Monthly Archive for February, 2010

Last year I wrote a post about Toe to Toe a film written and directed by Emily Abt that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. At that time Emily didn’t have a distributor and wanted one.  The good news is that she got a distributor and the film is released today in NYC and next week in LA.

Toe to Toe tells the story of two high school seniors, one African American, one white.  One poor, one rich.  One who has it together, one who is out of control.  They might seem like cliches but the performances are so truthful that all doubts are quickly erased.

Tosha (Sonequa Martin) is a poor African American girl in a private prep school who is pushed by her grandmother (Leslie Uggams) to believe in herself and her ability to get into Princeton.  She also encourages her to play lacrosse because no African American girls do.  It is on that field that she meets Jesse (Louisa Krause) a troubled, sexually provocative white girl who has been kicked out of many schools.  Jesse and Tosha are drawn to each other and become friends even while the outside world is conspiring against them.  But like most teenage girls they also compete.  Their friendship is messy, and at times disappointing and destructive.  But they try, which is more than can be said for Jesse’s busy single working mom (Ally Walker) who is so oblivious to her daughter’s needs and desperation that you want to throttle her.

What I liked best about the film is that Abt is unafraid to be challenging and deal with issues that most films skirt like promiscuity, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases and most especially race and class. I would love for this movie to be seen by teenagers everywhere with a group discussion afterwards.

Here’s an interview I did with director, Emily Abt. Continue reading ‘Toe to Toe Written and Directed by Emily Abt Opens Today in NYC’

Kimberly Reed’s documentary, Prodigal Sons, has been a long time in the making. Growing up life seemed so perfect.  She was born as Paul McKerrow, the high school quarterback, one of the most popular guys in school. But inside, Paul felt conflicted about his gender identity. So after high school, he moved to San Francisco and experimented with living as a woman, before making the full transition to life as a woman. This change served as a major aggravation to her brother Marc, who struggled for years as the adopted son. Marc’s resulting mental instability from a brain injury at 21 only exasperated his idealization of the past and Paul’s life from twenty-five years ago.

Living as a successful editor and filmmaker in S.F. and New York, she returned to her hometown of Helena, MT for her high school reunion, and a re-connection with Marc. The film is intense, raw, and gives the audience an open intimacy into the lives of Marc and Kimberly, and finding that they have more in common than they originally thought. Prodigal Sons opens Friday, February 26 in NYC.

How did you come to recording your journey and making a narrative comparing yours and your brother’s lives?

I had recently transitioned, this is probably about sixteen or seventeen years ago, I’m walking down the street in San Francisco, and I see somebody who I used to work with. And I went up and had that sort of shocking thing of like, “Hey, it’s me,” not wanting to be nosy. And it was a dear friend, his name was Bob Hawk, we worked at Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco, supporting independent film and artists. And we’ve been in touch ever since then; he’s an executive producer on the film. But a couple of weeks after that, he kept saying, “you have to make a film about this.” And at the time, I was like “No, no, I’m not going to talk about this, this is not going to happen.”  But both of us knew there was going to be a time when it was going to happen. So fast-forward to 2005, when I finally get up the nerve to go to my high school reunion, he was the first person I called. So in a lot of ways, the journey to make this film goes back there. In other ways, the journey to make this film starts with that decision to go to the high school reunion, which I think triggered a lot of other things.

How did people in your family adapt to being filmed? Did they request that somethings not be filmed?

Well, first of all, my dad was always shooting, so I think everyone was already used to the camera. I took on that mantle, and I was always shooting family gatherings, which I think was my way of assessing a lot of that stuff.  I was more comfortable behind the camera.  But also I think it was just how I processed the world, when I would get upset or melancholy, I would go out and shoot films, that’s what I would always do.  The family was always used to me running around with a camera so at the reunion when we were going to shoot it, it was like, “OK.”  I never had to convince anyone. I’m really lucky that I have a family that’s very trusting. The D.P., John Keitel was good at sinking into the scene and disappearing, he’s a vérité shooter, and that really helped a lot.

Continue reading ‘Guest Post: Interview with Kimberly Reed, Director of Prodigal Sons by Melissa Silvestri’

With all the hoopla over Kathryn Bigelow (as well the nomination for An Education as best picture) I missed another women directed film — The Milk of Sorrow directed by Claudia Llosa — which is up for the foreign film Oscar.

Not only is this film directed by a woman, it is about sexual violence against women in Peru.  Here is the description from IMDB:

Fausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother’s footsteps.

So here’s an example of a movie raising important issues — about women’s lives — that clearly works and is resonating.

It can be done.  I’ve got it saved in my netflix queue.

Peru film on sexual violence nominated for Oscar (AP via Yahoo)

I started to get real nervous as I paged through the top 25 since I didn’t run into a woman’s name until SHOCKER, at number 4 is Kathryn Bigelow.  What a difference a year (a great movie, and some awards) make.  Think she would have been on the list last year?

Here’s the list of the top 50

50- Nancy Meyers

45- Mira Nair

30- Sophia Coppola

4- Kathryn Bigelow

Who do you think is missing from this list?

25 Greatest Working Directors (EW)

“The ‘cumulative’ factor of a series of pre-Oscar wins can be a powerful aphrodisiac for Academy voters.” So says Pete Hammond of the LA Times, quoting “one producer and former studio head who told me he very much understands the psychology of Oscar voting.”

Yes, women, the handicappers will all tell you that your vote no longer matters. They’ve posted their predictions, the dye is already cast, and they dare you to say otherwise. But remember those great headlines from 1948: “Dewey Defeats Truman!” We all know “it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings,” and this particular fat lady is still in mid-aria.

On what basis are the handicappers handicapping? Do the prognosticators really know what you are thinking?

The “cumulative factor” is based on all the votes of all the people who have already voted, and people have been voting since early December. I know this for a fact because I voted in early December (as a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association).

But drill down, and you will quickly learn that the New York Film Critics Circle lists 33 members, 8 of whom are women (24%), while the LA Film Critics Association lists 52 members, 10 of whom are women (19%). And here in Chicago, I am one of 8 women on a membership list of 57 (14%).

(To keep my sanity, I just assume that all the names I can’t identify, like LAFCA’s “F.X. Feeny,” belong to women. In fact, “F.X. Feeny” is a man. I just checked and found him on Google. But I can’t check every name, so I’d rather overestimate than underestimate.)

What about the Guilds? If you’re a DGA member, then you know better than I do who your fellow DGA members are, and ditto if you’re a WGA member. But suffice it to say that in both cases, the pattern holds. Well over 50% of both groups are male.

Right now, I’m not concerned with the whys and wherefores of this statistical distribution. I just want to confirm what most of you already know: women are significantly underrepresented in most of the groups whose votes are combined to create the “cumulative factor.” In other words, this “cumulative factor” primarily represents male opinion.

Facts like these used to be very difficult to find. A few years back, I contacted the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and asked for a membership list. No luck. But after recent critiques by journalists like Sharon Waxman, the HFPA is now happy to post a membership list on its website. And surprise, surprise, the current list is almost equally balanced between male and female members. And this is how change happens: women must dig deep, question assumptions, and make our voices heard.

This year, there’s been a big rule change (from 5 Best Picture candidates to 10), so there’s a great deal of interest in “the rules.” Handicappers can’t handicap if they don’t know the rules, so all kinds of information is suddenly a few clicks away. For example, I recently learned from the Wall Street Journal that approximately 6,000 Academy members will vote this year, and approximately 1/3 of you are women. Numbers like that make me smile.

Final ballots are due next Tuesday, March 2, at 5 PM (PT).  So before you vote, I’d like to make one final appeal: forget everything you’ve heard, resist the “aphrodisiac” effect of the “cumulative factor,” and just vote with your heart for the films, performances, and technical accomplishments that you really believe are the best. If you do, then March 7, 2010 might well be filled with surprises!

______________________

Film critic Jan Lisa Huttner blogs at The Hot Pink Pen.  Her article on the 2004 Oscars for Women’s eNews (which showed how a record number of women directors and screenwriters had impacted the most high profile nominations) received the “Best News Writing for the Web” award from the National Federation of Press Women in 2005.

Here’s Kathryn Bigelow talking about the film and what it might mean to other women if she wins the Oscar. The anticipation for the Oscars is killing me. I am so excited.

When asked what she thinks of being a role model she said it is “thrilling” especially because “you can factor into someone’s aspirations.”

Seeing is believing:

Check out this great trailer from my friends at the Women’s Media Center.

It’s a great pick me up.

Just forget all the bullshit you and I are constantly fed (and I sometimes write) about how great things are for women in Hollywood.  We did have a better year at the box office with a couple of female led films making it to the top 10, and we did get a woman nominated for best director, BUT and this is a big BUT, when you look even a little bit below the surface you will realize really quickly that things are just terrible for women EVERYWHERE in Hollywood.

Don’t believe me.  The stats speak for themselves.

Dr. Martha Lauzen of San Diego State (the guru of stats about women in Hollywood) has released her annual Celluloid Ceiling survey looking at the women working behind the scenes on the top 250 grossing movies of the year and not surprising, women make up only 16% of directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors.  That number is down 3 points from 2001 and is the same as 2008.

Women directors are now at 7% down from 9% in 2008 and is the same percentage as it was in 1987 (the year that Dirty Dancing and Baby Boom were released and Cher won her Oscar for Moonstruck.) So while we’ve all been talking about the prominent women who were recognized this past year, the opportunities for women to direct declined.

Women writers make up only 8%.  That means that 92% of the films are written from a male perspective.

More stats:

Women make up:

17% of all executive producers

23% of all producers

18% of all editors

2% of all cinematographers

People, this is a crisis of epic proportions.  Things are clearly not improving, they are declining and we are in another severe backlash against women.  This is frightening.

I was away for a couple of days and tried to come back with a new, positive attitude.  You know how hard that is for a New Yorker in February?

But my mood was so ruined this morning by several different descriptions of some new films that literally made me scream out loud.  Me thinks that films for women are going further and further downhill.

Number 1

Bad Teacher- starring Cameron Diaz – written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky.  Will be directed by Jake Kasdan.

Description: Story centers on a foulmouthed, gold-digging middle-school teacher who, after getting dumped by her boyfriend, competes with a colleague for the affections of the school’s model teacher.

Please tell me how going after another teacher makes you a gold-digger which is by the way such a sexist term?

Number 2

The Undomestic Goddess to be directed by Tom Bezucha (The Family Stone)

Based on the Sophie Kinsella novel

Description: The book centers on a workaholic female attorney who, believing she wrecked her chances of being named partner at her London firm, has a meltdown and ends up in the English countryside. After stopping at a large house to ask directions, she is mistaken as a candidate for a maid position and takes a housekeeping job.

I’ve never read the books but my question is, is she mistaken for a maid because she is a woman?  Because she is driving a certain car?  And what by the way does a housekeeper exactly look like?

Number 3

Bachelorette Party written by Karen Lutz (based on her novel)

Description: unlucky-in-love high school teacher facing the prospect of throwing a bachelorette party for her uptight cousin, who is marrying the teacher’s best male friend. But during the alcohol-fuelled event, the cousin cheats on her fiancé, leading our heroine to decide who she supports. Bet she secretly fancies her male buddy as well.

Film will star Anna Faris and Jennifer Garner.

I can usually take one of these in a day, but three?  Do you hear me screaming out where you live?

Here are some newly launched programs from Women in Film in LA.  In order to apply you need to be a member of Women in Film.  Get more info here.

ABC Television Network Director Shadowing Program.

Details: Submit on DVD of a narrative work directed within the past three calendar years.

Selection: The WIF/TV&Media Committee, together with the Disney/ABC Television Group Talent Development & Diversity committee, will select one member to shadow the director of “Hollywood Salutes Matt Damon: An American Cinematheque Tribute” (Don’t get me started on issues I have over the fact that Matt Damon is being honored. He’s a good guy, but please) from pre-production through live broadcast.  They will select another qualified member to shadow the Executive Producer, Producer and Director of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for one week (Be prepared, they will I’m sure all be guys since we know that late night has very few women.). The deadline for submission is Friday, March 5, 2010.

MTV Outreach Program

Marking the first time MTV has reached out specifically to female artists and members of the creative community to develop concepts for their core audience, the MTV Development Team in Los Angeles is accepting submissions from writers, producers and directors, by written sample or DVD.

Selection:  Submissions will be evaluated by MTV and the WIF/TV&Media committee.  Ten applicants will have the opportunity to present their ideas, in person, directly to senior members of MTV’s development team on a pitch day in April. The prize for the winning pitch is a development deal with MTV Productions.  The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 12, 2010. Winners will be notified by email and telephone in early April.

TNT/TBS Directorial Shadowing Opportunity,

Two winning applicants will shadow the directors of upcoming programs to be named shortly.

Selection: Emerging directors are invited to submit a DVD of a narrative work they have directed in the past three calendar years. Deadline for submissions is Friday, March 5, 2010.

Get busy!  Don’t forget you need to be a member of WIF to apply for any of the programs.

Women in Film

If you didn’t know any better after reading this AP article on the Academy’s technical awards you’d think that only men worked in Hollywood. This piece is one of the strangest takes on the industry that I have seen in a while.

Here’s the first line:

Forty-five men you’ve probably never heard of were honored with an Academy Awards ceremony of their own that recognized scientific and technical achievements in moviemaking.

The event awarded the “nerds” of Hollywood, the techies, who are clearly smart, but please don’t tell me that only guys work in this area.

Wouldn’t a better story have been, here we are giving out the technical academy awards and you’d think in 2010 there would be a woman on the winner list. Huh? What’s wrong with this picture?

But no, nobody thinks to ask these questions. So I will. What is wrong with this picture?  How can this be a celebration of anything when only men are recognized?

Motion picture academy honors nerds of filmmaking (AP via Yahoo)

NYU’s  7th annual student run Fusion Film Festival is happening this week in NYC.  They have some great screenings and panels.   If you are in the NYC area you should attend.

From their materials:

The Fusion Film Festival was founded seven years ago at New York University with the mission of encouraging, inspiring, and providing opportunity for women filmmakers in the NYU community. Since its first year, Fusion has taken a stance on promoting female leadership in filmmaking, and continues its efforts in attracting support within and outside the walls of NYU.

They kick it off Thursday evening at 6:30pm with a screening of The Runaways followed by a q&a with director Floria Sigismondi.

Here are some of the panels on Saturday that look great are:

Women Writing Women

Room 006, 721 Broadway

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

Join us for a discussion with working screenwriters to discuss the special challenges women face in creating rich and complex roles for women.

Double Threats

Room 006, 721 Broadway

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Writer-Director. Actor-Director. Actor-Producer. Some do it all. Join us for a conversation on how the dual on-set role has evolved to its present state.

And they support future filmmakers.  One of the big pieces of the festival is the film and documentary pitch competition, where “NYU students have the opportunity to explore their creativity and gain recognition for their work.”

More details here

The awards season keeps rolling on for Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker. Not only was the film named best picture last evening at the BAFTA’s (the British version of the Academy Awards), but Bigelow became the first woman EVER to be named best director.  The film won six awards kicking some Avatar ass on its way to the podium.

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank was named outstanding British Film and for the first time in a long time Carey Mulligan took best actress honors.

So that means two films directed by women won best picture.  And both women also won awards from the London Film Critics Circle earlier in the week.  How great is that?

Here’s what Bigelow had to say about winning:

“I think the secret to directing is collaboration, and I was so lucky to have an incredible cast and crew. This is deeply moving — we all felt an incredible responsibility to honor the courage of the men and women in the field.”

She also said she hoped she was “first of many” women to win the prize.

Her grace in winning continues to make me even more and more excited for her.  She’s not getting a big head or acting like the “queen of the world.”  She is a great example for all directors  — men and women — to follow.

Bigelow is first woman to win BAFTA director prize (Screen Daily)

THE HURT LOCKER: BAFTA’s Big Winner (Alt Film Guide)

Bigelow Takes Directing Prize From London Film Critics Circle (The Wrap)

Here’s the poster for the movie Middle Men that Paramount Pictures just picked up starring Luke Wilson, James Caan, Giovanni Ribisi and Gabriel Macht.

Here’s the description from Slashfilm:

Middle Men tells the true story of Jack Harris “the straight-laced businessman who helped launch one of the first porn websites” and becomes “caught between the Russian mob, a porn star, the FBI and his family, all while becoming very rich.”

This is wrong on so many levels.

Paramount Buys Middle Man, Watch the Red Band Movie Trailer Now! (Slash Film)

I am traveling and seeing family for the next several days and also working on the book (I have made some great progress) so I won’t be blogging until mid next week.

But, I couldn’t resist sharing these two clips one from James Cameron on Charlie Rose (via Deadline Hollywood) and one from Kathryn Bigelow (and writer Mark Boal) on The Rachel Maddow Show.

Cameron told Charlie Rose that his film deserves to win because his team “worked so hard” (as if the other nominated teams didn’t) and that Bigelow should win the best director honor cause “he already has a couple and doesn’t need another one.”

I don’t know why anyone let this man speak in public. I truly believe that he thinks he is doing something nice by saying that she should win. That’s how tone deaf he is to his own voice. If I were her I would call him and say shut the hell up.

The whole transcript made me nauseous cause he is really setting himself up as her biggest cheerleader if she wins, and if he wins he can at least say, oh, well I tried, I said I didn’t need another.

Gross.

Bigelow and Boal are total class acts talking to Rachel who has of late gotten into the Oscar race (she interviewed Quentin Tarantino recently.)  Rachel said that she “didn’t expect to like the film as much as she did” and I think that is a very consistent feeling that I get from lots of people.  People do shy away from war films (especially ones about Iraq) but this one just feels different and that’s the reason why it is resonating for so long.  It’s just that good.

This Oscar race is way tighter in the best picture and best director categories than expected.  It’s going to be a nail biter all the way to March 7th.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

At the SAG Awards, critics darling and Oscar front-runner Mo’Nique  flipped the script. She took a special, unexpected moment to give a nod to the dedicated and not-so-visible ‘sistren’ collaborators behind-the-scenes of Precious, the women whose focused energy came together in perfect parts to bring the little film that could to life.

One such fierce woman, Lisa Cortes, the film’s executive producer, is all about the power of harnessing and circling energy in the art world: from film to music; corporate to non-profit; high art to folk. “In my mind producing films and supporting other arts are intertwined because the big picture intention is to increase the well-being of woman and mankind. Art opens the door to possibility …”

For a film that has truly sparked dialogue and opened many unlikely doors within the industry, Mo’Nique knew to ‘recognize’ — as do we. Let’s take a moment then, shall we, to get to know the triple-threat producer behind the six-time Academy Award nominated Precious.

L.A. Collins:  They say an actor who can also sing and dance is a triple threat. But what about a producer who can ‘do’: art, music and film? You’re certainly a triple threat, no?

Lisa Cortes: Why, thank you!

COLLINS:  Can you discuss your roots in the music business and how that naturally transitioned into producing films?

CORTES: In 1987 I was fresh out of Yale and part of the original team at Def Jam records/Rush Artist Management. There were no titles — we just got “whatever was assigned to you” done. Or if you wanted to take a project on, you could. In the A.M. I worked for the management company, and in P.M. for the label. It was an environment where you had to constantly find creative solutions. From the inane (‘How can I get LL Cool J to take his hat off for his passport photo?’) to culture changing (convincing corporate entities like Adidas to endorse the artists). As the “smart girl” it was assumed that I could figure it out; and I came to love my time there because I got to exercise the commercial and creative sides of my brain.

COLLINS: So it paid to have that education under-your-belt, so to speak?

CORTES: Yeah. By the time I ended up running my own label, Loose Cannon, at Polygram I had become an executive who actively found artists, made records, marketed and distributed them. So when I made the transition to producing I felt that process was the same. It’s about the having a broad overview, problem solving, translating and facilitating a vision — and keeping it on track.

COLLINS: We always hear the upside of producing after the pros have had time to exhale, but can you take us back to the most trying day for you on set? And how, as a producer, did you negotiate your way out of it?

CORTES: The development, production and post of Precious presented many challenges. Honoring the work, finding the talent, and creating a believable New York circa 1987 had me constantly relying on my ability to improvise. I remember one day where we showed up at a location and there was dog crap all over the sidewalk. All you can do is start shoveling.

COLLINS: As a female producer did you find your authority/judgment, at times, in question? Do you think your femaleness gave you less or more leverage in situations you encountered?

CORTES: In our daily lives we sometimes encounter forces that don’t appreciate what we bring to the mix as women, but that’s not my problem; I gracefully power through and get the job done. Each day brings different obstacles and I think it’s all about not getting stuck in the problem loop and being able to have strong convictions, while looking to compromise when needed.

Continue reading ‘Guest Post: Interview with Precious Executive Producer Lisa Cortes By L.A. Collins’

Yesterday, 121 Oscar nominees gathered to celebrate themselves and get their marching order for the show (speeches can only be 45 seconds.)

Anne Thompson has a report from the event.

How fun would it have been to be in that room where Tom Sherak the head of the Academy said to the nominees that “everyone is equal.”

Here’s the 2010 class picture

In  case you care- Kathryn Bigelow is in white on second row third in from the right side between Morgan Freeman and Jeremy Renner.

Gotta love that in NY during fashion week when the skinny girls are running around the runways that the woman who makes the cover of NY Magazine’s fashion issue is a normal sized woman.  Let’s make this crystal clear.  Christina Hendricks is not big.  She is not fat.  She is beautiful.

Here’s what she said about the ridiculousness that was the tizzy at last month’s Golden Globes over the fact that there is a woman working in Hollywood that actually has with boobs, hips and a butt.  Newsflash Hollywood – most of us outside of your zip code actually do have these body parts.

It kind of hurt my feelings at first,” she says. “Anytime someone talks about your figure constantly, you get nervous, you get really self-conscious. I was working my butt off on the show, and then all anyone was talking about was my body!”

As for the body question, she’ll answer it when asked, but mostly it bores her. “It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” she says. “Back when I was modeling, if someone said ‘I’m fasting,’ I would say, ‘Can’t we talk about something else?

I love her.

Woman of the Hourglass (NY Magazine)

At the end of 2009 the big story was the fact that women are the new “men” at the box office, so to speak.  The news was that women are now making films successful at the box office.  I have always believed — and written a lot about — women as a viable market for films.  But Hollywood has a short memory, and if you lose momentum you are a fluke.  The Wrap has a piece this week about “The Rise of the Female Driven Blockbuster” talking again about the box office numbers of The Blind Side, The Proposal and It’s Complicated (which has made $176 million worldwide.)   Hollywood is also taking notice of the success of Dear John a $25 million budgeted movie that opened at $30 million and was driven by women.

So based on what happened, even just last week, 2010 should be a great year for women at the box office.  Right? The problem is based on an early overview of the of the big films coming out this year, very few are targeted at women and even fewer have female leads.

Based on a list from CNN, of 25 big blockbusters coming out this year only 3 have women as the leads.  Moviefone looked at the top 50 of the year and only 5 are women led (and one is animated.)

Here they are:

Sex and the City 2 – May 28

Eclipse- the third film in the Twilight saga- June 30

Salt- Angelina Jolie kicks ass- August

Eat Pray Love- Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert- August 13

Rapunzel- animated- Novemever 24

(I also might list Alice in Wonderland that opens in March, but we all know the star of the film is Johnny Depp)

That’s not a lot of love for women.

On the one hand, I love that women are being taken seriously at the box office, but if you want to build on the successes of 2009 you need to give us films we want to go and see.  I worry that women will get blamed again for “not going to the movies” based on all the male centric and male targeted films coming out this year.

Blockbuster bonanza: Big movies to look out for in 2010 (CNN)

BIG in 2010: The Best Movie Bets This Year (Moviefone)

Sex Change: The Rise of the Female-Driven Blockbuster (The Wrap)

Angelina Jolie went on CNN’s Amanpour show this weekend from Haiti and talked about the issues on the ground there.  This is the best way for a celebrity to use his or her fame.  To make a difference.  I was impressed with her knowledge and her discussion of how trafficking is a big problem, and that people should be really careful about removing children from the country right now.

Her point is that in a crisis like this it is not prudent to try and take children out of the country for adoptions since many kids are separated from parents who are still alive but unable to contact them.  One issue in Haiti is that there are no birth records so now the UN and other authorities are trying to record people and reconcile families.  She also talked about an international children’s organization SOS who is trying to reunite children with their families.

Here are the interviews: