People

Lauralee Farrer | Tamara Johnston | Grace Oh

Lauralee Farrer [imdb] DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

Director Lauralee Farrer has been writing, producing, and directing for over thirty years. As principal filmmaker of Burning Heart productions, she is the creative energy behind their projects in several stages of development: an innovative feature-length documentary, The Fair Trade (2007); a narrative feature Praying the Hours (2008); and an ambitious set of feature period narrative films surrounding Rodin's sculpture of the Burghers of Calais.

Her first personal film project, which she wrote, produced, and directed under the banner of Burning Heart productions was the award-winning documentary Laundry and Tosca (2004). The film premiered in Milan at the Sabaoth Film Festival (winner, best music), and was an official entry in several domestic festivals including Santa Fe Film Festival, Ashland Independent Film Festival (finalist, best documentary), New River Film Festival, Damah Film Festival (winner, best documentary), USA Film Festival (finalist, best documentary) and Leith Film Festival in Scotland. The film is about the life and dreams of opera singer Marcia Whitehead-a rare lirico-spinto soprano-who studies with renowned New York vocal coach Maestro Franco Iglesias (Placido Domingo).The film investigates the life of soprano Marcia Whitehead, exploring the idea of whether simply following a dream can be enough to build a meaningful life. An event combining the film screening, Whitehead singing, and Farrer speaking has been presented in the following years at colleges, film festival forums, panels, conferences, colleges, summits, churches, and professional and private environments. This experience was the impetus behind Farrer's emerging public speaking engagements.

Farrer's freelance work for humanitarian organizations took her to Spain when Franco died, to Kenya during the droughts of 1981 and 1991, to Somalia when the war broke out, and to Uganda to write about early outbreaks of AIDS and the plight of its orphans. She wrote of the Sisters of Charity in Ethiopia, was in Moscow when the 1991 coup took place, and when Leningrad became St. Petersburg again. She was in East Germany before and after the wall went down, in Mexico City to write about cultures of poverty, and in U.S. cities like Philadelphia, Houston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Boston to write about American life. This is the material from which her directing and screenwriting voice emerges.

Farrer studied in Heidelberg, Germany, and at various California institutions including Pepperdine University and UCLA, before gaining a degree from Azusa Pacific University. Her screenwriting education includes graduate-level filmic writing at USC, various professional seminars (e.g., Robert McKee, John Truby, John Schlesinger, etc.) and interviews with Sydney Pollack, Hume Cronyn, Milos Forman, Roland Joffe, and David Puttnam.

While she was researching tribal warfare in Kenya, the 1992 Los Angeles uprisings occurred. A classical theater group pairing volunteer professionals and at-risk teenagers, for which she directed and produced, was started as a response. The endeavor culminated in the largest-ever production in the Opera House of The Kennedy Center, and receipt of the national Community Solutions in Education Award.

Farrer was coproducer for L.A.-based Lovestruck Pictures' Best Man in Grass Creek. During that time, for three years, Farrer lived in a Benedictine community in Denver, Colorado-a providential experience that formed much of the basis for her current feature, Praying the Hours.

PERSONAL QUOTES

I was in Moscow when the coup happened. I saw how galvanized people were by the hope of change, and how they were not afraid to risk their lives as much as they were afraid of having nothing worth risking them for. I found the same spirit among American "at-risk" high school students-bored, under-challenged, yearning for something worthwhile. I say let's talk about stuff that matters. Peoples' lives depend on it, our souls depend on it.

The reason I made Laundry and Tosca is not because I am particularly interested in documentaries or in short films or even in opera, for that matter. What I found was that Marcia's story intrigued people because they want to believe in the power of taking a risk for something important and then staying the course. This is what leads to an abundant life, not arriving at some superficially defined "success."

I am convinced that audiences are widely underestimated. They want a range of work-from entertainment to challenge to inspiration-but we continue to give them the same old insipid, useless material, claiming that it's what they really want. What about when their lives are fractured by suffering and grief, or transformed by true love? Will some cartoonish, meaningless tripe is going to resonate?

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Tamara Johnston [imdb] PRODUCER

Tamara Johnston is a founding partner of Anti-Body, LLC, a skincare company that supports women in Togo, Africa, by purchasing fair trade and promoting fair trading practices. Together with her twin sister, Shelby, and brother-in-law, Steven, she is active in and a spokesperson for the growing international movement of fair trade.

Johnston joined the producing team of Burning Heart Films in 2004 where, with principal Lauralee Farrer, she is a producer of film projects such as the award-winning documentary Laundry and Tosca (2004), the feature length documentary The Fair Trade—of which Johnston is also the subject (2007); and the narrative feature Praying The Hours (2008). Her history in relationship with Farrer extends back over fifteen years and includes various theater, film, print, and other media pairings with socially conscious endeavors. Her experience in filmmaking began with assisting Jack Hafer of Boulevard Pictures (To End All Wars) and then as assistant to ImageMovers producing partner Robert Zemeckis and Steve Starkey on Matchstick Men, The Polar Express, Monster House, Last Holiday, and Beowulf.

Johnston's passion for conscious living spurred involvement in independent producing experiences including third screen episodes for TreeHugger TV, Anti-Body Skincare, and a documentary currently in preproduction on the AIDS crisis, for producing partner Heifer International. Johnston has taught video production, is a professional photographer, and public speaker. She graduated Magna Cum Laud with a degree in Psychology from Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California.

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Grace Oh [imdb] PRODUCER

Grace Oh's experience in production began with work on multiple student films and evolved into working in television for cable networks such as MTV, VH1, and The Disney Channel. Her expertise in production and acquisition were just a few of the reasons for her recruitment to Shim Films Inc. in 2000.

At Shim Films, Oh produced multiple key projects, eventually being promoted to senior producer to oversee all incoming projects. She has worked on campaigns for The Learning Channel, E! Entertainment, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Kingworld Productions, Hollywood Squares, and Bloomberg Television, among others. She has been a speaker at PromaxBDA in Amsterdam, Singapore, Miami, and Los Angeles, representing Shim Films globally. Grace's last script, which she wrote and developed with Shim Films, was accepted to the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival Director's All Access program.

Most recently, Grace worked at MTVN in Strategic Resources providing managerial support for most of the productions out of the west coast. Since leaving her last corporate position, Grace is collaborating with video artist, Gregory King, on a script set in New York City post 9/11. She is also developing a non-profit production company that explores topics promoting dialogue in communities.

Grace first began working with Burning Heart productions on the feature narrative Praying The Hours in production design, and has since joined the producing team. She is currently a producer on the documentary feature, The Fair Trade.

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