Andrea Kalin
Encyclopedia
Andrea Kalin is an independent
American filmmaker (writer, producer and director). She is also the principal and founder of Spark Media
, Inc. and founder and Executive Director of Stone Soup Productions, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit foundation
on his film The Congress
.
Kalin’s films have received industry awards and nominations including prime time Emmys, a Gracie Allen
Award, CINE Golden Eagles, EdPress Awards of Distinction, The Chris Awards, a Paul Robeson award, a Gold UNESCO medal at the NY Festivals, the 2004 Organization of American Historians "(OAH)" Erik Barnouw Award
for best documentary concerning a topic of American History, Black Maria Film Festival Jury Awards and a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for outstanding achievement in television (documentary non current events) among others.”
Her first feature-length documentary film Partners of the Heart was inspired by Katie McCabe's Washingtonian
article "Like Something the Lord Made".
Although the film received positive reviews, not every critic was positive.
Along with the McCabe's Washingtonian article, "Something The Lord Made", Kalin's film Partners of the Heart inspired the making of the HBO feature film "Something the Lord Made
". "Something the Lord Made
" was the feature film version of the Partners of the Heart story. Andrea Kalin was the film's Executive Consultant for the "Something the Lord Made
" film. "Something the Lord Made
" was produced by Robert Cort, directed by Joseph Sargent, written by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell, and starred Mos Def
and Alan Rickman
. "Something the Lord Made
" was nominated for nine Emmy Awards (including acting nominations for both principals) and won three, for Best Made for Television Movie, Best Cinematography (Don Morgan) and Best Picture Editing (Michael Brown). It also received two Golden Globe nominations, Black Reel Awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actor (Clayton LeBouef, in the role of Thomas' activist brother Harold), an NAACP Image Award, a Director's Guild of America Award for director Joseph Sargent, and a Writer's Guild of America Award for scriptwriters Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell. The American Film Institute, which named "Something the Lord Made
" "Best Television Movie of the Year for 2004", called it "a revelation...a bittersweet story [that] is an important tool for America as it continues to search for a public vocabulary to discuss issues of race."
In 2009, Kalin, directed, co-produced, and co-wrote a National Endowment for the Humanities
and Smithsonian Networks funded documentary about the Federal Writers Project titled "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story", which includes interviews with notable project alumni Studs Terkel
, Stetson Kennedy
, Richard Ford
, as well as American historians Douglas Brinkley
and David Bradley
. The documentary is narrated by Patricia Clarkson
. "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story" premiered on Smithsonian Networks
in September 2009 and has been rebroadcast a number of times The documentary includes footage from the Library of Congress & American Folklife Center, photographs revealing personal glimpses of the period and the FWP Writers, excerpts from the Project’s life history interviews, slave narratives, and folk recordings preserved on acetate disk, and interviews with Project alumni. The film centers on the struggle between conflicting visions of America. "Soul of A People: Writing America's Story", which Andrea Kalin co-wrote with David Taylor and Olive Emma Bucklin, was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievement in television (documentary non-current events category) in December 2009. The American Library Association has been screening the documentary as part of the film's outreach nationwide. "Soul of A People: Writing America's Story" had a special screening in December 2009 at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. In November 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington DC, "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story" won the TIVA-DC’s Peer Award for "Best of DC". The film also received a sliver trophy in the documentary category and a gold for screen writing.
Kalin also produced and co-directed a documentary on the Smithsonian Folkways record label called Worlds of Sound: The Ballad Of Folkways, which premiered on Smithsonian Networks
on October 25, 2009. "Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways" won a TIVA-DC Bronze award in the long form Documentary category (30 minutes and over) in November 2010. In addition, "Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways" won the Special Jury Award WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival, the Spring 2010 Cine Golden Eagle award and a Directors Jury Award (3rd) at the Black Maria Film and Video Festival.
In addition to documentaries, Kalin also produced and directed a comedy concert film with Unity Productions Foundation featuring three Muslim-American comedians, titled "Allah Made Me Funny", which was theatrically released in seventeen markets across the US as well as in markets overseas.....Michael Ordona of the Los Angeles Times observed: [The Allah Made Me Funny film] "has the potential to be culturally bridging in its way, and that makes looking for Muslim comedy in the Western world worthwhile.
Andrea Kalin produced a number of commissioned films for non-profits, NGOs and development banks including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Development Bank (IADB), UNICEF, UNFPA, Refugees International, PCRM CSPI, the World Bank, the Urban Institute, Southeast Asian Refugees Association, and the NFPLA. For a number of years, Andrea Kalin provided media, interactive and broadcast reporting services to the Inter-American Development Bank IADB
. Kalin established and operated a news bureau in the member bank country that was hosting the bank's annual meeting in order to provide live coverage of the meeting.
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
American filmmaker (writer, producer and director). She is also the principal and founder of Spark Media
Spark Media
Spark Media is an independent multi-media and documentary production house based in Washington D.C.-History:Established in 1989 by director and producer Andrea Kalin, the non-profit company specializes in creating socially-conscious media used to raise public awareness in America and throughout the...
, Inc. and founder and Executive Director of Stone Soup Productions, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit foundation
Personal life
Andrea Kalin was born in Boston. She attended Brookline High School and graduated from American University. Kalin lives and works in Washington DC.Filmmaking
Kalin started as a newsreel researcher for Ken BurnsKen Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
on his film The Congress
The Congress (film)
The Congress is a 1988 documentary film directed by Emmy Award-winning director Ken Burns. The Florentine Films production, which focuses on the United States Congress, aired on PBS in 1989. Narrated by David McCullough, the documentary features use of photographs, paintings, and film from sessions...
.
Kalin’s films have received industry awards and nominations including prime time Emmys, a Gracie Allen
Gracie Allen
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
Award, CINE Golden Eagles, EdPress Awards of Distinction, The Chris Awards, a Paul Robeson award, a Gold UNESCO medal at the NY Festivals, the 2004 Organization of American Historians "(OAH)" Erik Barnouw Award
Erik Barnouw Award
The Erik Barnouw Award—also known as the OAH Erik Barnouw Award—is named after the late Erik Barnouw, a Columbia University historian and professor who was a specialist in mass media...
for best documentary concerning a topic of American History, Black Maria Film Festival Jury Awards and a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for outstanding achievement in television (documentary non current events) among others.”
Her first feature-length documentary film Partners of the Heart was inspired by Katie McCabe's Washingtonian
Washingtonian (magazine)
Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
article "Like Something the Lord Made".
Although the film received positive reviews, not every critic was positive.
Along with the McCabe's Washingtonian article, "Something The Lord Made", Kalin's film Partners of the Heart inspired the making of the HBO feature film "Something the Lord Made
Something the Lord Made
Something The Lord Made is a film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock, the world famous "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery...
". "Something the Lord Made
Something the Lord Made
Something The Lord Made is a film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock, the world famous "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery...
" was the feature film version of the Partners of the Heart story. Andrea Kalin was the film's Executive Consultant for the "Something the Lord Made
Something the Lord Made
Something The Lord Made is a film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock, the world famous "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery...
" film. "Something the Lord Made
Something the Lord Made
Something The Lord Made is a film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock, the world famous "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery...
" was produced by Robert Cort, directed by Joseph Sargent, written by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell, and starred Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
and Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman
Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman is an English actor and theatre director. He is a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
. "Something the Lord Made
Something the Lord Made
Something The Lord Made is a film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock, the world famous "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery...
" was nominated for nine Emmy Awards (including acting nominations for both principals) and won three, for Best Made for Television Movie, Best Cinematography (Don Morgan) and Best Picture Editing (Michael Brown). It also received two Golden Globe nominations, Black Reel Awards for Best Film and Best Supporting Actor (Clayton LeBouef, in the role of Thomas' activist brother Harold), an NAACP Image Award, a Director's Guild of America Award for director Joseph Sargent, and a Writer's Guild of America Award for scriptwriters Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell. The American Film Institute, which named "Something the Lord Made
Something the Lord Made
Something The Lord Made is a film about the black cardiac pioneer Vivien Thomas and his complex and volatile partnership with white surgeon Alfred Blalock, the world famous "Blue Baby doctor" who pioneered modern heart surgery...
" "Best Television Movie of the Year for 2004", called it "a revelation...a bittersweet story [that] is an important tool for America as it continues to search for a public vocabulary to discuss issues of race."
In 2009, Kalin, directed, co-produced, and co-wrote a National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
and Smithsonian Networks funded documentary about the Federal Writers Project titled "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story", which includes interviews with notable project alumni Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
, Stetson Kennedy
Stetson Kennedy
William Stetson Kennedy was an American author and human rights activist. One of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the twentieth century, he is remembered for having infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s, exposing its secrets to authorities and the outside world...
, Richard Ford
Richard Ford
Richard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
, as well as American historians Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley
Douglas Brinkley is an American author, professor of history at Rice University and a fellow at the James Baker Institute for Public Policy. Brinkley is the history commentator for CBS News and a contributing editor to the magazine Vanity Fair...
and David Bradley
David Bradley
David Bradley may refer to:*David Bradley *David Bradley , American director*David Bradley , British actor*David Bradley , British actor...
. The documentary is narrated by Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
. "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story" premiered on Smithsonian Networks
Smithsonian Networks
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between CBS Corporation's Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. The service consists of Smithsonian Channel, Smithsonian On Demand, and ....
in September 2009 and has been rebroadcast a number of times The documentary includes footage from the Library of Congress & American Folklife Center, photographs revealing personal glimpses of the period and the FWP Writers, excerpts from the Project’s life history interviews, slave narratives, and folk recordings preserved on acetate disk, and interviews with Project alumni. The film centers on the struggle between conflicting visions of America. "Soul of A People: Writing America's Story", which Andrea Kalin co-wrote with David Taylor and Olive Emma Bucklin, was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievement in television (documentary non-current events category) in December 2009. The American Library Association has been screening the documentary as part of the film's outreach nationwide. "Soul of A People: Writing America's Story" had a special screening in December 2009 at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. In November 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington DC, "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story" won the TIVA-DC’s Peer Award for "Best of DC". The film also received a sliver trophy in the documentary category and a gold for screen writing.
Kalin also produced and co-directed a documentary on the Smithsonian Folkways record label called Worlds of Sound: The Ballad Of Folkways, which premiered on Smithsonian Networks
Smithsonian Networks
Smithsonian Networks is a joint venture between CBS Corporation's Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution. The service consists of Smithsonian Channel, Smithsonian On Demand, and ....
on October 25, 2009. "Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways" won a TIVA-DC Bronze award in the long form Documentary category (30 minutes and over) in November 2010. In addition, "Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways" won the Special Jury Award WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival, the Spring 2010 Cine Golden Eagle award and a Directors Jury Award (3rd) at the Black Maria Film and Video Festival.
Awards
In addition to winning a TIVA-DC Peer bronze, silver, gold (classic) award and "Best of DC" award for three of her documentaries in the documentary category, Spark Media also won five other TIVA-DC Peer film awards in 2010, including a gold for script writing for "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story" (David A. Taylor, Olive Emma Bucklin, Andrea Kalin-Spark Media); a bronze in the Education category for the training film: "Siemens: Export Control & Customs Awareness", produced and directed by James Mirabello/Spark Media); a bronze in the education category for a film on financial responsibility for NFL players called "Game On: Protecting Your Financial Future" (Andrea Kalin & Walter Gottlieb/Spark Media); a gold in the Audio Post Original Composition category for "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story", (Joseph Vitarelli, Wall Matthews- Spark Media); and a silver in the Audio Post Sound Mixing category for "Soul of a People: Writing America's Story" (Joe Powers, Clean Cuts/ Spark Media) Kalin also was an honored awardee in November 2010 of the Tikkun Olam Women's Foundation of Greater Washington ("TOWF"). TOWF is a non profit foundation dedicated to creating social change for women and girls through grants.In addition to documentaries, Kalin also produced and directed a comedy concert film with Unity Productions Foundation featuring three Muslim-American comedians, titled "Allah Made Me Funny", which was theatrically released in seventeen markets across the US as well as in markets overseas.....Michael Ordona of the Los Angeles Times observed: [The Allah Made Me Funny film] "has the potential to be culturally bridging in its way, and that makes looking for Muslim comedy in the Western world worthwhile.
Andrea Kalin produced a number of commissioned films for non-profits, NGOs and development banks including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Development Bank (IADB), UNICEF, UNFPA, Refugees International, PCRM CSPI, the World Bank, the Urban Institute, Southeast Asian Refugees Association, and the NFPLA. For a number of years, Andrea Kalin provided media, interactive and broadcast reporting services to the Inter-American Development Bank IADB
IADB
IADB may refer to:* Inter-American Development Bank, an international organization to support Latin American and Caribbean economic and social development and regional integration...
. Kalin established and operated a news bureau in the member bank country that was hosting the bank's annual meeting in order to provide live coverage of the meeting.
Selected filmography
- The Pact
- Prince Among Slaves
- Partners of the Heart
- Talking Through Walls
- Allah Made Me FunnyAllah Made Me FunnyAllah Made Me Funny is a documentary film directed by Andrea Kalin, an independent filmmaker , and produced by . This live concert features three Muslim Americans Mohammed "Mo" Amer, Bryant "Preacher" Moss and Azhar Usman....
- Asia’s Water Crisis: The Struggle Within Each Drop
- Battered Lives, Broken Trust: When Men Abuse Women
- Too Brief a Child: Voices of Married Adolescents
- Vital Allies: Making Motherhood Save
- A Place at the Table
- Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue
- Breaking the Poverty Cycle: Investing in Early Childhood
- Bridges: Southeast Asians’ American Journey
- Wired for Change: Information Technology for Development in the Americas
- A Voice of Her Own: Women and Economic Change in Asia
- From Rage to Recovery: Society’s Search for Peace
- World Bank “HUNGER” Public Service Announcement
- The Soul of a People: Writing America's Story
- Hospice: A Testimony to Life
- Kitchen Fun for Kids
- The Real Scoop About Diet and Exercise
- School-to-Work, Connecting Youth to the Future
- Worlds of Sound: The Ballad Of Folkways
- The Wonder of Israel
- Land Use Analysis
- Urban Institute
- Art of Compassion
- Kuna Rape
- Youth and Development
- Game On: Protecting Your Financial Future"
- Opening Doors to Compassion
- Dancing with N.E.D.N.E.D.No Evidence of Disease or N.E.D. is an adult-oriented alternative/folk rock band whose members are all medical doctors, mostly gynecologists and gynecologic oncologists. Their members include John Bogess, M.D. on lead vocals, guitar, and harmonica; Joanie M. Hope, M.D. on lead vocals and guitar;...
(Trailer – In Development) - La Lucha (In Development)
- '"Prodigy" (In Development)
- Smoke and Mirrors (In Development)
- The Low Cholesterol Gourment" (Television-30 Episodes)