Gwen's Story
People: Mary Katzke (Director)
Nara Garber (Cinematographer)
Deborah Schildt (Associate Producer)
Keiko Deguchi (Editor)
Joel Goodman (Composer)
Grants: $25K grant in 2008 to support post-production
About the Project
At the age of 10 months, Gwen, an Alaskan of mixed race heritage, was thrown into a fire and severely burned by her mother suffering from mental illness. Gwen is now 28, and we have spent the past 4 years following her as she pieces together a life for herself which is based on understanding mental illness, coping with her own disfigurement, and deciding what can be changed in her own life, what can be mitigated, and what must be accepted. Through an engaging and riveting first-person narrative, Gwen takes us into her circuitous path to redefine beauty on her terms, find and create family, find and forgive her mother, become an artist and honestly take us into her experience with mental illness, depression, healing and redemption.
The Fledgling Fund Impact
We are pleased to provide strategic support for this project in collaboration with Chicken & Egg Pictures. We are confident that this moving and compelling story will provide a vehicle to raise awareness around mental illness and personal courage.