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Ellen Frankenstein

Film Maker Information

 Ellen Frankenstein



Email:  efclicks@aol.com



Ellen Frankenstein is the director of four other award-winning documentaries in the New Day collection: Miles from the Border, A Matter of Respect and No Loitering.

She’s been an organizer and educator for community arts and school-based media projects from Los Angeles to Kake, Alaska and has exhibited her still photography nationally and internationally. Before becoming a full-time filmmaker and photographer, Frankenstein worked with the developmentally disabled, migrant farm workers, and the elderly. These experiences inspired her to take photographs and make documentaries to encourage people to tell their stories and participate in sharing their voice by using the technology themselves.

Frankenstein has a Masters in Visual Anthropology from the University of Southern California. Awards and funding include a Fulbright - Hays Fellowship and grants from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, The Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities. Frankenstein lives in Sitka, Alaska and has helped her spouse sail a 30-foot wooden gaff-rigged ketch sail boat from Mexico to New Zealand. She is currently working on a film called, Eating Alaska. Eating Alaska is a wry odyssey into sustainable food choices through the eyes of a former vegetarian on a quest to find the "right" thing to eat on the last frontier.

Ellen collaborated with Louise Brady on the creation and outreach of Carved from the Heart . Brady is a member of the Lingit Tribe of Southeast Alaska. She is a Raven (Yeil) of the Frog Clan (Kiks.adi) from the Point House (X'aaka Hit) of Sitka, Alaska (Sheet'ka Kwaan). Brady has worked in human services for years, assisting people to overcome the adversities caused by the social problems that exist in Indian Country. She strongly believes in the practice of sovereignty in Native American communities as a means to overcome these problems and continues to work to achieve sovereignty for her tribe, as a whole, and for each of its tribal citizens.

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