Dreamkeeper Films Productions

BOB MATHIAS: HOMETOWN HERO
Hometown Heroes series

We’re all familiar with  “A-Rod,” “Tiger Woods” and “ Kobe Bryant.” In Bob Mathias: Hometown Hero, you’ll be thrilled by this little-known story of Bob Mathias, one of the huge sports icons of his day.

Winning the Olympic Gold Medal for the United States in 1948 at the age of seventeen, and again in 1952, Mathias, who would have tried out for the 1956 games but was barred by the Olympic committee because he starred in a biographical movie, playing himself. He went on to become a well-known actor, then a U.S. Congressman.

In this fifty-two minute documentary, we go to Mathias’ hometown of Tulare, California to trace his story, and we also go to nearby Fresno to interview Mathias (his last interview ever given before his death in 2006).
2008 Running time: 52 minutes  Aspect ratio: Full frame (4:3). Dolby Stereo. $14.99 plus shipping (allow 20 days delivery for this film)

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HEROES OF AN AMERICAN TOWN
Hometown Heroes series

In a small American town of Central California lies a treasure trove of historical notoriety. Tulare, located along Highway 99 between Bakersfield and Fresno, has a very interesting history, including the stories of the greatest generation - people who came out of humble beginnings to achieve great things. Heroes of an American Town is both a documentary film and a touching story, detailing how an Olympic gold medalist, a Four-Star General, and a highly decorated WWII Infantryman made a difference in their town, their country, and even in the world. 2006 Running time: 130 minutes Aspect Ratio: Full Frame (4:3). Dolby Stereo $14.99 plus shipping.

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SEEDS: The Phenomenon of the Seattle Sound
(Currently in production)

In the mid 1980’s, a musical form began to take shape in the drizzly Northwestern United States. This sound would morph and evolve into one of the most influential styles of the modern age. Among the stars that would rise in this explosion, coming to fruition in the early nineties, were artists such as Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, Sound Garden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and The Screaming Trees. But the seminal “forefathers” of these famous groups and artists were a handful of bands, bashing out punkish chords tuned-down low, and dressing down for all of their performances. These bands included The Melvins, Green River, Malkfunkshun, and Mudhoney, just to name a few. This was at a time, in the early and mid Eighties, when if you went to L. A. to make it in rock n’ roll, you had to have “big hair,” tight leather or spandex pants, and even mascara on your eyes (we’re talking about men here). Some of these early Northwest bands broke up, some stayed together, and some of their respective members became part of the “family tree” of the Seattle Sound. Later, after the phenomenal success of Nirvana’s first major-label release, “Nevermind,” the Industry labeled the whole thing “Grunge Rock.”

In SEEDS: the Phenomenon of the Seattle Sound, writer-director Dan Traub, and producer-editor Mike Bedik, who were there at the time, playing together in the Seattle Band “Black Dog,” explore the history of the period, in interviews with musicians, bar owners, and basically anyone on the street who will talk to them!

This forty-four minute documentary is currently in production, being shot in high -def wide-screen. “SEEDS” will also feature a great soundtrack comprised of current unsigned bands, "greying bands" who never made it but are still gallantly trying, and bands who are now broke and will do almost anything for a little publicity and beer money!

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FORGOTTON HOLOCAUST: THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF CHINA

( Hometown Heroes series: currently In Pre-production)

Between ten and thirty million Chinese lost their lives during the Japanese Occupation of china, prior to WWII.  Atrocities included not only rape, but Chinese men being forced to rape their daughters, and sons, their mothers, before all were shot. American and British heroes such as Pappy Boyington came to the aid of the Chinese, years before either country’s entry into WWII.
After the end of WWII, General Douglas Mac Arthur brokered a deal, in which, in exchange for Japanese germ warfare research secrets, no prosecutions were made during the war crimes trials for any atrocities committed against non-Americans.In this honest, if shocking documentary, the story is recalled by witnesses and descendants of witnesses.

Also explored is the current efforts to obtain apologies and reparations form the Japanese government, or from companies who benefited from Chinese labor.

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THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH AND CORRIGADOR HEROES

(Hometown Heroes series: currently in production)

On the “main island” of Luzon, in the Philippines, is the southernmost peninsula  called Bataan. Off the coast is a very small island called Corregidor. After the Japanes captured Manilla in 1942, U.S. and Filipino forces withdrew to Bataan,  Weakened by hunger, disease and exhaustion, they fought the Japanese while waiting for supplies such as food and ammunition, which never arrived.

On April 9, 1942, General Edward King surrendered his army. The following “death march” killed over 5,000 American soldiers and a much larger number of Filipinos, as all were driven scores of miles per day in the sweltering sun without water or rest.Shootings, decapitations and stabbings were common on the road. In the coming months and years, American soldiers were all but forgotten, being forced to work in slave labor camps both in the Philippines and in Japan. Torture and starvation, as well as denial of medical treatment in the malaria-infested jungles, were commonplace. Those in Japan were only liberated by the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

In The Bataan Death March and Corregidor, former P.O.W.s  and death march survivors tell their story. The film also explores the efforts to win reparations from Japanese companies who benefited from this slave labor, in defiance of the Geneva Convention.