ULTIMATE DOCS COMPETITION

WORLD PREMIERE

PORTRAITS OF EMOTION

USA, 2007, 79 min., English

Director: Slawomir Grunberg
Producer: Slawomir Grunberg
Script: Slawomir Grunberg
Cinematography: Slawomir Grunberg
Editing: Erika Street
Music: Doug Frankenberg
Sound: Tom Gniadek, Erika Street
Production company: LogTV
Print Source:
LogTV
4 La Rue Road.,
Spencer, NY 14883
USA
Tel.: 607 589 4709
Fax: 607 589 6151
e-mail: grunberg@logtv.com
www.logtv.com/films/autism


Portraits of Emotion

At 14 years of age Jonathan Lerman is an art prodigy – his charcoal drawings have garnered the attention of numerous art dealers and have been sold into a variety of collections across the US. Jonathan is also autistic, a lifelong developmental disability that renders him incapable of verbally communicating his feelings. This intimate portrait of a young man finding the means to speak about the world around him through charcoal and paper, as well as of a family struggling to understand their son, goes beyond the hype generated by Jonathan’s drawings and offers a glimpse into a life that can only be communicated through art. Though Jonathan struggles to connect with others verbally, he is able to process his world visually. He draws compulsively, capturing his impressions of people he meets, faces from magazines and TV, even textures and shapes in personal and creative portraits. Through this eye-opening film audiences get to experience first hand Jonathan’s unique gift and how it has allowed him to leave his mark on the world.

Slawomir Grunberg, born in Lublin, Poland in 1951. He is a graduate of the Polish Film School in Lodz, where he studied cinematography and directing. Between 1974-76 he worked as a cinematographer for the Polish Television Network in Warsaw. He emigrated from Poland to the US in 1981, and has since shot and produced over 35 television documentaries. Slawomir has been a contributing director of photography and editor for the PBS’ series: Frontline, American Masters, NOVA, AIDS Quarterly and Health Quarterly. In 2000 he won the Emmy Award for a documentary he photographed, directed and co-produced: School Prayer: A Community at War. As a principal director of photography, he has shot over 50 documentaries, four of which received Emmy nominations. Slawomir was named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Documentary Filmmaking in 1997, in 2002 he received a New York Artist's Fellowship, and in 2003 the Soros Justice Media Fellowship.

Filmography (as a director):

Portraits of Emotion (2007);
Saved by Deportation (2006);
Burning Man (2006);
The Exile. Unknown Heroes of “Solidarity” (2005);
The Legacy of Jedwabne (2005);
Borderline. People versus Eunice Baker (2004);
B & B Guestbook (2004);
Green Card (2002), TV series;
Fenceline . A Company Town Divided (2002);
School Prayer. A Community at War (1999);
Gus van Sant. The Curbed Rebel (1998);
From Chechnya to Chernobyl (1998);
Chelyabinsk. The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet (1996).

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