Films

These Amazing Shadows

Rich with imagery, THESE AMAZING SHADOWS interweaves clips from America’s most-beloved films (and many rarer treasures) with moving personal tales of how specific films have reflected our culture and changed our lives. These Amazing Shadows is a remarkable documentary for anyone who loves movies – from the casual filmgoer to the ultimate cinephile. It is also a tale of discovery and exploration, a primer on the history of film, and an examination of how and why all cinema must be preserved and protected.

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Being George Clooney

What is it like being the voice of that famous face? Being George Clooney is a feature length documentary that delves into the creative, often humorous world of audio dubbing a Hollywood motion picture for the international market. The film shows us the problems, the processes and the personalities that translate an American hit into an international blockbuster, and asks the question-what is it like Being George Clooney.

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Faces of Genocide

They suffered starvation and deprivation. They lived in constant fear of being murdered. They endured the deaths of their children. They-- are the survivors of genocide. In Faces of Genocide, these people speak for themselves--the mothers and fathers, the sons and daughters. They are not “the other”--they are “us”. These are their stories. These are the people. These are the Faces of Genocide.

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Current Projects

Sorted or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Save the World

SORTED is a feature length documentary about a remarkable young woman looking for answers. This is not just another climate change documentary with isolated polar bears stranded on ice floes. This is the story of a real person, with hope for a real future, exploring the world she lives in and coming to realize that sometimes there is no perfect solution. But there is always hope.

Nousheen is a modern woman living in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a 21st- century megacity. She gossips on Facebook with her friends, speaks four languages, and recently graduated from the University of Dhaka. She is excited about her future.

However, she often wonders if her world has a future.

Every day, Nousheen sees the evidence of a radically changing planet in her beloved city of Dhaka. A city often cited as the most climate vulnerable city in the world. It is clear she exists is on the front lines of climate change. Her entire society is living on borrowed time.

This is not a documentary that tells the audience what to think with manipulative montages of climate catastrophes or staid talking heads lecturing us on how we are destroying the world. This is Nousheen's story, the story of a smart young woman you haven't seen before. Instead of shots of smokestacks spewing out pollution, there will be a story of an amazing young woman exploring the world and learning how one determined person can make a difference.

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Women’s Work

Women have been fighting for equal rights for generations…for the right to vote, the right to control their own bodies and the right to equality in the workplace.

Women’s Work is an episodic documentary series that looks at dynamic women and their unconventional careers, and how they thrive in a man’s world that sometimes still clings to old stereotypes. These women are challenging and changing the workplace, and creating the world that they want to live in. These women serve as the role models and inspiration for women everywhere. This is not your grandmother’s workforce.

Women’s Work explores the gender bias and harassment these women have had to face and to overcome in order to succeed in their professions. These are inspiring stories of women who broke through barriers to jobs that have been traditionally held by men. These women are boldly going where few women have gone before.

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About

We are Gravitas Docufilms, a Northern California based production company founded in 2004 by dedicated, passionate filmmakers.

Our beginning was in the criminal justice system creating mitigation videos in death penalty cases. These short form documentaries were submitted to prosecutors to persuade them to drop the death penalty charge. In 2006 we moved on to feature length documentary production with the goal of telling lively, entertaining and socially relevant stories.

PAUL MARIANO

pmariano@gravitasdocufilms.com

Paul practiced as a criminal defense attorney for 27 years. Upon retirement, he co-founded Gravitas Docufilms. His directorial debut, ALSO RAN (2006), won the award for Best Political Documentary at the 2006 Atlanta Docufest. His film, THESE AMAZING SHADOWS, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2011 and won awards for Best Documentary at a number of festivals, as well as a Cine Golden Eagle Award. Shadows screened at festivals around the world and theaters across the country, and aired on PBS Independent Lens in December 2011 and 2012. His 2016 film, BEING GEORGE CLOONEY, is a lively look at the audio dubbing of Hollywood films for the international market. In 2018, Paul and Kurt directed FACES OF GENOCIDE, a stirring short documentary in which the survivors of genocide tell their personal stories. It was awarded the Outstanding Achievement In Filmmaking Award at Newport Beach Film Festival 2019.

KURT NORTON

kurtnorton@gravitasdocufilms.com

After a successful career working as a licensed Private Investigator specializing in death penalty cases, Kurt switched paths to focus on documentary filmmaking. He co-directed and co-produced THESE AMAZING SHADOWS in 2011, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, picked up distribution through IFC, and had multiple broadcasts on the PBS series Independent Lens; produced BEING GEORGE CLOONEY, a lively look into the world of the audio dubbing of Hollywood movies for the international market (2016 –Netflix Worldwide); co-produced THE DEEP SKY (2017) a narrative feature, THE S WORD (2017) a moving documentary about suicide survivors, and co-directed FACES OF GENOCIDE, a documentary short subject (2018) that recently won an outstanding short subject award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. He is currently directing a documentary about climate change.