Everything Under The Sun: Powerful And Award-Winning Documentaries

Film crew on the scene in Malaysia for the series, #EndCrimeNotLife.

Storytelling through film and video, documenting an emerging world view, providing a platform and venue for inspiration by individuals, businesses, and organizations. An apt description for a media production company. Even with a focus on the work of its founder and filmmaker, Dawn Mikkelson, it's an award-winning company that produces distinguished documentaries. That company is EMERGENCE PICTURES. And although you may not have ever heard of this production company, you may have seen its films on your local PBS network.

One of the documentaries already filmed, the first in a series, #EndCrimeNotLife, commissioned by the Coalition for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in ASEAN (The Association of East Asian Nations). This first video documented the situation of Madame Eswari's son, who had borrowed a friend's car and was stopped by police and found with a small quantity of drugs. The drugs did not have his fingerprints, the car didn't belong to him, yet the judge ruled him guilty. And the penalty for that small quantity of drugs, is death.

The video depicts the sadness of the mother and her anguish over her son's sentence, due to be completed this year. The young man was the economic support for his family, thus explaining his need for the borrowed car. The lawyer and the mother both explain their involvement with the young man sentenced. It is meant to leave the viewer thinking about justice and whether justice was really served in this case, and others like it.

Another film that is still in the process of development and the majority of it is already filmed is RISKING LIGHT. This documentary is planned to tell the story of forgiveness, from the perspective of individuals, who have been deeply aggrieved. One of the women in the film lost her only son at the age of 21 to a killer who was only 16 years old. Yet, years later, she met with the man who killed her son and found forgiveness deep in her own heart. Others are Debra, an Australian of mixed aborigine origin, who was taken from her family, placed in foster care, and brutally abused; Kilong, who lived in Cambodia and was taken into slave labor, starved, and beaten; and O'Shea, who killed a young man, whose mother took the time to truly forgive him.

Ms. Mikkelson was at the time she filmed her story, struggling with her own issues of trust, from filming some of the dark side of life. She wanted to understand the hope that emanated from the people who forgave what seemed to be unforgivable. And so, the film will show how that forgiveness emerged and provides hope for others, too. In order to give this film the best publicity, so large audiences can see this hope, there is a campaign online, here: https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/risking-light#updates; to spark the spread of knowledge that this film is out there and worthwhile, hopeful, for those interested. You know, this campaign may also be here at quite an apt time; it could be something that helps a country divided, looking at forgiveness for each other and being more tolerant of humanity.