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a film by Christie herring

AMPA I GNTHE

Campaign produCtions presents “tHE Campaign” a film by christie herring featuring Holli Banks, alison BECk, annE marks, dani (Claudia) gardnEr, riCHard lamori, HannaH JoHnson

director, producer, cinematographer CHristiE HErring produced by marC smolowitz, Brook Holston edited by sari gilman field producer Carl JaEgEr associate producer Cori HEimEr contributing editor JEn BradwEll additional cinematography mikE sEEly

music by JaCoB garCHik, performed by tHE kronos QuartEt: daVid Harrington, JoHn sHErBa, Hank dutt, sunny yang graphics and animation CrazyBridgE studios, CHristopHEr gaal outreach consultants alison ByrnE FiElds & aggrEgatE, CHris rilEy

produced with the support of tHE san FranCisCo’s Film soCiEty’s FilmHousE program – FilmHousE madE possiBlE witH tHE gEnErous support oF tHE kEnnEtH rainin Foundation, with additional support given by tHE san FranCisCo Film Commission

tHE Campaign is a co-production of tHE indEpEndEnt tElEVision sErViCE (itVs), with funding provided by tHE Corporation For puBliC BroadCasting (CpB).

© 2013 campaign productions llc, all rights reserved. www.thecampaigndocumentary.com

THE STORY OF THE HARD FOUGHT BATTLE TO DEFEAT CALiFORniA’S PROPOSiTiOn 8 AnD DEFEnD SAmE-SEx mARRiAGE

KRONOS PERFORMING ARTS ASSOCIATION!

PRESS INFORMATION AS OF 02.01.14

CONTACT Campaign Productions LLC

Christie Herring 415-290-5812

[email protected]

LOGLINE

SYNOPSIS

www.TheCampaignDocumentary.com | @CampaignDoc | www.Facebook.com/TheCampaignDocumentary [email protected] | 415.290.5812

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THE CAMPAIGN tells the inside story of the fight to stop California’s wildly controversial Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage and ignited a national movement.

THE CAMPAIGN follows the people behind California’s historic No-on-8 campaign to defend same-sex marriage through exclusive behind the scenes footage, interwoven with the national history of same-sex relationship recognition since the 1950s.

The story focuses on an ensemble of five characters — Alison, Holli, Richard, Anne and Claudia — as they labor tirelessly to defeat Proposition 8, sacrificing time with the families they are fighting to protect. The film positions their efforts within the context of shifting legal and politi-cal landscapes, from Anita Bryant’s “Save our Chil-dren,” to the invention of the word “Domestic Part-ner” in San Francisco, to Pat Buchanan’s declaration of a “culture war,” and finally to the wave of marriage bans that swept 41 states across the nation. The shocking passage of Prop 8 in seemingly LGBT-friendly California changed the landscape forever, both for the US LGBT equality movement and for the individual activist who dropped what they were doing and threw themselves into the largest social issue campaign the US has ever seen. Featuring a beautiful score from the Kronos Quartet and Jacob Garchik, THE CAMPAIGN emerges as an unprecedented installment of LGBT social history and a signature documentary on one of the most pressing civil rights issues of our times.

Characters Alison BeckAlison was among the first to get a marriage license in June 2008, and was married not long after in her parents’ backyard. She throws herself into campaign work, as a volunteer organizing interfaith groups for “No on 8” out of her church in Berkeley.

Richard LamoriAt 75, Richard is a retired postal worker who has lived in the Castro district of San Francisco for decades. He volunteers for the campaign, and his jovial exterior is transformed when he talks about Prop 8 and his partner of 40 years who died a few years back. “How is our relationship any different?”

Holli BanksHolli has a theater background and the desire to keep spirits high among the volunteers. As Election Day nears and poll numbers appear grim, she snaps at coworkers and is exasperated at what she sees as apathy. “They’re trying to write discrimination into the constitution! What could be more important?”


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Dani (Claudia) GardnerClaudia is a college freshman and enthusiastic about her first political campaign. During weekends back home, Claudia sees hundreds of “Yes on 8” posters and hears about the “evils of homosexuality” in church. A visit to a black and Christian forum for ‘No on 8’ is assuring the “I’m not the only one.”

Anne MarksAnne’s background is public policy and politics, and she leaves her job to work on the campaign as a field director for “No on 8”. To her, the work is about building community, but it’s also personal. She plans to marry her partner on election night, to celebrate Prop 8’s defeat.

Characters


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DIRECTOR’S STATMENT

The first spark for THE CAMPAIGN came in 2007, when I was invited to attend the National Black ProgrammingConsortium’s New Media Institute in my home state of Mississippi. There, I was incredibly moved by the words of the esteemed late African American filmmaker St. Clair Bourne, as he challenged the room of filmmakers to “seek out what is important to you” and “create your own archive.” He said that, in thirty years, our footage would be the window through which history would be told. When California’s legal same-sex weddings began in 2008, his words rang in my ears.

The moment I walked through the doors of the “No on Prop 8” campaign headquarters in San Francisco, I knew I had walked into a film I had to make. What grabbed me was the life in the room, the willingness of people to do tedious and uncomfortable work for little if any pay, the range of volunteers from homeless gay youth to elderly heterosexual grandparents, and the unspoken agreement to suspend cynicism and past experience long enough to just maybe make a difference. I was compelled to film, not knowing where it would lead me. I put all of my paid film work aside, gathered my resources and support, and the work began.


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No stranger to politics, Christie Herring grew up working on campaigns for public office in Mississippi. Her first film Waking in Mississippi focuses on a highly-charged political race in her home town – the 1994 election of the town’s first black mayor – a match that end-ed in the threat of a race riot. Today, she is an award-winning indepen-dent documentary director with a strong interest in social justice topics. Her film Bodies and Souls explores the community work of Sister Manette, a Catholic nun who provides the only healthcare in an isolated town in the Mississippi Delta. It can be viewed through Emory University’s onlinejournal Southern Spaces. Her film Chickens in the City, a humorous

CHRISTIE HERRINGDirector, Producer, Camera

chicken-eye view at the differences between pets and food, has screened at environmental festivals around the world and is available on the PBS website. Her film Howdy Partner, a meditation on the meaning of the word “partner,” premiered at Frameline Film Festival in 2004, has screened at nearly two dozen film festivals around the world, and is available online through KQED’s Truly California. In addition to her work as a director, Christie has produced and edited films for PBS, National Geographic, A&E, and the HistoryChannel. She directs and edits films for nonprofit and corporate clients including SFMOMA, LEVIS, Facebook, UC Berkeley, Breakthrough Collaborative, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the New Media Advocacy Project, and the Mississippi Center for Justice. She has taught workshops and presented talks on her work at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies and the Independent Television Service (ITVS). She was selected as a 2013 San Francisco Film Society Film House Resident and as a participant in the 2011 CPB Producer’s Academy. Christie received her MA in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University.

MARC SMOLOWITZProducer

KEY PERSONNEL

Marc Smolowitz is an Academy Award® nominated film, TV & new mediaproducer, multi-award winning director, and executive producer with20+ years of experience across all aspects of the entertainment andmedia business. Smolowitz’s career focus has been powerful socialissue filmmaking across all genres, and his credits include: TheCampaign (Producer, 2013), Keep The Promise: The Global FightAgainst AIDS, narrated by Margaret Cho (Director/Producer, 2013),The Power Of Two (Director/Producer, 2011), Still Around(Executive Producer/Collaborating Director, 2011), The WeatherUnderground (Producer, 2003), Trembling Before G-d (Producer,

2001). In recent years, he was the in-house producer at TellyTopia, a Silicon Valley start up specializing in interactive television, IP-TV and VOD products for cable & satellite companies. In the 1990s, he was widely known as the President and Founder of Turbulent Arts, Inc. -- a boutique, indie film distribution and sales

KEY PERSONNEL


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BROOK HOLSTONProducer

company based in San Francisco that ranked as the 26th largest film company in North America at its peek in 1998 (the 14th largest among independents.) Today, he works full-time as an independent filmmaker, while maintaining a thriving consulting practice called 13thGEN that guides filmmakers through key stages of development, fundraising, production, post, completion, and distribution. As a freelancer, he regularlyworks on special projects with a diverse slate of media and technology companies, nonprofits, and philanthropies. Finally, he is a Lecturer in the Film & Digital Media Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz and serves on the board of directors of the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit local news organization.

Brook Holston is a Line Producer with 15+ years of experience on award winning documentaries and film productions of all kinds. She has worked extensively on science and nature shows for NationalGeographic Television, Discovery, BBC and PBS. Notably, her series credits include: Shark Week, The Shape of Life, Strange Days On Planet Earth, Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Adventures,and many episodes of National Geographic Explorer. In addition to being a co-producer on The Campaign, she is currentlythe line producer on James Redford’s forthcoming film Toxic Hot Seat.

SARI GILMANEditor

Sari Gilman has been a documentary film editor for 15 years. She received a Primetime Emmy nomination for her work on Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, which aired on HBO and was directed by Rory Kennedy. She has worked on such award-winning films as Regret To Inform (Barbara Sonneborn, Janet Cole), which won Best Director at Sundance in 1999 and aired nationally on PBS, and Paragraph 175 (Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman), which won Best Directorat Sundance in 2000, and aired on HBO.Another project, Emmy-nominated Blue Vinyl (Judith Helfand, Dan Gold) premiered at Sundance 2002, where Dan Gold won Best Cinematographer

The film aired on HBO’s America Undercover series in May 2002. Other programs she has edited have appeared on HBO, AMC, A&E and PBS, including a history of Las Vegas and a history of New Orle-ans, both for PBS’ American Experience. Sari’s directorial debut, King’s Point, won Best Documenta-ry Short at Silverdocs 2012, and the film was nominated for 2012 Short Documentary Academy Award®.

KEY PERSONNEL


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JACOB GARCHIKComposer

Jacob Garchik, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger,was born in San Francisco and has lived in New York since 1994. At home in a wide variety of styles and musical roles, he has become a vital part of NYC’s downtown and Brooklyn scene, playing trombone with the Lee Konitz Nonet, Ohad Talmor/Steve Swallow Sextet, and the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble.In 2012 he released the acclaimed solo CD “The Heavens: the Atheist Gospel Trombone Album”. Since 2006 Jacob has contributeddozens of arrangements and transcriptions for the Kronos Quartetof music from all over the world. His arrangements were featured

on “Floodplain” (2009) and “Rainbow” (2010). As a trombonist Jacob has worked with many of the luminaries of the avant-garde, including Henry Threadgill, Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Anthony Coleman, Joe Maneri, Frank London, James Tenney, Josh Roseman, Don Byron, Terry Reilly, George Lewis, and Billy Martin. He has also played in ensembles led by rising artists such as Mary Halvorson, Dan Weiss, Miguel Zenon, and Steve Lehman. In 2013 he was named a “Rising Star” in the Downbeat Magazine Jazz Critic’s Poll. Jacob also plays accordion, tuba, and computer.

Chris Riley has over two decades of strategic planning, on the ground community organizing and social activism. Her passion for social justice includes women’s rights, economic justice and LGBT civil rights. Chris consults for various political campaigns and has recently served as Field Director for both Mass Equalityand Equality California. Chris is a graduate of Working Films’ Reel En-gagement: Managing Social Issue Film Campaigns. In additionto being Outreach Consultant for The Campaign, Chris has consulted for Impact Stories and Out in the Silence.

CHRIS RILEYNational Outreach Coordinator

PRODUCTIONCREDITS


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Producer, Director, and CameraProducerProducer

EditorField Producer

Associate ProducerAdditional Cinematography

Additional Camera

Sound Recordists

Written byContributing Editor

Additional Editing

Assistant Editors

Christie HerringMarc SmolowitzBrook HolstonSari GilmanCarl JaegerCori HeimerMike SeelySam BerlinerPatrick CrowleyChaya Rivka MayersonMax SalomonAshley TindallMay Lin AuyongEva MossErin PersleyJoe PolemanSharon WoodJen BradwellEmmanuelle AntolinChristie HerringGail HuddlesonGreg SirotaKevin JonesGrace RasoBen ZweigSara NewensFred Kolouch

PRODUCTION CREDITS


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Production Associates

Production Assistance

Project Interns

Production & Post Production ServicesExecutive Producer for Winton/duPont Films

Featuring

Melanie LevyPaul DonatelliAnna GarbierCarissa SpencerJhanvi ShriramAseel AlayliDoug AndersonLiz BergerKristin BickleAllie Duro Alex FranksChris Rohan JonesBianca JunoSarah KarpmanErin LeeCarling McManusBarry PerlmanBrittany RingerMichelle StoneMina T SonNatalie Ruiz TofanoDaniela BernsteinJustin KongJessica VoWinton/duPont Films

David Winton

Holli BanksAlison BeckAnne MarksDani (Claudia) GardnerRichard LamoriHannah Johnson


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MusicMusic

Legal Services Provided byHD Post Production

Post Production Supervisor for ZAPOn-line Editors

Color GradingGraphics and Animation

Graphic DesignWeb Services

Post Production Sound Services Provided by

Sound Design and Re-Recording MixerAdditional Sound Mixing

Archival Footage and Stills Provided by

by Jacob Garchikby the Kronos QuartetDavid HarringtonHank DuttJohn SherbaJeffrey ZeiglerKrisana Hodges and Hodges Law OfficesZAP Zoetrope Aubry Productions San FranciscoKim AubryRi CrawfordMichael FlemingLeo HallalCrazybridge Studios, Christopher GaalIan Price and Price WatkinsCarling McManusJames DiRito

Berkeley Sound ArtistsJim LeBrechtDan OlmsteadThe AdvocateAPCNNCSPANGLBT Historical SocietyThe Jenni Olson Queer Film ArchiveKirby DickKGO San JoseKSL TV Salt Lake CityLos Angeles TimesMiami HeraldOddball FilmsNo on 8 Campaign

PRODUCTION CREDITS


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Outreach ConsultantProject Advisors

Fiscal Sponsors

NBCState of MarylandT3 Media / CBSWilliam J Clinton Presidential LibraryTretter Collection in GLBT Studies, University of Minnesota LibrariesChris RileyJoanna BrooksJohn CorvinoJeffrey FriedmanJonathan HalperinNancy KatesSan Francisco Film SocietyCatticus Corporation

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Produced with the support of the San Francisco’s Film Society’s FilmHouse ProgramFilmHouse made possible with the generous support of the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, with

additional support given by the San Francisco Film Commission

The Campaign is a co-production of the Independent Television Service (ITVS), with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

© 2013 Campaign Productions LLC, all rights reserved.

SUPPORTERS


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Major Funding of THE CAMPAIGN was provided by

Our Community partners include

CHRIS KELLY

LESBIAN EQUITY FUND

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