 |
____________________
| |
The Production
Filmmaker Bio
CREDITS
The Press Room
The Production
The Making of ALZHEIMER'S: MY MOM, OUR JOURNEY
Alzheimer's: My Mom, Our Journey is a documentary about one American family coping with the magnitude of a fatal disease. The story is seen through the eyes of Gloria and her three children as they experience first hand the devastating effects an incurable illness has on a family.
Shot over the course of eighteen months, Director/Producer Julie Meisner Eagle chronicles her mom's life journey with the terrifying diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease. Since Gloria wanted to tell the story in her own words, Julie needed to interview her mom on many different occasions to capture the essence of what Gloria was experiencing. Julie explains, "My mom has good days and bad days. Some days she had brilliant moments of lucidity, and other days she struggled to put a sentence together. But we kept the cameras rolling until my mom felt she said what she needed to say."
Julie also interviewed her brothers and other family members in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. "Since this disease forced the entire family to come together and make life decisions about my mom's care, everyone had an investment in how the story was told" explains the filmmaker.
After the initial shooting was over, Julie assembled a small team at Film Garden Entertainment to work on a tight schedule and a shoestring budget. Julie had two weeks to write a script and four weeks to edit the one-hour project. Julie and Editor/Post Producer Dava Whisenant worked day and night until the story finally came together. Dava explains, "The hardest part for me was editing down a story which could easily have been a ten-hour series. Gloria has so many things to teach all of us about living life to the fullest."
There have been several documentaries which chronicle the deterioration of an individual suffering from a degenerative disease in order to illustrate the cruelty of that disease. Instead, Julie wanted to pay tribute to her mom by celebrating her strength and courage in the midst of pain and suffering. Gloria's health plummeted just as the documentary was being finished. And although she wasn't able to see the premiere broadcast, she was extremely proud of it and the affect it had on others.
| "I made this documentary to tell my mom's story, and to make people understand that the cruelty of Alzheimer's is not just suffered by the elderly." |
| - Julie Meisner Eagle |
Julie Meisner Eagle
Documentary Filmmaker
 |
|
Writer, Producer, Director Julie Meisner Eagle was honored recently with an invitation to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about her documentary, My Mom, Our Journey, winner of the 2003 Columbus International Film Festival. Together with Maria Shriver and Leeza Gibbons, they discuss the importance of building awareness of this devastating illness.
Julie has been involved in the development, production, and creation of a wide variety of television programs both domestically and internationally.
|
For three years she served as a Co-Executive Producer for Film Garden Entertainment, a production company specializing in programming for the Discovery Networks and others.
Julie has a strong writing and producing background including two seasons of the award winning children's show Mega Movie Magic for The Discovery Channel, and Columbia Tri-Star Television's syndicated series The Three Stooges.
Her first taste of national television was in New York at The Late Show with David Letterman. After this, she spent two years with MTV Development and Original Programming. Relocating to Los Angeles, her producing experience expanded to include morning shows for ABC and Rysher Entertainment, as well as Columbia Tri-star's extreme sports show Action TV. Then, traveling across the pond, Julie moved to Berlin, Germany where she developed and supervised the production of a nightly primetime entertainment program for the German Network SAT.1.
Since her documentary, Julie was asked to direct a series of National Public Service Announcements starring David Hyde Pierce and Jeanne Phillips (a.k.a. "Dear Abby") for The National Alzheimer's Association.
Currently, she focuses her attention on the world of children's television, writing and producing for the Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney, as well as for her own television pilot she wrote and directed specifically to entertain her giggly two-year-old son, Xander, and her equally jolly 35-year-old husband, Jeffrey.
My Mom, Our Journey is airing on MSNBC - check your local listings for more information.
Contact Information:
"Alzheimer's: My Mom, Our Journey"
10736 Jefferson Blvd.
#620
Culver City, CA 90230
email:info@gloriajean.org
CREDITS
ALZHEIMER'S: MY MOM, OUR JOURNEY
- Executive Producers: Nancy Jacobs Miller / Tracy Verna
- Executive Producer: Julie Meisner Eagle / Scott Hooker / Mark Lukasiewicz
- Written & Directed by: Julie Meisner Eagle
- Editor & Post Producer: Dava Whisenant
- Coordinating Producer: Kevin Shinnick
- Director of Post Production: David Parkinson
- Post Supervisor: Augustine Melendez
- MSNBC Host Wrap Director: Lily Olszewski
- Post Coordinator: Susan Huffaker
- Media Producer: Kathy Berman
- Script Supervisor: Frank Armstrong
- Production Assistants: Damon Durity / Tammy Clifton
- Camera: Clint Lealos / Rick Szekely / Amy Collins / Ruben Sheimberg / Lilla Fiumi / Mathew Buzzell / Justin Bomberg / Robin Feinberg
- Sound: Nicole Phillips / Robin Waas /Otto Rammer
- Director of Outreach & Distribution: Jeffrey Eagle
- Material Provided By: Jorge Barrio / UCLA Dept. of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology / Barry Taylor / Gary Meisner / NBC News / The Alzheimer's Association / Journal of the American Medical Association
- Special Thanks: Jo Sherman / Michelle Kongkasuan / Solina Wong / Rick Szekely / Tom Taglang / Cindy Green Fitzgerald / Bryan Carter / ABSOLUT Vodka / Writers Boot Camp / Jon Shulman / Jeff Gordon / Craig Detweiler / Joanne Struebing / Kaarina Roberto / Mark Biscow, M.D. / Tom Rajkovich / Jeffrey Eagle / Xander Eagle
- Production Executive : Michelle Van Kempen
- Web Team
Producer: Jeffrey Eagle,
Web Developer: Steve Summerlin,
Graphic Artist: Andy Surber
The Press Room
Press Release
MSNBC DOCUMENTARY SUNDAY TO PREMIERE "ALZHEIMER'S: MY MOTHER, OUR JOURNEY," SUNDAY, APRIL 28 AT 10PM ET
"Frasier's" David Hyde Pierce to Host
SECAUCUS, NJ- April 11, 2002- "Frasier's" David Hyde Pierce hosts a special one-hour documentary on MSNBC about the debilitating illness Alzheimer's Disease, Sunday, April 28 from 10-11 p.m. ET. "Alzheimer's: My Mom, Our Journey," chronicles one young family's struggle to survive the most common brain disease of the adult population.
Gloria Meisner was only in her early fifties when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Her youngest son, Craig, noticed the first changes. Everyday actions such as tying her shoes and getting dressed became almost impossible. This special hour shows the hardships that one family endures, and portrays the details of coping with a diagnosis that can only be considered a slow death sentence. It is a very personal story, told from inside the family circle, through the eyes of Gloria's daughter, Julie Meisner Eagle, a documentary filmmaker.
"You can have pneumonia…It's something external and you get it and it doesn't affect who you are," says Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, M.D., Director, UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Center. "But you can't have Alzheimer's disease in that same sense. You ARE Alzheimer's Disease, so it's no longer possible to separate the disease and the person because the very organ that makes you a person is affected by the disease."
"ALZHEIMER'S: MY MOM, OUR JOURNEY," PREMIERES ON MSNBC DOCUMENTARY SUNDAY, APRIL 28 AT 10P.M. ET.
Media/Outreach Contacts:
Phoebe Glassner, MSNBC Media Relations
201/583-5013
phoebe.glassner@msnbc.com
Jeffrey Eagle, Director, Outreach & Distribution
310-572-1332
info@gloriajean.org
On-Air Promotion
View the TODAY SHOW news clip in the left sidebar after clicking this link.
|
|
|
|
