About the film
Film Credits
David Eberts (Director)
David Eberts began his career in film as a child actor, starring in the 1988 period drama, Burning Secret, alongside Faye Dunaway and Klaus Maria Brandauer.
10 years later, he entered the world of documentary film, working as a camera assistant on several films directed by Dr. John Michalczyk for PBS.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1999 he joined Original Productions, a company newly formed by producer Thom Beers. Over a four year period at Original Productions, David worked on more than 18 documentaries produced for The Discovery Channel, serving as Director of Photography, Assistant Editor and Co-Producer.
In 2001, David was hired by acclaimed documentary directors, Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender, to Co-Produce Prisoner of Paradise. It was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the 2003 Academy Awards and won Best Documentary at the prestigious Grierson Awards in the same year.
David has also served as editor and co-editor on five projects for Montreal based Philms, Inc. including the feature films Hatley High, and Prom Wars.
Helen Cotton (Co-Director & Producer)
Helen Cotton began her career in television after graduating from university. From 2003 – 2004 she worked on fifteen television commercials for Spanish based Palma Pictures, serving as production coordinator. Realizing her passion was documentary filmmaking, she joined London based Oval Films. Over the course of two years, Helen worked on twenty-two episodes of television for the Discovery Channel, serving as director and / or producer.
From 2006 – 2008, Helen co-directed and produced her first feature length documentary, Where the Water Meets the Sky. She also directed and produced a series of eight short films in Zambia in Tanzania that helped to launch Camfed’s Financial Times seasonal appeal, bringing the voices of marginalized women and girls to an international audience.
Helen is currently developing the social change strategy to work alongside Where the Water Meets the Sky to ensure that the film has maximum benefit for the featured community in rural Zambia. She is also working on her first narrative feature film about child trafficking to be directed by Academy Award-winner, Ross Kauffman. In parallel, she is launching See Change Films, a production company that will use the power of film to direct attention and resources to the world’s poorest communities.
Ann Cotton (Executive Producer)
Ann Cotton is the founder and Executive Director of Camfed International (the Campaign for Female Education), the non-profit organization that conceived and supported the Samfya Women Filmmakers initiative. Ann launched Camfed in 1993, supporting the education of 32 girls in Zimbabwe. In 2007, more than 408,000 children in four African countries benefited from Camfed’s program of educational support. Today, Camfed is recognized internationally as a leading organization in the field of girls’ education.
Under Ann’s leadership, Camfed has received numerous awards: in 2003, it was voted UK International Development Charity of the Year; in 2004, Ann was named Ernst & Young’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year for the UK; in 2005, she received a Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship; and in 2008, Ann was named an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur by the Schwab Foundation.
David Freeman (Executive Producer)
David Freeman has more than 15 years of experience helping brand marketers navigate in the entertainment, sports, and media marketplace. He was a pioneer in the early days of the branded entertainment movement and is now continuing his expertise in the space.
David launched MATTER in 2003 with partner Andy Marks as a result of both the increasing imperative for brands to create and own content as well as a strong belief that all brands must implement entertainment based strategies as part of their marketing mix. In 2006, MATTER was acquired by Edelman, the world’s largest independently owned public relations firm, and now serves as a full service entertainment marketing practice operating worldwide with a number of services and capabilities.
With MATTER now under the Edelman umbrella, the deal-making talent and leadership David once employed on behalf of entertainment brands now benefits Edelman’s industry-spanning roster of Fortune 500 clients.
Fiona Eberts (Co-Executive Producer)
Fiona Eberts was born in the UK in 1946 but spent much of her childhood in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong. During that time she gained a deep awareness of the problems faced by people in developing countries – particularly women and children. In addition to chairing the board for Camfed International, Fiona is on the board of the National Foundation of Alternative Medicine, based in Washington, DC. Her interest in the field of complementary and alternative medicine has a particular focus on solutions and therapies that could be useful in countries with limited access to expensive Western drugs.
Fiona has been married to Hollywood film producer Jake Eberts for the last 37 years. She divides her time between Paris and Montreal, and has three adult children.
Dominique Chadwick and Abibata Mahama (Project Directors and Trainers, Samfya Women Filmmakers initiative)
Dominique Chadwick and Abibata Mahama are co-founders of Film Africa [LINK TO www.filmafrica.org], a collaboration between filmmakers in Ghana and the U.K. that works toward social change in Africa through engaging community members in films and media projects. For the past 18 years, Dominique has worked as a filmmaker, collaborating with aid agencies, NGOs and government ministries on video shoots around the world, with a focus on Africa. Her work has been broadcast on BBC, BBC World, and CNN.
Educated as a teacher, Abibata taught high school in Ghana for eight years before joining Ghana Television where she worked first as an announcer and assistant producer, and later as a producer and director. She has directed narrative feature films (The Spice of the Savannah, and The Priest), as well as a documentary about street children in Ghana.
Dominique and Abibata collaborated with Camfed to launch the Learning Circle program in Ghana, training marginalized women in Northern Ghana in film production, which inspired the Samfya Women Filmmakers initiative in Zambia.
Jordan Roberts (Writer)
Jordan Roberts, a former (deeply unsuccessful) actor, wrote and directed 2004’s (slightly less deeply unsuccessful) Around the Bend starring Michael Caine, Chris Walken, and Josh Lucas for Warner Independent Pictures. It’s a fine picture – won Best Actor (for Walken) and Best Film awards at the Montreal Film Festival, where it premiered – then went on to be seen by virtually no one. So ... he’d really appreciate your giving it a look some time. The following year he was hired to re-write (and re-conceive for English-speaking audiences) a lush romantic drama from France, starring talking Antarctic water fowl. The result, March of the Penguins, went on to win an Oscar for Best Documentary, and to become the second most successful documentary of all time. The narration he wrote for Morgan Freeman was nominated for (and won) several awards as well.
He is currently adapting Richard Powers’ The Echo Maker for (much younger, much more successful, and probably better-looking) director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice), and trying to feel really good about it. But, all jest aside, it has been a profoundly satisfying experience to hang out with David Eberts and Helen Cotton, and the amazing women of Samfya.
Camera: Jaimie Gramston
Original Music: David Thomas
Creative Consultant: Andrew Bampfield
Editors: David Eberts, Safi Ferrah
Additional editing: Liz Roe, Theo Williams
Additional Music: Paul Hepker
Translator & Advisor: Lungowe Matakala
Companies who have shown huge support
PR & Outreach: Matter, an Edelman Entertainment Company
Camera Rental: Electra Film & TV LTD
Audio Post Production: Premium Sound
On-Line Editing Services: DBCom
