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One Page Project Summary: Gwen's Story
This documentary will feature a lifelong mixed race Alaskan resident searching for answers about her past and will be produced by Affinityfilms, Inc. Affinityfilms, Inc. is an award-winning nonprofit media company based in Alaska since 1982, which has produced over 20 documentaries. Affinityfilms has recently received its first grant for this project, a $2500 development grant from the New York Mercantile Exchange Charitable Foundation and is currently producing a trailer for the video. Affinityfilms is also the beneficiary of an equipment grant from the Rasmuson Foundation. In September of 2004, the Alaska State Arts Council donated $1,000 toward travel and PR materials costs to attend the IFP market in New York City.
On June 1, 1980, at a campground along Eagle River in Alaska, something terrible happened. Ten-month old infant Gwen B. was thrown into a campfire, resulting in 2 nd and 3 rd degree burns over 80% of her body. For reasons she has never understood, she has been kept isolated from her own history. The scarring resulting from this tragedy plagues her today, as she states, “I can't even go to the post office or grocery store without someone staring at me, their eyes darting from my scars to my eyes as if they can't control it.” She feels lonely and has been the victim of much abuse. Most recently her depression and sorrow led her to Alaska Psychiatric Institute where she was diagnosed as “bi-polar and schizophrenic”.
But is she? Or does she have a right to be questioning, seeking, researching, and ultimately understanding her own tragedy? Each day she lives with the fact that her own mother threw her into that fire, and hasn't been heard from since. When she told intake personnel at API that she had “heard voices” no one asked where, or when and simply prescribed medications. Yet in her first interview with us, she answered that question with, “This summer, when I went camping for the first time since my accident” and burst into tears as she put two and two together. When she finished giving her interview, she thanked us, stating that is was the first time she had “felt good” that she could remember . She then invited us to accompany her on her journey of finding out what happened, finding her mother and other half-siblings, and if there is an answer, why? Ultimately she would like to integrate herself into our community with grace and contribution.
Many of us remember those headlines 24 years ago. Many more know of Gwen now as a young musician appearing around Anchorage. Telling her story will involve a hard look at: the meaning of physical beauty in a media culture obsessed with ‘thin' and ‘young' and ‘gorgeous'; what it means to be an outsider in terms of social norms; what options are available to someone with disabilities here in our community; and the power of taking control of one's life and connecting with other survivors. No one has ever told her story and all of us can learn from having the privilege of “going inside” her life while she discovers her own secrets. She is a viable part of our community, and as part of accepting and cherishing her and anyone else who may be perceived as “different”, we may need to understand her story.
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