CATCH A DREAMER is a 30-minute documentary available in DVD format to community and educational organizations. To purchase the film, please click here.
The premise of Catch a Dreamer is that all the world’s children deserve and have the right to love, health, food, shelter, education. And peace.
Composed around the declaration of the United Nations, Ten Rights of the Child, the film dramatizes, through art and photography, the jeopardy under which these rights exist for millions of children.
Our message is that a suffering child in Asia, or in Africa, is our own imperiled child. We can reach over borders, touching their lives. And in the words of the film: “no storm can turn us back.”
The poet Carl Sandburg said:
and the child’s name is
All Children.
The ten rights are illustrated through poetry by Jim Petersen and vivid imagery in a suite of tapestries called The Spirit of the Child by Helen Webber, evoking the innate energies of all children, their dreams, their joys, their creativity and their openness to love.
The intense color and drama of the tapestries are entwined with photographs of children searching for life within the deprivations of war, hunger and disease.
There are over 100 photos of children used in the film, taken by more than 65 photographers of many nationalities: photographers who pointed their cameras at children with care, compassion and understanding. Each image tells a story that goes beyond words to depict the conditions of the world’s children: not only of their suffering but also of their innocence and zest for life.
Catch A Dreamer inspires us to fulfill the words at the end of the film:
everywhere
are part of us,
raise them up
to soar
on wings of
hope.
Heroes
CATCH A DREAMER does not let us fall into despair. The stories of four brave, deeply caring young people show us that change is more than a possibility. It is a reality.
A look into their programs will illustrate how an idea that leads to action, can grow and spread.
Credits
Written and directed by Helen Webber
Technical directors: Neal Santos and Ida Reese
Narrator: Helen Webber
Tapestries and drawings: Helen Webber
Poetry: Jim Petersen
Produced by: New Earth Songs Productions, a program of The Alliance for a Sustainable Future.
Producers
Dawn Mazzone
Albert Antonucci
Jim Petersen
Based on the book
CATCH A DREAMER
art by Helen Webber
words by Jim Petersen
For a full list of photographers and musicians who contributed to the Catch a Dreamer film, please visit About the Photographs and Music.
To purchase the film, please click here.
