UNAFF 2005 : Films : Chavez Ravine

CHAVEZ RAVINE: A LOS ANGELES STORY
Jordan Mechner / Don Normark, Andrew B. Anderson, Mark Moran (USA) 26'

Description:
In 1949, photographer Don Normark stumbled on Chávez Ravine, a closely-knit Mexican-American village on a hill overlooking downtown Los Angeles. Enchanted, he stayed for a year and took hundreds of photographs, never knowing he was capturing on film the last images of a place that was about to disappear. The following year, the city of Los Angeles evicted the 300 families of Chávez Ravine to make way for a low-income public housing project. The land was cleared˜homes, schools, and church razed to the ground. But the real estate lobby, sensing a great opportunity, accused the LA Housing Authority's Frank Wilkinson of being a communist agent. The city folded and instead of building the promised housing, it sold the land to baseball owner Walter O'Malley, who built Dodger Stadium on the site.

Biographies:
Jordan Mechner has written and directed two award-winning short films, Waiting for Dark and Chávez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. He is also one of the world‚s best-known videogame creators. His games ˆ including Karateka, Prince of Persia, The Last Express and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Mechner is currently working on adaptation of Prince of Persia for producer Jerry Bruckheimer. He received his B.A. from Yale University.

In 1949, Don Normark, a freelance photographer, made the still photographs that illustrate Chávez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story. The film dramatizes the events related in his book Chávez Ravine, 1949: A Los Angeles Story, published by Chronicle Books. Normark has illustrated many books, and thousands of his travel and garden photographs have filled the pages of different magazines.

Andrew Andersen has 20 years of experience as a director of photography shooting independent feature films, commercials and TV documentaries. He has shot for The Learning Channel, The History Channel, A&E Biography, MTV, VH-1 and The Disney Channel, as well as for NASA, the Kennedy Space Center, Dupont Chemical, the WHO and the American Cancer Society.

Mark Moran has worked in various capacities on a wide range of films, including Bee Season, Basic, Secretary, Sweet Home Alabama and Novocaine. Prior to his film career, he designed and programmed cutting-edge computer games. Moran graduated from Columbia University.

Contact Information:
John Hoskyns-Abrahall, President
Bullfrog Films
PO Box 149
Oley, PA 19547
E-mail: info@bullfrogfilms.com
URL: www.bullfrogfilms.com