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About a Face: The Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw
I'm always curious about people willing to bare their souls to a camera -- not for fame, but for truth. Gwendellin Bradshaw is a struggling young woman who can't find her place and sets out to find the answers she yearns for. But this isn't simply the story of a girl on a journey. As a child, her mother threw her in a fire, leaving parts of her body terribly scarred. As an adult, she's estranged from her father, trying to recover from a suicide attempt, and wants to find her mother and not only get answers, but also move on and find her place in the world.
As a film, About a Face is unobtrusive, passively following Gwendellin as she bravely bares her soul. But the film's true value is how applicable it is to every life. We might not have the same struggles as Gwendellin, but many of her obstacles are familiar -- the quest to find a family and support system, the quest for love, the quest for answers that most likely can never be answered. And since this is an on-going struggle, and not some heroic tale of rising from the ashes, the film feels more real, and more valuable, a perk only amplified by Gwendellin herself.
Principle Pictures
About a Face: The Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw
"I know I'm different than my mother," says the main character in the wrenching film, About Face: The Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw, "because I feel empathy." Gwen's mother, a drug-using schizophrenic, threw her into a campfire when she was 9-months-old, leaving her with even more internal scars than external ones. The film follows Gwen through much of her 20s as she searches for her mother and battles her own mental and substance abuse demons. Tracking her mother takes Gwen to homeless shelters and psychiatric facilities across the United States, and when her search ends on a bench outside a bus station in New Hampshire, her mother insists on seeing her ID--as if the burns that have disfigured her face and hands aren't proof enough. Instead of finding the love and family she has craved her entire life, Gwen discovers a selfish, angry, mentally unstable woman who seems to believe that she is the victim who needs to be rescued. Fortunately, Gwen does find a real sense of family with her half sister, and as the film closes, the two of them create a photo album together--the first photo album Gwen has ever had in her entire life. (I must mention - the original score was beautiful - great job Joel Goodman!)
Press is instrumental in helping us educate the public. In order for About Face to inspire insightful dialog around issues of mental health, abuse and disfigurement, the word needs to spread. We are grateful to the following media outlets for helping us publicize our documentary and our cause.
Arts Rational Podcast
Listen to Gerry's interview with Mary Katzke about her documentary film About Face.
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ADN.com
Thank you to ADN.com and Debra McKinney for this compelling synopsis of our story. McKinney’s compassionate but frank portrayal of Gwen’s story is a great build-up to the viewing experience of About Face.
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CityTV News
indieWIRE.com
Peter Knegt announces About Face’s official world premiere at the 16th edition of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival happening this April 30-May 10, 2009.
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NOW Toronto
The climax is heart-poundingly suspenseful, and the clear-eyed denouement wonderfully satisfying without being sappy.
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Pilot News Cover Story
Early publicity for Gwen’s story came out of a local paper in Indiana during filmmaking. Emmett Glover’s emotional meeting with Gwen was filmed by our documentary team when it was discovered that he was engaged to be married to Gwen’s mother shortly before Gwen contacted her and she ran off. This news story covered a pivotal moment as Gwen put together the puzzle of her mother’s history.
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ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Director Mary Katzke was kind enough to answer the questions below in a recent e-mail interview about her documentary.
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10 movies to see before you die
It is my very firm belief that this movie could not have been made by anyone other than Mary Rosanne Katzke, whose work with her company AffinityFilms, Inc in Alaska is, in my opinion, groundbreaking.
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TorontoSun.com
The journey helps her find a half-sister and connect with a whole new community. This is a disturbing, fascinating movie.
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Mary & Gwen, Photo by Erik Hill/Anchorage Daily News