Porter Gale, a graduate student in the
M.A. in Documentary Filmmaking at Stanford University, recently completed
a short film called The Kicker. Porter was also an executive producer
of 2Chicks, 2Bikes, 1Cause (1998) a film about young breast cancer
survivors. 2C2B1C aired on Lifetime Television and on Channel 4/London.
The film received national and international press including coverage on
or in: The Rosie O'Donnell Show, CNN Headline News, CNN All About Women,
Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, ABC's
Non-Stop New York, The Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, SELF Magazine and
over 100 other press vehicles. Porter also co-founded The 2Chicks Foundation
which raised over $100,000 for breast cancer awareness. In a past life,
Porter was an account director and new business strategist in the advertising
world. Most recently, she worked at "hot shop" Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners,
in New York City. She has a BSBA from Boston University, resides in San
Francisco and likes traveling in her spare time. Her last big adventure
was drinking frozen Gatorade, at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Access
digital video
20 min.
Porter Gale is currently finishing
up post-production on Access a 20-minute video about the barriers
uninsured immigrants face when seeking medical care. The piece was funded
by Community Voices and Asian Health Services (Oakland, CA). In the video
viewers intimately meet three individuals; Fabiola, a 15-year old with
severe asthma, Negash an elderly man with diabetes and Julia an 8-year
old who was almost paralyzed after she suffered an epidural abscess. The
emotional film addresses some of the many barriers that keep immigrants
from getting preventative medical care, such as; communication challenges,
cultural pride, financial concerns and not understanding the medical system.
Yellow Fridays
16mm and Super 8, color film
6 min.
Yellow Fridays is an experimental
film, about a writer and a sculptor, who share a unique neurological ability
called synesthesia. A collage of images, colors, textures and film stocks
are used to explore the perceptions and experiences of the two artists.
Through voice-overs, the artists share tales of colored hearing, colored
pain and colored alphabets.....several of the many forms of synesthesia.
XXXY
Co-directed by Porter Gale and Laleh Soomekh
digital video
13 min.
"Is it a boy or is it a girl?" the most
frequently asked question posed to new parents doesnât apply when a baby
is born intersex or with ambiguous genitalia. XXXY is an intimate portrait
of two individuals, Kristi and Howard, born "not wholly male and not wholly
female." In candid interviews, Kristi and Howard openly talk about the emotional,
psychological and physiological impact of being born intersex.
AWARDS: Best Student Documentary Award, Palm Springs Shorts Festival, Jury
Award Winner, New York Exposition of Short Film and Video, Honorable Mention,
Making Waves Film Festival
FESTIVALS: Over a dozen national and international festivals.
BROADCASTS: Through The Lens (Philadelphia, PBS)
DISTRIBUTION: University of California/Berkeley, Kate Spohr, 510-643-2788
or http://www-cmil.unex.berkeley.edu/media/
The Kicker
16mm, black and white film
3 min.
The Kicker, a 16mm black &
white film, is a documentary about unexpected friendships and living your
dreams. The film stars Cecelia Clark, a kicker on the Berkeley High School
Football Team, and friend and teammate Keith Stephen. The high impact
piece challenges viewers to think about racial and gender boundaries that
exist in our society. Visually, the piece contains many unique shots,
including; close-ups of CeCi's manicured hands on a football, a pixalation
of lunch hour at Berkeley High and slow motion footage of CeCi doing flips
on a trampoline.