| Produced in collaboration with homeless people and shown
on PBS, this thought provoking homeless video is recommended by the National Coalition for the Homeless. The video is
widely considered to be the best and most broadly applicable case study available on the scope and diversity of
homelessness in America. |
|
|
|
The Arts Registry:
Skyway News
|
Our sixth annual tribute to people who have made a difference in the arts in the Twin Cities.
Once again we've solicited the advice of the real experts - area artists and arts administrators - to compile a list
of 25 people and organizations that have made significant contributions to the arts during the past year. What
follows are profiles of these gifted artists, astute administrators and visionary philanthropists, whose efforts are,
at the very least, deserving of a well executed tip of the hat.
Congratulations to all those named to the Arts Registry class of 1996.
Filmmaker - Pat Hennessey was a year into production
of "The Homeless Home Movie," a documentary examining homelessness from the
perspective of those actually living it, when he was forced to take up residence in his van. He had emptied all his
own personal savings into the film, and roughly $3,500 of the film's budget was being withheld by the project's fiscal
agent, the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless.
In the Summer of 1993, it looked as though "The Homeless Home Movie" would forever remain a work-in-progress. But
Hennessey's determination to complete the project never wavered. He emerged victorious from his lawsuit with the
coalition, and used that money to complete shooting. Then he drummed up enough corporate funding to cover the cost
of two years of editing, mixing, transcribing and color correcting.
In April, Hennessey's finished, full length documentary played to its first paying audiences when it was booked for
a weekend run at the University Film Society.
"The Film has really exceeded my expectations. It is really far better than I had actually hoped for when I started,"
Hennessey said. Judging by the positive critical and audience response to the film, Hennessey's claims were not merely
the biased boasts of a tenacious filmmaker.
Earlier this month, "The Homeless Home Movie" made its broadcast debut on
KTCA-TV, Channel 2. As it turns out, that KTCA airing
was something of a dream come true for the 33 year old filmmaker, who said prior to the film's cinematic premiere
that the true home for "Homeless" was television.
"I would love this film to be pumped into people's living rooms; that would be wild," Hennessey said.
Almost as wild as a filmmaker sacrificing everything to make a documentary about people with nothing.
- Andrew Bacskai
Arts editor - Skyway News
|
|
|
©copyright, 2005