Whenever I am invited to speak about documentary filmmaking, whether to students considering a career in the field or adult aficionados of the genre, I invariably attempt to dissuade anyone from pursuing this career.
Why?
Because it is so difficult. One spends more time on fundraising than creativity—by a ratio of what feels like 90 to 1. And though one may be comforted by the idea that they are doing SOMETHING to address the brokenness in the world, documentary filmmaking, on the whole, is an almost complete drain on finances, physical health, sanity and spirit.
So why do it?
The only compelling reason (besides from trying to spearhead change), is the incredible people we meet: people like the 90-pound powerhouse Sister Judith Ann Duvall, the heart of the 5-billion dollar OSF Healthcare System who aims to providing affordable health care for all; Gershom Sizumo, the first black African-born rabbi and the first Jew elected to Ugandan’s parliament; Pastor Diane Smalley, whose prophetic voice was taken from this world too early; Jessica Markowitz, who at age 11 founded the non-profit, Richard’s Rwanda, to support girls education and today at 21, is a force of nature; and Layli Miller-Muro whose legal work on behalf of women’s rights and her devotion to the Bahåi faith led her to create the Tahirih Justice Center.
We have been blessed to meet each and every one of them.
– Debra Gonsher Vinik, Ph.D.
Broadcast Documentaries
Listen To The Silence: Women Trapped in the Opioid Epidemic
LISTEN TO THE SILENCE is a nationally acclaimed, two-part documentary by Diva Communications, examining the hopes and heartaches of the women -- our daughters, mothers, sisters, friends - suffering from opioid addiction. Some survived and some did not. It is the first, the only documentary that focuses on women impacted by the opioid epidemic. Women have been invisible. As a result, their needs...
All of the Above
Many female rabbis and cantors in the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements of Judaism face an interesting quandary. On one hand, “Be fruitful & multiply” is the Torah’s first commandment followed later by “For you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Imagine the dilemma if you wish to be fruitful and holy, but you’re female, a rabbi or cantor…who is single. All...
Attention Must Be Paid
It’s a simple fact that this country does little to address women’s healthcare needs. Attention Must Be Paid: Women Lost in the Opioid Crisis, explores the stories of women who are battling opioid use disorder (OUD) and are casualties of this neglect. What has this indifference to women’s health wrought? Proven, evidence-based treatments are not readily available to women across the societal...
Beauty of Their Dreams
There is nothing more crucial to a community than the education of its girls. It impacts not only their economic, physical, social, mental and psychological well being but also that of their families, for generations to come. It is unfathomable, then, how many girls still lack access to formal education. As recently as 2011, UNICEF reported that an estimated 31 million girls around the world...
Brightness Of Noon – Part I
Narrated by actor Bambadjan Bamba (Black Panther) If you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you, will turn to the brightness of noon. - Isaiah 58:10 Offering sanctuary to the "stranger" is at the core of most religious traditions; sustaining them in an age of violence and cruelty is how we hold onto our human hearts. Brightness of Noon: The...
Brightness Of Noon – Part II
If you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you, will turn to the brightness of noon. - Isaiah 58:10 Offering sanctuary to the "stranger" is at the core of most religious traditions; sustaining them in an age of violence and cruelty is how we hold onto our human hearts. Brightness of Noon: The Intersect of Faith, Immigration and Refugees, a two-part...
I Believe You
I BELIEVE YOU: Faiths’ Response to Intimate Partner Violence is an extraordinary interfaith documentary that explores the stories of survivors of abuse and the response of faith groups to address their needs. Produced with the support of The New York Board of Rabbis, United Methodist Women, Presbyterian Women, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and a consortium of Muslim organizations,...
ArchiveS
And the Gates Opened
2006 Emmy® Award for Religious Programming From events leading up to 1972, when the Reform Movement ordained the first woman, to today, when a bat mitzvah girl can realize her dream of becoming a rabbi, women rabbis have gradually begun reshaping the contours of...
Divine Prescription
From Maimonides to Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale to Father Damien, people of faith, ministering to the sick, have seemed larger than life, impossible to emulate. Today, though they may wear heels and baseball caps, attend Mets games and run to appointments, as...
The Eternal Light
2006 Emmy® Award for Religious Programming Diva Communications has produced a documentary retrospective on the Eternal Light programs for The Jewish Theological Seminary. The Eternal Light series aired on the NBC radio and TV networks from the mid 1940’s to the mid...
Every Word Has Power
Unquestionably, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was one of the great religious figures of the 20th century. He was also one of the most important social critics of his time: an outspoken civil rights advocate, anti-war activist, renowned philosopher, scholar, teacher and...
Everyone Prays at Holy Etchmiadzin
Since its founding in 303 A.D.,the Armenian Church and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin have fostered Christian unity and interfaith dialogue. From the Chief Rabbi of Israel to the Chief Mufti of Syria, from the Pope to the Archbishop of Canterbury – Everyone Prays...
A Peace Of Bread
The 5-time Emmy Award-winning filmmakers of Diva Communications bring you a new interfaith documentary – A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food, and the Future. There have been many documentaries exploring hunger issues but none quite like this. A Peace of Bread: Faith, Food...
A Place For All
It is a startling number. According to the CDC, 1 out of 5 Americans has at least one disability. The fact is, we’re all going to be disabled one way or another. Time takes care of that. Things happen in life. But how we cope with that disability and how we deal with...
Yearning To Belong
In February of 2002, a Jewish beit din (court) made up of 5 rabbis from the United States and Israel flew to a remote area in Uganda to conduct a formal conversion of over 300 Abayudaya (the Lugandan term for “Jews”), welcoming them into the community of world Jewry....