The Hello Girls Documentary (2018)
About “The Hello Girls”
This documentary features rare 100-year old film footage of America’s first female soldiers courtesy of the National Archives and never-before-seen photos from family archives.
In 1918, the U.S. Army Signal Corps sent 223 women to France as telephone operators to help win the Great War. They swore Army oaths, wore uniforms, held rank, and were subject to military justice. By war’s end, they had connected over 26 million calls and were recognized by General John J. Pershing for their service. When they returned home, the U.S. government told them they were never soldiers. For 60 years, they fought their own government for recognition. In 1977, with the help of Sen. Barry Goldwater and Congresswoman Lindy Boggs, they won. Unfortunately, only a handful were still alive.
Awards to Include:
Best Picture
Best Documentary
Best Documentary Feature
Click the picture above to see an excerpt
Thoughts on the Film
In the Summer of 2018, I was contacted by a local Producer, Jim Theres, he stated that he was interested in doing a documentary on World War 1 and that he was looking for a production house. Honestly, at the time, I hadn’t filmed a Hollywood level documentary completely, I had shot parts of two films called Innovative Technologies (1 & 2) that aired on HBO, but he was looking for the complete film production of a feature.
When it comes to telling a story, I have my own particular style of filming and camera movement, and i remember during the production of this film, I not only learned a lot but also my style of filming and camera production was vindicated with the 30 or so awards this film took home.
One final thought; the meeting and learning of history through people that lived that history. If you have never noticed when a person tells a story they lived and one that was so profound, they lose themselves in the story as if they are back in that time and space. Watching this story unfold through the families that lived it was an honor as this film, I believe, does them justice and tells their story to future generations. I can’t thank the participants enough to allow us to tell this amazing story
The Documentary "440 Negroes"
Press Release
440 Negroes – one event seemingly the epicenter of inequality and injustice in America.
440 Negroes is a documentary film that tells the story of a series of events in US history that prompted the current social norm of injustice, disparity, and inequality. Directed by Malcholm Reese in association with MjrVisuals and Lincoln Penny Films.
The documentary film focuses around “the weeping time” and Savannah Ga with interviews of specialists that describe the forgotten historical facts while relating those facts to present-day America. Interviewees include Kristopher Monroe; Vice-Chair Savanah-Chatham County Historic Commission / Author “The Weeping Time” -the Atlantic, Shannon Browning-Mullis; Curator Telfair Museum, Otis Johnson; Mayor City of Savannah Ga., Dr. Amir Jamal Toure; Professor Southern History, Savannah University, Patrik Garland esq, James Jordan; Author and Historian.
440 Negroes is the detailed account of the people who were sold on March 2-3, 1859, their families cruelly separated forever. In some cases, babies ripped from the arms of their mothers, as told by the eyewitness account of New York Times journalist, Mortimer Thomson, who wrote under the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks. As I dove deeper into the story, I learned that the sad plight of these 440 people was much larger. Their story begins with the founding of the country, the grandfather of Pierce Butler, who insisted that a specific clause concerning fugitive slaves was inserted into the Constitution. Then after the Civil War, freedom spawned new hope for the four million in the South.
“By the law of war and the order of the President of the United States, the negro is free and he shall be treated as such.” To assist the free persons, General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 15, a promise made by the United States government for agrarian reform to aid formerly enslaved black farmers. “40 Acres and a Mule” was a phrase echoed throughout the South asserting the right of newly freed African Americans to redistributed lands, particularly those plantations where they were enslaved. By the 1870s, blacks had abandoned hope of federal land redistribution and the phrase “40 acres and a mule” came to symbolize that broken promise. In Savannah, and all through the South, economic justice for African Americans was lost.
A MjrVisuals Documentary travel series - This is America.
About two years ago I was hired to film a commercial for RMA, Randolph Macon Academy. It’s a school in a part of Virginia that is actually not known for its diversity. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the school was a US Air Force Academy and very diverse. It made me think that all the thoughts I had about the area were wrong because how can there be such a diverse campus in the middle of a town that is rumored to be extremely racists. That understanding of thea area was given to me not just from passersby but actual work colleges that lived in the town. It wasn’t unheard of to see an upside flag or the Confederate flag in yards, on cars and on the back of trucks driving through town.
Fast forward a year, I wanted to do a travel show on small-town America and the first town I wanted to tell a story on was this small town. The history was amazing and the fact that it was close enough to the nation’s capital that people communted to Washington DC for work but lived here made it an interesting location because of the revitalization that was happening due to the influx of those government employees.
MjrVisuals has done to date 9 documentaries for a number of executive producers, now we are normally left alone with telling the story but given the topic. I was told the even though all the documentaries that we have produced for clients have won awards, we are not considered a top tier production house because we have not entered a festival directly. This show idea changed that.
We won the first festival we entered this season, lets hope for more.
