Affinityfilms, Inc. History

Affinityfilms, Inc. is an award-winning nonprofit media production company based in Anchorage, Alaska since 1982. The goal of Affinityfilms, Inc. is to use media for social change and to improve the lives of women and children in terms of health and personal safety. Previous works on breast cancer are: Between Us: the Girlfriend's Inside Guide to Facing a Breast Cancer Diagnosis; and Beyond Flowers: What to Do and Say When Someone You Know has Breast Cancer, which also comes with a handbook for the support team. Other topics Affinityfilms has addressed include rape, domestic violence, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, heart disease, disabled adults, and the growth and development of children. Works have been shown nationally, including on PBS and at the Sundance Film Festival.

The purpose of The Quiet War is to acknowledge the battle women wage against metastatic breast cancer, to provide comfort in seeing strong women facing their disease, and to empower with current information.

Affinityfilms relies on grants and donations to create their works and frequently mentors young women in film.

To see a list of current works, purchase DVDs or handbooks, make a donation, or to contact the producers, please go to: www.affinityfilms.org

Mary Rosanne Katzke, Founder of Affinityfilms, Inc.
Producer/Director of The Quiet War
Mother and Breast Cancer Survivor of 14 years

My first exposure to filmmaking was as a child growing up on a farm in the 1960's. My father had an 8mm camera and we chronicled family events and once made a short film on "how to trap pocket gophers" for my 4-H Project. The excitement of creating these images, waiting for weeks for the film to be processed and sent back and then watching them on a bed sheet on the wall set the stage for a life-long devotion to storytelling through filmmaking.

I began studying film in school in 1974 at the University of Texas, Austin where I obtained my B.S. in Radio-Television- Film in 1978. During a summer trip to Alaska I was hired create media for a nonprofit group called Standing Together Against Rape. One year later, I took a grants writing course at Alaska Pacific University and formed Affinityfilms, Inc., a non-profit production company dedicated to the production of social issues films. My first film, No Word for Rape, was an award-winning documentary about sexual assault in urban and rural Alaska, which addressed common myths surrounding rape awareness, and was mass-produced for use within the statewide sexual assault awareness services network.

Grants from the American Film Institute, the Alaska Humanities Forum and the Alaska State Arts Council allowed me to produce documentaries broaching topics including homeless people, domestic violence, and sex equity in the schools. Many of these documentaries have been featured in festivals including Sundance Film Festival, and Europe. I successfully completed my MFA in Writing and Directing in 1992 at New York University. While at school, I continued to produce documentaries including Sea of Oil, an examination of the social and emotional impact of the Exxon Valdez oil spill funded by the Alaska Humanities Forum and the City of Valdez. This film achieved national and international distribution, was featured at the Museum of Modern Art, the Sundance Film Festival, and aired nationally on PBS' POV Showcase in 1992.

I was able to write and direct a 35mm feature film, Pen Pals, through winning an international screenwriting competition sponsored by the Cinemabeam Project. Pen Pals was featured at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 1993.

Immediately upon graduating from film school, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and was dumped by my school's insurance policy. Obtaining treatment and sorting through the ensuing financial disaster was a two year process which included the shocking news that I would lose the ability to have children, and the accomplishment of becoming the second woman in history to harvest eggs before treatment. I now have a five year-old son born of a surrogate mother. This story became the film, Precious Cargo.

In 1998, I completed Between Us: A First Aid Kit for Your Heart and Soul, a documentary project designed for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients now in distribution with a unique packaging concept including a tote box filled with comfort items. In 2000, this film was the recipient of the Docker's Independent Vision Award. In 2003, I completed a companion film to go in these kits called "Beyond Flowers: What to Say and Do When Someone You Know Has Breast Cancer" which went on to win 2003 DV Award for Best Health Video. On the same subject, I wrote LEGACY, a feature film about breast cancer, which won the WinFemme Screenwriting Competition. It is very important to me that I use the lessons I learned during that trying time of facing cancer to help others who might be facing the same crises. Current works in progress include breast cancer film #3- Living with Metastisis, and is pending funding from the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Recently completed works include: Two by Two, a day in the life of nine 2 year olds which is being used to train pre-school and Montessouri teachers; Now We're Four! -following the same kids; a 12 image black and white photography exhibit entitled "Alaskans in Pink" which celebrates the contributions of supporters of breast cancer patients; and Beat the Odds about the early warning signs of heart disease in women; and Keep the Promise about independent living for adults who are mentally ill.

In November of 2004, I was awarded a one year Rasmuson Fellowship in Filmmaking which allowed me to devote time to developing projects that are near and dear to my heart.

Natalie Phillips
Associate Producer/ Journalist/Mother/Metastatic Breast Cancer Patient

Three months after giving birth to a little boy, Natalie Phillips, at the age of 42, discovered a lump in her breast while nursing her newborn. Overnight, her world changed. She stopped breast-feeding, flew to Seattle for second opinions, and within a month was losing her hair while doing chemo. As a single mom, she depended on friends and coworkers at the local newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News, for support.

A year later, and cancer free, she left Alaska for a journalism fellowship at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Six months into her work there, a pain in her hip, presumably from yoga or running, led to an x-ray and the discovery that her cancer had returned.

Further tests showed the cancer was in her bones and in her liver, yet other than a sore hip, it was not really compromising her. She went back to all her caregivers from round one and all concurred that she needed to start chemo immediately. After much research and asking many questions, she learned that many breast cancer specialists around the country were starting to look at treating estrogen-sensitive, metastasized cancer as a chronic disease with hormonal drugs. The drugs do not offer a cure, but offer some promise of quality of life for a period of time.

After a short phone consultation with Dr. Susan Love, Natalie decided to try the hormonal approach, knowing that if she didn't get immediate results, she could switch to chemo. There seemed little to lose. Her first move was to have her ovaries removed, which shut down the estrogen, and consequently shut down the cancer. For a while. When her marker numbers started creeping up, her doctor prescribed one of many hormonal drugs, which include Tamoxifin, Femara and Megace. She sticks with the drug until the numbers start to creep up again. This pattern has continued and it has been nearly four years since her recurrence was discovered.

In the meantime, back in Anchorage, she decided the most important thing she could do was spend time with her then 3 ½ year old son. So she took an early retirement from her journalism job and began building a second floor on her small house. Acting as the general contractor, she oversaw the rough-in work done by a number of subcontractors. She is doing nearly all the finish work herself and including her now 7-year-old son in much of the work.

Nara Garber, Cinematographer

Nara Garber is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker who divides her time between writing, directing, shooting, and editing, often wearing many hats on the same project. Nara has a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard and received an MFA from Columbia University where she concentrated on directing. Her two student films, A Quiet Chapter (First Place, NY Student Film/Video Festival, 1997) and Pas de Deux (Silver Bear, Austria's Festival of Nations, 1999; Outstanding Narrative Short, CineWomenNY) have screened at festivals throughout Europe and the United States. Since 1998 Nara has served as co-president of Topiary Productions, Inc., with her husband and business partner, Ben Wolf. From 1999 through 2003 Nara and Ben were also the head instructors at DVNewYork, and it was through a two-day workshop in digital filmmaking that Nara first met Mary Katzke.

Nara was initially drawn to film because it combined her interests in photography, music, and storytelling, but over the years she has increasingly come to appreciate the power of the medium to effect change and enable marginalized voices to be heard. Nara moves between documentary and fiction work, finding that the very different demands of each genre prevent her from ever becoming complacent. She is happiest when collaborating on projects that have the potential to educate an audience or at least broaden a viewer's horizons.

Recent camera credits include; Jihad!, a Palestinian-American feature film exploring a more spiritual/mystical definition of a word now translated essentially as "holy war" ("… lively and effective 'scope camerawork by Nara Garber" - Chicago READER); After Roberto, an independent feature shot in Northern Italy in 2004, which premiered as the closing night film at the 2005 Genoa Film Festival; Allergic to Nuts, a short comedy with an African-American ensemble cast that has screened on television (BET) and at over 50 festivals worldwide including FESPACO, Africa's oldest film festival (open by invitation only); Mimmo and Paulie, a short film about homophobia and betrayal (winner of the Best Short Film awards at the Palm Springs and Cleveland International Film Festivals; "Although it was shot on DV, the complicated camera moves and editing work done by Nara Garber really look and feel like it was shot on 35mm with a big production budget" - Show Business Weekly). On the documentary front, Nara has shot stand-alone segments for NOW with Bill Moyers and recently completed work on Black Sorority Project: the Exodus, an hour-long documentary about the creation of Delta Sigma Theta, the first socially progressive Black sorority, at Howard University in the early 1900's. In the summer of 2006 Nara shared cinematography credit with her husband on Vintage, a film about vintage baseball leagues produced by MajorLeagueBaseball.com. Nara also has experience in the commercial and non-profit arenas; in summer of 2006 she co-shot a Volvo commercial (a tie-in to Pirates of the Caribbean in which a car was literally buried in a sand dune) in the Bahamas, and she has produced and shot promotional videos for the Peter J. Sharp Foundation and The Point Foundation.

The Quiet War represents Nara's fourth collaboration with Mary Katzke, and she looks forward to many more in the years to come.

Francoise Dumoulin
Editor/Breast Cancer Survivor

Françoise Dumoulin moved to the United States in 1978 when she received a Rotary Club Scholarship to pursue her studies in filmmaking at Columbia University. While there, she studied under the aegis of Milos Forman, Frank Daniel, Robert Young and Paul Shraeder. Her studies and a strong technical background in film editing prepared Ms Dumoulin for a style of filmmaking that is creative and reveals a refined sense of storytelling.

Programs that Ms Dumoulin produced and edited won multiple awards in competitions and film festivals include :

• A nomination for an Emmy Award for 3-2-1 CONTACT.
• A "Certificate For Creative Excellence" at the US International Film & Video Festival for No Place to Hide and Mission to Planet Earth.
• A Silver Medal for Defying the Odds and an Honorable Mention for Mission to Planet Earth at the New York Festival.

Ms Dumoulin started her career working on the set and in the editing room of over 15 feature films throughout Europe and Africa. Some of her credit include, "Histoire de l'oeil" (directed by Patrick Longchamps}, "High Street"(directed by Andre Ernotte), "Verloren Paradys" (directed by Harry Kumel) and "Jambon d'Ardennes" (directed by Benoit Lamy).

After her move to the United States, Ms Dumoulin turned her attention to documentary filmmaking. She collaborated on the editing of numerous documentaries under the aegis of award winning filmmakers like Robert Drew, the Maysle brothers, Jennifer Fox and Rui de Oliveira Simoes.

In 1991, Ms Dumoulin joined the United Nations and produced and edited numerous documentaries. Some of her credits include: "No Place to Hide", a documentary exploring the history of UN peacekeeping operations. " Mission to Planet Earth", a documentary on the use of space technology to monitor our environment. "Cybertale of Three Cities" a documentary on teens confronting habitat problems.

From 1985 to 1993, Ms Dumoulin served as Adjunct Assistant Professor at New York University - Tisch School of the Arts, teaching film production and sound design. She received a MFA in Film from Columbia University and a "License" degree in Communication Arts from the Institut des Arts de Diffusion, Brussels. In 2006, she was co-producer of the AAJA Awarded "This Land is Your Land" for CBS Sunday Morning.