AMERICAN FILM FOUNDATION
Freida Lee Mock and Terry Sanders release their Oscar®/Emmy-winning American Film Foundation collection on Vimeo on Demand
The collection includes:
A portrait of author Anne Lamott (whose new book Somehow debuted #1 on The New York Times Best Seller List); The Oscar® Winning Films Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision and A Time Out of War (BothNational Film Registry Selections and Maya Lin, a Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient); G-DOG (Father Greg Boyle, also a Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient last week, May 4, 2024); SING!, Oscar nominee about the renowned chorus where Billie Eilish and Finneas learned to sing; and the Emmy-Winning Lillian Gish: The Actors’ Life for Me, among many others.
The Academy Award® and Emmy winning husband and wife team of Freida Lee Mock and Terry Sanders, along with their daughters Jessica and Brittany Sanders, who have produced and released nearly 50 films spanning decades of filmmaking through their non-profit company American Film Foundation, announce that their film collection is for the first time available worldwide on Vimeo on Demand to buy or rent. Their films and/or series have received three Oscars, 10 Oscar nominations, Primetime Emmys and Emmy nominations and numerous other awards.
Some highlights from the collection are:
ANITA: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER
Dir. Freida Lee Mock, 2013, 76 min.
The story of Anita Hill who responded to questions about sexual harassment by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in a contentious Senate Hearing exposing the issue to the world.
BIRD BY BIRD WITH ANNIE
Dir. Freida Lee Mock, 1999, 54 min.
A portrait of the best-selling author and laugh out-loud funny humorist Anne Lamott (Somehow, Bird by Bird, Traveling Mercies, Operating Instructions, Crooked Little Heart) it is the inspiring story of a survivor — a recovering alcoholic, single mother, born-again Christian and liberal activist. UPDATE: Lamott’s newest book Somehow is currently on The New York Times Best Seller List, debuting at # 1.
G-DOG
Dir. Freida Lee Mock, 2012, 92 min.
G-DOG tells the entertaining, hilarious and unlikely story of how a white Jesuit priest became an expert on gang lives through Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang intervention and rehab program in the world. Father Greg Boyle (G-Dog to homies) works by a powerful idea: Nothing stops a bullet like a job. His unstoppable compassion has transformed the lives of thousands of Latino, Asian, and African American gang members. UPDATE: On May 4, 2024, Father Greg Boyle received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden.
LILLIAN GISH: THE ACTOR’S LIFE FOR ME
Dir. Terry Sanders, 1989, 56 min.
Called the first lady of the silent screen, Lillian Gish was the archetypal silent film heroine — the delicate damsel in distress, stranded on a swift-moving ice floe, cowering before a sadistic brute. The film showcases generous footage of her most memorable performances. In this Emmy-award winning documentary, the celebrated actress reflects on her life and work spanning the 20th century, particularly her years as D.W. Griffith's favorite leading lady and collaborator.
MAYA LIN: A STRONG CLEAR VISION
Dir. Freida Lee Mock, 1994, 98 min.
Oscar Winner - Best Documentary Feature
The Academy Award®-winning documentary about sculptor and architect Maya Lin who, at age 21, designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. tells the gripping story behind the Vietnam Memorial and explores a decade of her creative work. Maya Lin's design of the Civil Rights Memorial, the Yale Women's Table, and the Juniata Peace Chapel reveals her ability to address major issues of our times through the healing power of art. UPDATE: Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 2023 and Maya Lin received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016. Her newest design is the entry sculpture for the Obama Presidential Library).
NEVER GIVE UP: THE 20TH CENTURY ODYSSEY OF HERBERT ZIPPER
Dir. Terry Sanders, 1996, 40 min.
The extraordinary story of Vienna born musician and conductor Herbert Zipper who survived Dachau, Buchenwald, and a Japanese concentration camp to become one of the great music educators of the world, continuing at 92 to bring music to the inner city schools of America. Academy Award® Nomination, Best Documentary Short Film
RETURN WITH HONOR
Dir. Freida Lee Mock & Terry Sanders, 1998, 102 min.
Presented by Tom Hanks, Return with Honor tells the gripping story of American fighter pilots shot down over North Vietnam and surviving with honor as POWs for up to eight and a half years. The film includes astounding, never-before-seen footage from the archives of Vietnam and contains riveting first person accounts of the hidden war behind prison walls. It is an inspiring testament to faith, brotherhood and the resilience of the human spirit.
ROSE FITZGERALD KENNEDY: A LIFE TO REMEMBER
Dir. Terry Sanders, 1990, 18 min.
An Oscar nominee, this documentary is a moving portrait chronicling the life, the times, the joys and sorrows of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The film honors her work in the field of mental retardation.
SING!,
Dir. Freida Lee Mock, 2001, 36 min.
Oscar nominated for Best Documentary Short about the world-renowned Chorus where Billie Eilish and Finneas learned to sing, the film asks how do squeaky-voiced 8 year olds become amazing singers? SING!, about the Los Angeles Children's Chorus, tells the story of how a community group, amid severe cutbacks in the arts, is able to develop a children's chorus that is one of the best in the country.
A TIME OUT OF WAR
Dir. Denis Sanders with Photography by Terry Sanders, 1954, 22 min.
The 1955 Oscar Winner for Best Short Subject, the film portrays a dramatic incident from the American Civil War when two Union soldiers and a Confederate soldier, facing each other across a river agree on an hour's truce.
WRESTLING WITH ANGELS: PLAYWRIGHT TONY KUSHNER
Dir. Freida Lee Mock, 2006, 98 min.
In the film, Tony Kushner (Playwright of Angels in America) takes us from his childhood home in small-town Louisiana to his development as a writer, politically active gay man, and endlessly quotable globe-trotting force for a more literate and compassionate universe. Featuring Meryl Streep, Marcia Gay Harden, Tonya Pinkins, Maurice Sendak, George C. Wolfe, Oskar Eustis, Frank Rich and others.
Sanders’ feature dramatic films have introduced actors in their first film roles including: George Hamilton (Crime and Punishment USA, 1959), Robert Redford (War Hunt, 1962) and Mikey Madison (Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey, 2017). Madison next stars in Sean Baker's new film, Anora, being released by Neon next month. The film is in competition in the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
A full list of the American Film Foundation collection can be found on Vimeo on Demand.
About the Filmmakers:
Freida Lee Mock is an Academy Award®-winning filmmaker, a director, producer and writer whose five Oscar nominated films include Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, Never Give Up: The 20th Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper, Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember, Sing!, To Live or Let Die and other critically acclaimed films Wrestling With Angels/ Tony Kushner. ANITA: Speaking Truth to Power, RUTH: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words, and The Choir and Conductor.
Her films range in stories and subjects from art, politics, history and ethics to penetrating biographies and are characterized by a freshness in ideas.
A graduate of UC Berkeley, Mock studied history and law and began her career at David Wolper Productions researching and producing documentaries.
She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Director’s Guild of America, the National Asian American Telecommunications Association, Women in Film and the Writers Guild of America and was the first Governor of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and served 6 years as governor and co-chaired the DGA Documentary Awards for 6 years.
Mock is co-founder and vice president of American Film Foundation and a partner in Sanders and Mock productions.
Director, producer, writer Terry Sanders is a two-time Oscar winner who has produced and/or directed more than 70 award-winning dramatic features, theatrical documentaries, television specials and a large body of portrait films of major American artists, writers and musicians. Sanders first professional job after producing and photographing the Oscar-winning dramatic Civil War short story film, A Time Out of War, was directing the second unit of Night of the Hunter for Charles Laughton. He later produced and co-directed with his brother Denis the independent features Crime and Punishment, USA and War Hunt, which introduced Robert Redford.
His non-fiction films include Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, Return With Honor, Never Give Up: The 20th Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper, Into the Future: On the Preservation of Knowledge in the Electronic Age, Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember, Lillian Gish: The Actor’s Life for Me, To Live or Let Die, Four Stones for Kanemitsu, The Legend of Marilyn Monroe, The National Geographic The New Indians, Copland Portrait, Slow Fires, Portrait of Zubin Mehta, Fighting For Life, 9th Circuit Cowboy and the six part series, Screenwriters: Word Into Image.
Sanders' most recent dramatic feature is Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey, which introduced Mikey Madison.
Sanders was educated at CalTech and UCLA Film School. He was co-founder and Associate Dean of the Film School of Cal Arts and has been a visiting professor at UCLA graduate film school.
Sanders is president of American Film Foundation and a partner in Sanders & Mock Productions.
Jessica Sanders is an Academy Award–nominated, Sundance and Cannes Award-winning director and producer of narrative and documentary films and commercials. Jessica’s commercial career was launched when Steve Jobs handpicked her to direct Apple’s iPad launch campaign. Jessica won the coveted Cannes Young Director’s Award for her Sony Make.Believe film, which also won an AICP award.
Jessica directed and produced the narrative short film End of the Line, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The film won Best International Short Film at the Molise Film Festival in Italy and the Jury's Choice Award at London's Discover Film Festival.
Jessica’s first feature documentary film After Innocence, which she directed, wrote and produced tells the story of innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and exonerated after DNA testing proved their innocence. The film won the Sundance Special Jury Prize and numerous festival awards before being released theatrically by New Yorker Films and premiering on Showtime.
Jessica was nominated for an Academy Award for Sing!
Brittany Sanders is a painter and book artist. In 2004, Sanders was the youngest artist represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Highlights from the Permanent Collection: 1450 to the Present, Tiepolo to Thiebaud. Her artwork is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Getty Museum, Yale University and the New York Public Library, the Peter and Helen Bing Family, Agnes Gund and the Peter Norton Family. Sanders has received private commissions from the George Gund family, the Bonel Collection, and the artist and architect Maya Lin. She is directing Chung Liann – Moving with Joy, a documentary about the Tai Chi master.
Brittany Sanders graduated with honors from Brown University, with a double major in Comparative Literature and History of Art and Architecture.
About American Film Foundation:
American Film Foundation is a Santa Monica-based non-profit production company that has produced both Academy and Emmy Award-winning documentaries. The company's projects range from theatrical documentaries and television series to dramatic feature films. For more information, visit: http://www.americanfilmfoundation.com/.
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