A searing look at a Southern family wrestling with each other and their beliefs, exposing the culture wars at play below the surface. Family ties are tested in a crisis of understanding and opportunity for acceptance. A radically relevant story at this time in NC--and in the course of humankind.
A searing look at a Southern family wrestling with each other and their beliefs, exposing the culture wars at play below the surface. Family ties are tested in a crisis of understanding and opportunity for acceptance. A radically relevant story at this time in NC--and in the course of humankind.
Participating In
The Untold Story
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Story
About The Project
In 2002, my youngest sibling, whom I had long known as Christopher, came out to me as transgender. Suddenly I needed to recognize her as my sister, Christine.
How strong or fragile would our family ties prove to be as we face what for us was a crisis of understanding and opportunity for acceptance?
With this question in mind, I decided to capture my family’s journey of adaptation to her transition over time. The Ties That Bind is my documentary memoir--a radical story of a non-radical North Carolina family.
I am certainly not the first documentary filmmaker to traverse the often strange landscape of one’s own family. When we dare to train “the big eye” of our cameras on those we love, it is a courageous, but dangerous act, fraught with the risk of misrepresenting, exposing, or alienating them in some way. We also risk ourselves by getting in front of the camera as well as behind it, bringing our perspectives, biases, and beliefs fully into our own awareness, as well as laying them bare for viewers.
What capacity did we really have for allowing the people we say we love to change and grow? To what extent did we really know and accept each other? Could we even recognize our family’s norms around handling differences?
Family is the ultimate crucible. For it is there that each of us is subjected to the heat of norms, history, and expectations, and in which our best selves are refined or our spirits incinerated. Yes, Christine’s gender change was dramatic, but it really only served to ignite my family’s longstanding pattern of laughing away pain and to render it no longer viable, that is, if we were going to stay connected in any genuine way.
Every family has patterns that can get superheated when one of its members colors outside the lines. An unexpected choice of life partner, a surprise divorce, the desire to move: any of these can turn the heat up. Coming out is perhaps just higher on the change thermostat. To what extent does our bandwidth for unconditional love depend on the variables of religion, age, hopes or fears? This film is my exploration of the deeper questions that have washed up in the wake of Christine’s transition, rather than about the comparative simplicity of her actual change.
Incentives
$10
Onscreen credit
You deserve credit (literally)! Every contributor like you becomes part of our team who made the film happen. Imagine seeing your name on the big screen as viewers stay in their seats, transfixed...
$20
Access to film outtakes
Each week during our campaign, we will send you a private online access link to a film outtake or piece of a director's cut that is compelling and never to be seen unless you contribute. Only $5/week for a sneak peek.
$25
Custom greeting card pack, co-designed by editor and film subject
You will receive an 8-pack of gorgeous greeting cards designed by our editor, Emily, featuring wildfower photos taken by one of our film subjects, Judith. "One flower changes the entire garden" is the greeting, which foreshadows the theme of our film.
$25
Film-themed T-shirt designed by editor
A Ties That Bind custom designed (once again, by Emily, our editor) T-shirt can be yours. Color, 100% cotton, and produced right here in Carrboro, NC--film headquarters.
$50
T-shirt PLUS greeting card pack
What a deal! Two incentives bundled together and coming your way shortly after our campaign ends. Tell us your size and promote The Ties (that Bind).
$75
Wilde quote locket
Once you see the film, you'll know that we love quotes. This one from Oscar Wilde captures the complexity of our story:"The Truth is Rarely Pure and Never Simple." It appears on the face of a organza and cabochon locket with a 24" vintage-style chain.
$100
Film screening for contributors only
Join the others who have supported our film and see it first--right here near film headquarters in Chapel Hill, NC at the well-loved Varsity Theater. We'll announce the date later, but it will likely be in August. What better place to be than in a cool, dark theater during the heat of an NC summer?
Claimed: 9 of 138
$200
Wildflower print on metal by film subject
Judith, a subject in the film, is a luminary when it comes to photographing wildflowers. You can choose from a gallery of her stunning prints and we will have it reproduced on metal*, gift-boxed, and sent to you at the close of our campaign. Consider more than one!
* The MetalPrints™ infuses photo images into specially coated aluminum sheets, creating an almost magical luminescence. You can choose from High Gloss, Mid-Gloss*, Satin, or Sheer Surfaces. Float mounted.
$250
Chamber music party at Director's home
My sister, Christine, one of the subjects in our film, grew up playing the viola. She will introduce a very special local string trio to play for you at a private champagne party at the Director's home in Carrboro, NC. Amazing acoustics and these skilled musicians will make for an unforgettable listening experience. We will coordinate the Sunday concert date with contributors after the campaign conludes.
Claimed: 0 of 12
$500
Executive Producer credit
Big givers get big credit and a bundle of all the incentives!!! Need I say more?
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Wishlist
Use the WishList to pledge cash and loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an incentive directly.
$10
Onscreen credit
You deserve credit (literally)! Every contributor like you becomes part of our team who made the film happen. Imagine seeing your name on the big screen as viewers stay in their seats, transfixed...
$20
Access to film outtakes
Each week during our campaign, we will send you a private online access link to a film outtake or piece of a director's cut that is compelling and never to be seen unless you contribute. Only $5/week for a sneak peek.
$25
Custom greeting card pack, co-designed by editor and film subject
You will receive an 8-pack of gorgeous greeting cards designed by our editor, Emily, featuring wildfower photos taken by one of our film subjects, Judith. "One flower changes the entire garden" is the greeting, which foreshadows the theme of our film.
$25
Film-themed T-shirt designed by editor
A Ties That Bind custom designed (once again, by Emily, our editor) T-shirt can be yours. Color, 100% cotton, and produced right here in Carrboro, NC--film headquarters.
$50
T-shirt PLUS greeting card pack
What a deal! Two incentives bundled together and coming your way shortly after our campaign ends. Tell us your size and promote The Ties (that Bind).
$75
Wilde quote locket
Once you see the film, you'll know that we love quotes. This one from Oscar Wilde captures the complexity of our story:"The Truth is Rarely Pure and Never Simple." It appears on the face of a organza and cabochon locket with a 24" vintage-style chain.
$100
Film screening for contributors only
Join the others who have supported our film and see it first--right here near film headquarters in Chapel Hill, NC at the well-loved Varsity Theater. We'll announce the date later, but it will likely be in August. What better place to be than in a cool, dark theater during the heat of an NC summer?
Claimed: 9 of 138
$200
Wildflower print on metal by film subject
Judith, a subject in the film, is a luminary when it comes to photographing wildflowers. You can choose from a gallery of her stunning prints and we will have it reproduced on metal*, gift-boxed, and sent to you at the close of our campaign. Consider more than one!
* The MetalPrints™ infuses photo images into specially coated aluminum sheets, creating an almost magical luminescence. You can choose from High Gloss, Mid-Gloss*, Satin, or Sheer Surfaces. Float mounted.
$250
Chamber music party at Director's home
My sister, Christine, one of the subjects in our film, grew up playing the viola. She will introduce a very special local string trio to play for you at a private champagne party at the Director's home in Carrboro, NC. Amazing acoustics and these skilled musicians will make for an unforgettable listening experience. We will coordinate the Sunday concert date with contributors after the campaign conludes.
Claimed: 0 of 12
$500
Executive Producer credit
Big givers get big credit and a bundle of all the incentives!!! Need I say more?
- Updates
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Current Team
About This Team
Director: Diana Newton is the President of Falling Apples Consulting, her company that is committed to developing integrated leaders. She is the co-author, with thought leader Dr. Paul Hersey, of Leadership Blueprint: Why We Better Lead and Lead Better (2012). Diana’s dedication to leadership led directly to her interest in filmmaking. She began as a writer and producer of training films that explore the complex dynamics between managers and employees. Diana began studying documentary filmmaking in 2003 at Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies and also began production of her documentary memoir, The Ties That Bind. In 2009, Diana wrote, directed, and produced an educational documentary case study--Change Journey: Facing Terminal Illness--that focuses on the process of managing change, based on the real-life story of a cancer patient and her Hospice support team.
Executive Producer: Erica Rothman is the owner of Nightlight Productions. Erica's background as a psychotherapist enables her to explore the "inner terrain" of subjects and their stories with particular sensitivity and depth. She has written, produced and directed acclaimed projects, including documentary films that focus on local and global health care, public policy, the arts and humanities. Erica received a 2007 Gracie Award for American Women in Radio and Television, and key awards at several other film festivals. At the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies, Erica has mentored medical residents and Fellows who have created documentary projects about their work. She has also co-taught a documentary filmmaking course in Oaxaca, Mexico for several years.
Videographer: David Tyson is an award-winning cameraman with over twenty years of experience in broadcast television. His credits include credits include A&E, The History Channel, national coverage of the Michael Peterson trial for Court TV, and February One, a civil rights documentary that aired as a national PBS broadcast in 2005. He is also the owner and Executive Producer of Tyson Communications, a full service film and video production company based in Raleigh, NC. David has been deeply moved by the "profound love story" at the heart of The Ties That Bind since our earliest shoots over ten years ago.
Videographer: Randy Benson is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been featured on the Bravo Network, the Independent Film Channel (Split Screen), WTTW-Chicago, UNC-TV (NC Visions), and others. He served as producer for the Court-TV program Inside Cell Block F, and has worked in freelance camera & audio production for ESPN, Fox Sports South, CBS Sports and the State of North Carolina. His latest feature documentary, The Searchers, is a portrait of researchers of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Randy also teaches documentary film and video at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies, where director Diana Newton first took classes from him!
Editor: Emily Jean Frachtling is a freelance editor and videographer based out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina with a passion for storytelling. In 2013 Emily graduated from Emerson College with a degree in Visual and Media Arts, concentrating in Documentary Production. Though her specialization is in editing, she has also worked as a production assistant on a wide range of projects including Barbara Kopple’s most recent documentary Hot Type: 150 Years of the Nation. Emily has been working for Nightlight Video Productions, a company with a focus in documentary style videos, since 2009. In addition to her work in documentary production, Emily has also worked as a programming associate for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC. She has shown true editorial courage in working with the many hours of footage shot on several different cameras and editing platforms as they have changed over the life cycle of this project.
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