Artists and Orphans: A True Drama

Colour, 35mm
USA/Georgia, 2001, 40 min
Section: Intolerance

Synopsis

A New York artistic ensemble with the simple name Our Theater, led by actress-director Sharon Gans, find out something terrible on their way to a festival in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi: thousands of homeless orphaned children live in a country that has yet to recover from civil war. The president of this hungry nation, Eduard Shevardnadze claims that Georgians would rather spend their last farthing on a theatre ticket than on food, and the First Lady says there are no orphans in her country. Sharon and some of her friends spring into action: they succeed in getting enough people and funds to reconstruct an orphanage. A hard winter is coming and the home is without electricity, heating and water, while the kids don’t have any warm clothes. Finally, two months after the original decision was made to help, they begin making some headway. This debut film by screenwriter, director and producer Lianne Klapper McNally is concrete proof that with a little goodwill even a small group of people can influence the course of important events.

About the director

Lianne Klapper McNally graduated from Stanford University and then studied film at New York University. She has worked as a screenwriter, producer and director for a variety of television stations including CBS, NBC, HBO/Cinemax, Showtime, Lifetime and USA Networks. Selected filmography: the comedy series Brownstone (writer), a short bio of 60 Minutes commentator Mike Wallace: A Television Retrospective (writer, director, production) and the hour-long documentary Hispanics in America (writer). The documentary Artists and Orphans: A True Drama is her first independent project.