A new documentary, featuring Sir Richard Branson, underscores how a single individual can positively affect the lives of many.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
What a difference one person can make in the lives of others. Just ask Malibu artist Angel Burns, who, in Sept. 2010, got involved in the documentary “Opening Our Eyes,” after catching a panel with its director, New Jersey-based director Gail Mooney at the annual PhotoCine conference in Los Angeles. The film, which showcases various individuals making positive changes on a grassroots level, documents 11 different stories of real people from continents around the world who single-handedly impacted the lives of others around them.
Burns saw what Mooney was working on and was quickly hooked.
“A lot of documentaries are about problems, but hers was different,” Burns said of Mooney. “She found bunches of solutions. There were a lot of examples that are humble in the beginning but inspiring to the average person.”
Suddenly, the artistic photographer had to be a part of it.
“I saw the raw footage,” Burns continued, “and I pretty much rushed the stage and told her that I could market the film.”
Mooney spent 99 days traveling to 17 countries to make the movie with her daughter, Erin Kelly.
The main narrative of “Opening Our Eyes” follows the story of Maggie Doyne. At 19, Doyne took a year off after high school and volunteered in Nepal, where she had her parents wire $3,000 of her babysitting earnings and used the money to start a school (pre-school through eighth grade) in Nepal for displaced youth.
“Some of them were living on the streets or as domestic servants. She kind of gradually found them, one by one,” said Kelly, who knew Doyne from their days at West Morris Mendham High School in New Jersey and found her story fascinating. Now 25, Doyne teaches nearly 300 kids, 35 of whom she has adopted at her Kopila Valley home.
Among the other amazing stories told in “Eyes”: A tango therapist in Argentina; a Burmese doctor in Northern Thailand who provides free medical treatment; an Australian who runs a homeless youth center in Sydney; an American woman who helps cancer patients in Uganda by teaching their family members to create and sell clothing; two Detroit women advocating for the rights of welfare recipients; an Argentinian couple whom started a sustainable farm and restaurant run by troubled boys who they taught culinary and agricultural skills to.
All of these stories are woven throughout the documentary, which also features a cameo from philanthropic billionaire Richard Branson.
The film, Burns said, celebrates the benefits which can emerge from the chaos of life when one person has the courage to take a risk.
“People should not wait for things to be perfect. Life is not perfect. They should take action and accept that things will be messy,” Burns said. “There’s beauty in the mess. It doesn’t matter how humble that first step you take to get there.”
The road to making “Eyes” itself became a beautiful mess. Kelly quit her job as a marketing and communications executive at a nonprofit to travel for the shoot. The Kelly family subsidized the documentary with credit cards, frequent flyer miles, hotel points, Kickstarter and Indiegogo, amassing a budget of just under $1-million.
Since sneak previewing at documentarian Michael Moore’s theater last July in Traverse City, Mich., “Eyes” has enjoyed an early March premiere in San Luis Obispo. It has also won awards at the Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival in West Hollywood and the Bare Bones International Festival in Muskogee, Okla.
“Opening Our Eyes” will screen on Sunday, May 6 at the Awareness Film Festival, Macha Theatre Garbo, 1107 N. Kings Rd. in West Hollywood. For tickets, visit store.healoneworld.com/Opening-Our-Eyes-p/openingeyes.htm. Visit openingoureyesmovie.com