MINE
A feature length documentary film
Winner of the 2009 SXSW Audience Award
Synopsis
MINE is a feature-length, independent documentary about the essential bond between humans and animals, set against the backdrop of one of the worst natural disasters in modern U.S. history: Hurricane Katrina.
This gripping, character-driven story follows New Orleans residents as they attempt the daunting task of trying to reunite with their pets who have been adopted by families all over the country, and chronicles the custody battles that arise when two families love the same pet. Who determines the fate of the animals – and the people – involved?
A compelling meditation on race, class and the power of compassion, MINE examines how we treat animals as an extension of how we view and treat each other.
The Filmmakers
Geralyn Pezanoski (MINE Director), Co-Founder of Smush Media, has 12 years experience in film and video production and makes her feature directorial debut with MINE. Film producing credits include the narrative short, On A Tuesday (Santa Barbara & LAIFF) and Motherland (SXSW), and directing credits include the doc series Firehouse (Sony Pictures Entertainment). She lives in San Francisco with her husband Peter and their dog Nola.
Erin Essenmacher (MINE Producer) is a writer, director and producer with over 10 years of experience in corporate, non-profit and broadcast production with a strong focus on documentary. Credits include a wide range of independent and broadcast documentary projects for PBS, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, The History Channel and Court TV. Erin recently completed a short documentary and oral history project for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay area and is currently in pre-production on the film Presidential Race She splits her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.
Arlo Rosner (MINE DP) is an award-winning cinematographer, with a broad range of experience in commercials, music videos, narrative, documentary, and television. Arlo has a degree in film from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In addition to his many accolades and three Addy Awards, he won a gold statue at the 2005 Clio Awards. His most recent credits include director of photography on the acclaimed feature documentary Beautiful Losers.
Jason Rhein (MINE DP) is a director of photography and media artist based out of New Orleans, where he is currently working on his second season as Music Producer & Supervisor for Playhouse Disney’s Imagination Movers series. He is also the Technical Director for the nationally syndicated public radio-show American Routes. Jason recently worked as Sound Designer on the documentary Member of the Club, as the editor on the feature Watermarks and has done camerawork for a number of other projects, including the short film Code 7. Jason plays bass in the rock band, Rotary Downs (also showcasing at SXSW this year). MINE is Jason’s debut feature as director of photography.
Jen Bradwell (MINE Editor) is a Bay Area editor with years of post-production experience in feature and broadcast documentary projects. Her work has been broadcast on PBS and MTV's Logo Network and has screened at film festivals around the world. Jen's recent documentary credits include the evocative series The Monastery for The Learning Channel, Boys in Winter which won Best Documentary at the New York Independent Film Festival and soon-to-be released feature documentary Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh.
Alison Pezanoski-Browne (MINE Associate Producer) is a freelance video producer passionate about documentary filmmaking. She was a 2007-2008 U.S. Fulbright Research Fellow to Hong Kong where she wrote and shot a short documentary, currently in post-production. She was the producer and assistant-editor of the narrative short Go Mom! which was in competition at the 2006 Austin Film Festival. She has assisted on projects for The National Geographic Channel and The Discovery Channel, as well as on the feature documentary Motherland
Photos courtesy of Heidi Poor and Chris Gubbels
