Newsletter, May 3, 2006

[Divided We Fall]

Greetings to you, our friends on the Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath newsletter!

 

And yes, we have news. The kind of news you've been wanting to hear: DWF on the big screen! That's right, we are holding a sneak preview screening of the Director's Cut this weekend. The film isn't completely finished, but we are very very near the end. In fact, we are so close that we are starting to take orders.

 

Over the past four years of making DWF, many of you have asked to show the film in your hometown at your university, school, or house of worship.   And finally, we are ready.  We are scheming a US premiere this September (more on that soon!) and then we plan to tour around the country.  We are now booking screenings for the fall through next year, and the schedule is filling up fast!  If you are interested in booking DWF, send us an email at in...@dwf-film.com for details. 

 

But more immediately, a screening this weekend! In Boston, Cambridge to be exact. Read on…

 

Toward the Finish Line

Full story: http://www.valariekaur.blogspot.com

 

This Sunday night, May 7, 2006, the director's cut of Divided We Fall will screen at Harvard University, thanks to the Harvard Film Archive and to the Harvard Pluralism Project.   Our team will be there to represent: Valarie Kaur (Writer-Producer), Sharat Raju (Director-Producer), Matthew Blute (Cinematographer), Jessica Jenkins (Research Director), and Tracy Wells (Communications Director).  Here are the particulars:

 

Director's Cut Screening of Divided We Fall

7-9 pm on Sunday, May 7th

Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy Street ( Cambridge, MA)

www.harvardfilmarchive.org

 

If you are in the Boston or New England area and can join us, we would love to have you in the audience. Valarie and Sharat will stick around for a discussion after the film. And perhaps coffee and pie too. (That's just our hope.)

 

What's that you say? You are on the other side of the country and want to see the Director's Cut too? Well! Do we have news for you! The Northern California Spinning Wheel Film Festival has slated us to screen at Stanford University in Palo Alto on June 3rd. We will let you know the exact time and venue as soon as we get that information.

 

Please check Valarie's production blog at www.valariekaur.blogspot.com for updates and new information on the film and screenings. But also check it out for a great article written by our wonderful Director of Communications, Tracy Wells. Tracy tells the story of DWF and her experience working on the production to her alma mater, Furman College, in their alumni magazine: http://www.dwf-film.com/dwf.pdf

 

The Prequel

Full info: www.independentlens.org/americanmade

 

Before Sharat, Matthew, Production Coordinator Marcus Cano, and Editor Scott Rosenblatt joined Valarie to bring DWF to reality, the four created a small graduate thesis short film that barnstormed through the film festival circuit for the better part of two years. American Made, a 25-minute short film and winner of seventeen awards, screened at nearly fifty film festivals around the world.

 

And now, it's coming to television. The PBS program "Independent Lens" will broadcast the film nearly 500 times starting May 9  on more than 200 affiliates nationwide!

 

We have reason to believe that this is the first Sikh American family to be portrayed on the screen post 9/11 in a narrative fiction film. Starring Kal Penn , Bernard White, Te'Amir Sweeney, and Sakina Jaffrey, this short film has touched many people from all different walks of life in America and abroad. We hope you join us next week and check out the Emmy-winning series "Independent Lens" with host Edie Falco.

 

American Made led the production team to make Divided We Fall. So, we're considering it almost like a prequel. Or would DWF be the sequel….Well, in any event, here's the info: www.independentlens.org/americanmade . You can read about the film, check out the filmmaker Q&A, and find out when and where your local affiliate will be broadcasting American Made.

You can jump to listings directly and here for your local affiliate: www.pbs.org/independentlens/broadcast.html.

 

The End Is Near

This past month, Valarie and Sharat have been fine-tuning the film – including putting in the end credits for the first time. It is a very very long list. So many of you, and so many others, have been the reason we have been able to make DWF.  The project has been a real labor of love, only made possible by the support of everyone who has believed in this story. 

 

As we begin premiering this fall, we truly hope you are able to join us for what we hope is a film that educates, enlightens, and entertains - the three "E's." Our thanks can only be expressed though the film, through its existence. Thank you for being a part of the DWF family.

 

Onward…

 

Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath

Produced and Directed by Sharat Raju ( sha...@dwf-film.com )

Produced, Written and Created by Valarie Kaur ( val...@dwf-film.com )

 

Visit www.dwf-film.com and valariekaur.blogspot.com.

 

(No more? Respond with REMOVE in the subject and we will do so.)