LA Gay and Lesbian Center gets grant for LGBT Elder Services

LA Gay and Lesbian Center receives grant to fund programs for LGBT ...: "Congress discussed the Community Innovations for Aging in Place initiative in ... The Center proposed solutions to moving LGBT seniors from isolation to ...
"

"Trip to Hell and Back" to screen in Alaska

Dear Stu Maddux, Congratulations!

We are thrilled and honored to include your film, "Trip to Hell and Back", as an official selection in the 2009 Anchorage International Film Festival. On behalf of our organization, thank you for supporting our event. Your film will be a great complement to this year's program. look forward to future email conversations and possibly meeting you this December. Please confirm that you received this email. Don't hesitate to contact me about any questions or concerns, travel arrangements, or just to say hello.



Thank you,

Doug Griffin & Laura Baldwin, AIFF

Documentary Co-Programmers

Hard work shooting documentary subjects grave site

Director Stu Maddux and subject KrysAnne Hembrough Dec, 2008

I had a whirlwind, pick up shot trip to Boston last week and my last job was to shoot the grave site of one of my film's subjects, KrysAnne Hembrough.

KrysAnne was a transgendered woman in her early sixties desperate to find someone to care for her as she faced a terminal illness. She passed away last spring and her story is an important part of our documentary, Gen Silent, about LGBT aging issues.

Kevin Hembrough in the 1960's

It was crucial that I find her grave marker. She was a Vietnam veteran and wanted to be buried at a National Cemetery. The hitch was that she wanted to be buried as Staff Sgt. Krysallis Anne Hembrough not by her male name, Kevin. She was still a man when she was in the service.

Director Stu Maddux at Massachusetts National Cemetery October, 2009

I cannot tell you how important this final wish was to her. She spent precious energy getting the Veteran's Administration to permit it. So I owed it to her to haul the gear out from San Francisco to Cape Cod to find out if she got her final wish.

Most moving for me was the phrase below her name
which she called herself often almost as a self-affirmation.

That was it.
I packed up with what will likely be the closing shot for her story.
But as I walked back to the car I discovered a grave marker which moved me even more than Krys Anne's.


My thanks to Associate Producer Catherine Cox for researching the location of Krys Anne's marker and making it so easy to find on such a tight schedule.
Apologies to you, Krys Anne, for not being able to stay longer.

I turned 44 yesterday

"I have something to tell you, you're old."

Joe and I took the ferry into the city after he gave me a gift

The firewood I asked for

Leaf peeping via webcam helps us prep for next shoot

Boston University via webcam today showing ample green foliage

I suddenly need to go back to Boston before the leaves change to get some pick up shots for our documentary, Gen Silent. My shots must match what we shot this spring. No fall colors!

The ticket is in hand for October 6th and locals say the odds are in my favor (thanks for the tweets about fall colors!) However, everything is extra expensive that week so I can tell that it is the week that the tourism industry is betting that everything will be changing already.

Our pre-production has become leaf-peeping via webcam: Will I make it? It's the only time in my life I don't want to be shooting beautiful fall colors! I'll be a continuity pickle! Like eating a dill and a bread and butter in the same bite. :0

Marketing work on Gen Silent:

Stu Maddux, Director and Barrie Atkin, Executive Producer create fundraising materials

It is nice to see work on our documentary, Gen Silent, going on at the same time in two rooms during EP, Barrie Atkins visit to our home/office in Marin County, CA. this week.

Producer Joe Applebaum talks with the show's attorney

Stu Maddux tries on Barrie Atkins swim cap (dry) while editing copy
marked up by Barrie.

The LA house is where the "2" is on this map

View Los Angeles area fires: Mount Wilson, La Canada Flintridge, Altadena, La Crescenta, Glendale, Pasadena, Acton, Agua Dulce in a larger map

The fire is many miles and strip malls away. We are up in SF renting out the LA place. It is very small and cute. Here's a pic of it with Joe in his baker outfit getting ready for the kids at Halloween, lighting candles everywhere and...oh, maybe not this pic.