Somewhere Between a Documentary Film
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Somewhere Between A documentary film World Premier, Toronto 2011 “…a deeply moving, thought-provoking and life-affirming film.” -Award winning director Niki Caro, Whale Rider, North Country “SOMEWHERE BETWEEN brilliantly combines the experience of Chinese Adoptees growing up in America and the complexities of an adolescent search for identity. Linda Goldstein Knowlton takes us on a journey into the joys, sorrows and compassion of a unique set of families and challenges us to consider who we are and where we belong.” -Iris Chin Ponte Ph.D. Department of Child Development Tufts University “SOMEWHERE BETWEEN gives us an intimate, privileged look into the lives of four thoughtful and articulate young women. These are more than coming-of age stories, each girl is an example of how to grow up with courage and dignity. Linda Goldstein Knowlton has made a revelatory film that sensitively explores issues of identity, family, ethnicity and love. And her film is ...an invaluable contribution to the ongoing story of the American family.” -Kate Amend Editor of the Academy Award winning documentaries Into the Arms of Strangers and The Long Way Home Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 2 As a result of the Chinese government’s one-child policy instituted in 1979, hundreds of thousands of babies were abandoned, mostly girls. Logline SOMEWHERE BETWEEN tells the intimate stories of four of the tens of thousands of girls who ended up at Chinese orphanages and were adopted by non-Chinese American families. The film tracks the four girls, now teenagers in the U.S., as they explore their identities and take on the quest of searching for their pasts so they can create their own futures. Synopsis Four baby girls are born in China to families who are unable to keep them largely because of China’s “One Child Policy.” Instead of being raised by their biological parents the baby girls are given to orphanages then eventually adopted by American families and whisked halfway around the world to the United States. They grow up with Sesame Street, hip-hop, and Twitter. They describe themselves as “bananas:” white on the inside and yellow on the outside. All is well, until they hit their teen years, when their past pulls at them, and they start to wonder, “Who am I?” Since 1989, 150,000 children from China have been adopted around the world. Eighty thousand of those children live in the U.S.—in all 50 states. Documentaries have been made before about international adoption, but have always been from the point of view of the adoptive, Caucasian parents or the adult adoptee. Young minority girls’ voices are rarely heard. SOMEWHERE BETWEEN lets four girls tell their own stories, and the film unfolds completely from their point of view. We gain access to their deepest thoughts—about their families, their feelings of being an “other,” and their powerful connections to a past that most of them cannot recall. Structurally, the film is linear and character driven, tracking two to three years in the lives of these four young women. The emotional journey took the film crew across America where, they documented the girls, in their hometowns, facing racism, struggling with stereotypes, and trying to fit in while knowing that they may never completely fit in. Their journeys were also documented as they traveled to Europe to meet other girls in their situation and to China where they witnessed China’s gender gap resulting from its One Child Policy and the ramifications and toll it exacts on Chinese families and orphanages. Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 3 As SOMEWHERE BETWEEN plunges the viewer into the ordinary and extraordinary days of these four girls as they explore who they are, we, too, are forced to pause and consider who we are—both as individuals and as a nation of immigrants. The film not only tracks the journeys of these girls, but also witnesses their emotional coming-of-age. And, as they discover who they are, anyone, no matter their color, creed or culture, will find themselves exploring their own identity, the meaning of family, and the sometimes shocking ways women and girls are treated in other parts of the world, and our still prevalent cultural disconnects around stereotyping and race. At the end of the film, we see that all four girls are indeed “somewhere between,” but that this may be the best place to be. Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 4 Film Credits SOMEWHERE BETWEEN A DOCUMENTARY FILM Production Credits _ Directed and Produced by LINDA GOLDSTEIN KNOWLTON _ Executive Producers BOBBY CHANG JON FITZGERALD _ Co-Producers PATRICIA VERDUCCI KATIE FLINT _ Edited By KATIE FLINT _ Associate Producer STEPHANIE GRAVES _ Director of Photography NELSON HUME CHRISTINE BURRILL Sound Recordist E BENJAMIN POSNACK Music by LILI HAYDN _ Music Supervisor LINDA COHEN Assistant Editor YU GU SUSAN METZGER Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 5 Additional Crews China: Yunan Province Camera: LIU YIE Sound: DAVID TONG Coordinator: Torchiam Production Assistance Provided by TRIBAL PRODUCTIONS China: Anhui Province Coordinator &Translator: JANE LIU Driver: PETER BU USA Additional Sound Recordists: SARA CHIN DOUG DUNDERDALE G. JOHN GARRETT VALERY LYMAN GREG MILLER SAUL ROUDA Post Production Assistant MEGAN SMITH ALLEN Key Transcribers MEGAN SMITH ALLEN JASON ALLEN LEAH KAPLAN KIMBERLY HWANG ERIN ANADKAT Translation MIQI HUANG YU GU CARLA ZANONI Post Production Video MATT RADECKI, DIFFERENT BY DESIGN Colorist BRIAN HUTCHINGS Post Production Sound LIME STUDIOS Sound Mixer LINDSAY ALVAREZ Music Mixer SLAMM ANDREWS Music Assistant VANESSA GARDE Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 6 Featured Guitar WOODY APLANALP Featured Bass ITAI DISRAELI Legal CHRISTOPHER TRICARICO, TRICARICO CHAVEZ, LLP Production Accountant: SUE McGRAW _______________________________________________ Footage Provided by Thought Equity Motion Chris Hollo photograph © Grand Ole Opry “Precious Jade” by Jenna Cook Courtesy of Pieces of Me: Who Do I Want To Be? Edited by Robert L. Ballard, PhD Published by EMK Press, ©2009 Grantwriter ARLEEN CHIKAMI Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation “Suddenly I See” Written and Performed by KT Tunstall Courtesy of Relentless Records under exclusive license to Virgin Records America Under license from EMI Film & Television Music “The Chinese Song” Written by Lili Haydn and Tom Salta Performed by Lili Haydn Courtesy of RCA Victor By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing “Seeing The Reindeer” Written and Performed by Lili Haydn and Kim Carroll Courtesy of Lili Haydn and Kim Carroll “The Twins (Prague)” Written and Performed by Max Richter Courtesy of BBC Worldwide Limited ‘Taken from the album ‘Memoryhouse’ Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 7 “Orange Blossom Special” Written by Ervin Thomas Rouse Performed by Haley Butler “My Country ‘Tis Of Thee” Written by Samuel Francis Smith “Charlie Brown” Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Performed by Ann Boccuti “Walking Into The Waves” Written by Haley Butler and Tyrus Morgan Performed by Haley Butler Courtesy of Haley Butler and Tyrus Morgan Fiscal Sponsor IDA This program was produced by Ruby Films, LLC. which is solely responsible for its content. Copyright © 2011 Ruby Films, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 8 Somewhere Between The Creative Team Bios Linda Goldstein Knowlton (Director/Producer) Linda Goldstein Knowlton co-directed and co-produced the feature- length documentary, The World According to Sesame Street. The film examines Sesame Street's international co-productions, made primarily in some of the world's political hotspots, including Kosovo, Bangladesh, and South Africa. The film made its World Premiere in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival as an Official Selection in the U.S. Documentary category. The film was selected and screened at the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, the Seattle Film Festival, and other festivals including Boston, Dubrovnik, New Zealand, Melbourne, and Zurich. Previously, Goldstein Knowlton produced the New Zealand film Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro, which was the winner of the Audience Awards at Toronto, Sundance, Rotterdam, Seattle, San Francisco and Maui film festivals. Goldstein Knowlton became involved with Whale Rider in 1992, after reading the novella upon which it is based. Prior to that, she initiated the development of The Shipping News after reading the novel in galley-form in 1993 and then produced the 2001-released film, directed by Lasse Hallstrom. She made her feature-film producing debut in 1999 with both Mumford, written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan and Crazy in Alabama, directed by Antonio Banderas. She is currently developing both fiction and documentary films. Born and raised in Chicago, Goldstein Knowlton studied neuroscience at Brown University. Following college, she remained in Providence to serve the governor of Rhode Island in the Office of Intergovernmental Relations. She subsequently worked raising funds for film preservation at The American Film Institute, first in Washington, D.C., and later in Los Angeles. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. Linda Goldstein Knowlton (310) 435-9299 9 Somewhere Between Creative Team, continued… Katie Flint (Editor/Co-Producer) Katie started her career in film as a post production assistant on large action movies, then moved into the documentary world. She worked on The World According to Sesame Street with Kate Amend as editor, and since then has also teamed with Amend on Steal a Pencil for Me, and Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains. She graduated from the film school at Loyola Marymount University and lives in Los Angeles. Nelson Hume (Director of Photography) Nelson Hume’s credits include My Kid Could Paint That for Sony Pictures Classics, and The World According to Sesame Street, both of which were official selections at the Sundance Film Festival. He has also shot Gangland, The Latin Kings for the History Channel, and Oswald’s Ghost for PBS’ American Experience.