MA AND PA FILMS

A group of men, formerly incarcerated together at Folsom Prison, share their most personal insights practicing centering prayer while serving time. The film, also featuring men currently at Folsom, is an intimate testament to inner transformation.

This short documentary is part of a larger project to raise awareness about centering prayer and bring the practice to other incarcerated men and women, as well as to highlight this nonsectarian practice as a way to bring together individuals and groups committed to social and restorative justice.

A feature documentary by Mary Trunk. VOD, www.facebook.com/lostinliving. Motherhood is a life-altering event for those who enter into it, especially artists whose existence rests on self centered pursuits. Filmed over seven years, Lost In Living is an exceptionally candid look at the reality of identity transformation when you become responsible for other human beings.

The full feature length film is now available for rent on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lostinliving. www.facebook.com/lostinliving. What job entity wields the most private power on the planet and yet has no public face? Motherhood, the world’s most demanding, least compensated job. Where only perfection is acceptable and failure is certain. And who are these women who become mothers even when their creative compulsion tells them not to? Lost In Living focuses on that very issue. This story is about feeling like an outsider and wanting to be special. About wanting to be heard – and don’t we all? Behind the domestic curtain of motherhood, where the creative impulse can flourish or languish, are four women determined to make a go of it. Filmed over seven years, Lost In Living, confronts the contradictions inherent in personal ambition and self-sacrifice, female friendship and mental isolation, big projects and dirty dishes. The complex realities of family life unfold in this documentary film about the messy intersection of motherhood and artistic expression. This movie is an in-depth exploration of a domain normally off-limits – illumination of private experience, events that happen behind closed doors and the unveiling of one’s most personal, private and conflicted thoughts about life, family, artistic expression and self-image. Lost In Living is a funny and poignant film about four mothers and their struggles and triumphs to raise children and make art. The movie resonates with anyone who has had to confront the trials of personal dreams and family obligations. Lost In Living is not a traditional Hero Story. Hero stories are great. We love to be inspired by the long shot, the renegade, the against all odds success. But we also long to see our own more nuanced and less formulaic experiences presented to us for reflection and identification.

Muscle Memory is an interactive project about memory, dance, collaboration and the pursuit of a creative life.  The full length feature documentary is available for screening. Contact: marytrunk@sbcglobal.net. Video, music, and photography will intimately tell the stories of college friends who took enormous creative risks in their youth -and then grew up. For the project they agreed to learn new dance steps and perform again despite the changes intheir aging bodies and the complexities of their adult lives. The creative influences of the past remained intact anddespite everyone’s diverse life choices they were able to come together and reignite their passion for dance. Thisshort video is one section of the larger project.

Mount Saint Mary’s University Film Program.