Maro Chermayeff Movies
- 2008
This ten-part documentary mini-series documents the six-month deployment of the U.S. Naval supercarrier the USS Nimitz and her crew as they depart from her home port in California and travel to the Persian Gulf in November of 2005, during the Iraq War. Exclusive footage of life on the ship combines with rare, intimate interviews with sailors, creating a complex portrait of the crew's experience as, on a daily basis, they dealt with a combination of personal hopes and fears, and a dramatically changing seascape. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
Created from footage captured during the filming of the PBS series Carrier, Another Day in Paradise explores the struggle waged by three men in various stages of fatherhood to serve their country while living and working in the harsh environment of an aircraft carrier, and constantly thinking of the loved ones they left behind. Doug Booher, Randy Brock, and Chris Altice are three of 5,000 sailors living onboard the USS Nimitz. Summoned from their families for a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf, these men may perform disparate tasks yet they all have one thing in common -- they're all either parents, or expecting a child. By delving deep into the personal lives of all three, the filmmakers raise numerous questions about their work onboard the Nimitz, and the role of the Navy in times of war. A fighter pilot in the famed "Black Aces" squadron, Lt. Booher is attempting to balance his life and military career, no simple task for a man with a newborn back home. Meanwhile, tough-talking Gunnery Sergeant Brock repairs planes for the Marine squadron "The Red Devils" while pondering what kind of father he will be to the son who is born during his deployment. Abandoned at age three by his own parents, a pair of carnival workers, Sergeant Brock doesn't want to be an absent father. And while 21-year-old ordnance man Altice would rather be partying in a frat house than arming military jets for war, his responsibilities back home are about to take a giant leap; just before he left for the Persian Gulf, his new girlfriend revealed that she was pregnant. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2003
Established in 1905 for the encouragement and nurturing of young talent, the New York-based conservatory Juilliard has boasted such stellar alumni as Kevin Kline, Wynton Marsalis, Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve, Christine Baranski, Laura Linney, and Kelsey Grammer -- not to mention such distinguished instructors as Walter Damrosch and John Houseman. Produced in conjunction with a book about the celebrated conservatory, this two-hour TV documentary focuses on four contemporary Juilliard students: Jeffrey Carlson (acting), Abdur-Rahim Jackson (dance), Elizabeth Morgan (piano), and Sarah Wolfson (voice). In fine PBS tradition, the footage of the chosen foursome studying, practicing, succeeding, and sometimes falling short of their goals is counterbalanced with interviews of famous Juilliard grads (as well as some current celebrities who were unceremoniously invited to leave the conservatory). Juilliard was originally telecast as an episode of PBS' American Masters anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
This three-part PBS "reality" series was assembled by the same people responsible for 1900 House, in which a typical 21st century British family attempted to live in the manner of their ancestors of 100 years earlier. This time around, three modern American families (drawn from 5,000 applicants) endeavored for five months to experience life as Montana homesteaders, circa 1883. After an arduous journey by wagon train to an undeveloped 160-acre patch of land, the three clans (one from Boston, one from Tennessee, one from California) were forced to forsake the creature comforts of the modern age and literally live off the soil, making their own clothes, churning their own butter, molding their own candles, and so on. PBS' ad campaign for the series went the Survivor route by overemphasizing the hardships facing the latter-day pioneers and dwelling upon the friction and hostilities stirred up by a new set of family values and interrelationships. The first two-hour episode of Frontier House was aired on April 29, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Unlike other TV documentaries on organ transplants, The Kindness of Strangers focuses not on the operation or the recipients, but on the families of recipients and donors alike. In the course of the film, the viewer is shown how the decision to donate the vital organs of deceased family members is a means of keeping the decedents alive in the hearts and minds of their loved ones. Additionally, the film details the tension and anguish attending the long wait for recipients to reach the "top of the list." Underwritten by the James Redford Institute (Redford, son of film star Robert Redford, was himself a liver-transplant survivor), The Kindness of Strangers made its HBO cable bow on September 23, 1999; thereafter the film was exhibited theatrically, winning the Crystal Heart Award at the Telluride Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Graham, Neil Pearson, (more)
- 1996
US soldiers have been stationed in special Korean military camps since the end of the conflict with North Korea in the early '50s. Though it is not officially sanctioned, many of the soldiers frequently avail themselves with Korean prostitutes to boost their morale. This documentary examines the plight of these exploited women, many of whom were forced into becoming sexual servants. Many times the women choose prostitution because they have no other economic resource. Unfortunately, they pay high prices for their choice as they are ostracized by their countrymen and the resulting Amer-Asian children are despised. Occasionally, a soldier will marry a Korean woman, but 80% of the marriages end and many turn violent. Sometimes soldiers even murder their women. For those Korean women who make it to America, life is not much better and the face more subtle forms of exploitation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
