption, and race. The film focuses on the intersection of all of these themes through the coming-of-age stories of four girls. As they discover who they are, so do we. Through their specific stories, we as viewers come to understand more fully the meaning of family and the ever prevalent cultural disconnect between stereotyping and race—whether we are adoptive families or not.

I hope the film will create an emotional experience for viewers, and in the process educate and help create a language that helps describe what it means to be “other” in the U.S. I also hope the film will inspire reflection on how we all form our identities, and on our growing global and personal interconnections, especially those networks of women and girls that have been formed due to this large wave of adoptions.

In the years since I began work on this film, Chinese adoption has changed significantly—more boys are now being adopted, and the rate of adoption has slowed. Today, most Chinese adoptees are children with special needs, of both genders. While all adoptees face similar feelings and challenges, the film’s focus on that first, relatively new wave of Chinese girls remains relevant; female Chinese adoptees remain in a category all their own due to the sheer number of children involved, and because those adoptions—and abandonments—were then based solely on gender. These personal, social, and cultural ramifications are significant.

Nevertheless, I am making this film for everyone. For the girls, so they can see their experiences in connection with each other, and for everyone who grapples with issues of race, culture, identity, and being “different.” By necessity, we must all try to comprehend the experience of being “other” in America, to see how each individual finds his or her own way in society. This film explores the emotional and psychological fallout on our daughters and our selves, and our cultural experience when stereotypes and assumptions collide.

Through the voices of these four young women in the film, we begin to understand what they face, and understand more deeply our own complex relationships and culture.

I hope SOMEWHERE BETWEEN will start a dialogue about what we see, who we are, and the changing face of the American family. This film is about these four girls, and the 79,562 girls growing up in America. Right now.

-- Linda Goldstein Knowlton

Training Rules

DIRECTORS' STATEMENT

While making a film about homophobia in sports, I learned of a legal battle brewing between Penn State student athlete Jennifer Harris and women's basketball coach Rene Portland. Coach Portland had summarily dismissed Harris at the end of her sophomore year (2005), although she would have been the leading scorer for the team at the onset of the following season.

Harris said Portland dismissed her because she perceived her to be gay. Portland said the dismissal had nothing to do with sexual orientation and called Harris "lazy" and "volatile" in published reports. After anguishing over whether she could take on Penn State University and its famous coach, Harris and her family approached The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), which determined that this case was emblematic of a pervasive and stifling homophobic climate in women's sports. The NCLR filed charges against Portland, athletic director Tim Curley, and Penn State University.

The suit alleged discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation, racism and gender stereotyping. I realized that this case would provide the perfect lens through which to document homophobia in sports. Thus, Training Rules was born.

In 2006, I enlisted Fawn Yacker, the cinematographer of multiple Academy Award-winning documentaries, to co-produce and co-direct the film. "I was initially brought into the project as cinematographer. When I learned how pervasive homophobia in sports was, I accepted Dee's invitation to become more deeply involved in the project. Training Rules tells the stories of athletes whose lives were irreparably damaged when a university turned a blind eye to the destruction caused by discrimination based on sexual orientation. It shows how one woman's courage to speak up changed the course of sports history."

Heal - Directors Statement

Over twenty years ago, an inspiring music instructor, Jim Klages, sparked my love of music. A highly respected cornet soloist in the Washington, D.C. area, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the height of his career. What followed was the loss of nearly everything Jim valued in life: his elite soloist position with the “President’s Own” U.S Marine Band, his house, his financial stability, and his comfortable family life. Not until years later did Jim discover hope for his condition when he met a healer who helped alleviate many of Jim’s symptoms. This marked the beginning of Jim’s return to the art he loved.

Years later, Jim and I reconnected and I learned about his remarkable journey. At first his story of disease and recovery struck me as unbelievable. However, the more I learned about the complexities of Jim’s disease and the way each individual is uniquely impacted by it, the more interested I became in bringing his story to film. As production began and Jim and his wife and caretaker, Carol, shared their experiences with me, the film took on compelling new dimensions; I discovered a story that was as much about a family’s struggle to persevere as a story of chronic illness.

Featuring Wynton Marsalis, MS researchers from the National Institutes of Health, and the current and former directors of "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band® in Washington, D.C.