Gilbert Baker Film Festival GBFFPride'23

Park View (2020) Feature Film GBFF2022

Expired August 17, 2023 10:00 AM
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Park View (2020) Feature Film GBFF2022 

A film that documents the life and death of 32-year-old lesbian Talana Kreeger, and the impact of her murder on the legal, media, religious and community institutions in a coastal Southern community.


The 1990 murder of Talana Kreeger, in the Southern coastal community of Wilmington, NC, still challenges our assumptions about legal, religious, and media responses to LGBTQ hate crimes.



Park View (2020) Feature Film GBFF2022 

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Park View (2020)

A film that documents the life and death of 32-year-old lesbian Talana Kreeger, and the impact of her murder on the legal, media, religious and community institutions in a coastal Southern community.


The 1990 murder of Talana Kreeger, in the Southern coastal community of Wilmington, NC, still challenges our assumptions about legal, religious, and media responses to LGBTQ hate crimes.


Director Biography - Tab Ballis

Tab Ballis is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Wilmington, NC who extends the potential for the expression of human stories through his media consulting firm, Family Tree Productions. Tab is a faculty member of the University of North Carolina Wilmington School of Social Work, and has also created video and online educational programs for academic and human service organizations.

In 2013, he received the NASW Media Award for Documentaries, in recognition of the short film produced in collaboration with Andy Myers of Working Films, "My Marriage Is Not Threatened By Gay Marriage In North Carolina." http://www.socialworkersspeak.org/hollywood-connection/and-the-2013-nasw-media-award-winners-are.html

In 2014 and 2015, he directed and produced video interviews illuminating the lives of LGBTQ elders on the Wilmington Cape Fear Coast, in service of the SAGE Story grants provided by the national Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders organization. http://www.sageusa.org/programs/sagestory-watch.cfm

Tab has served as executive producer and creative/technical consultant for numerous studio and independent film productions, in collaboration with the film community of Wilmington, NC


Tab Ballis, Director Statement:

As a social worker, I witness and reflect on the stories of people's lives... stories that are enlightening, poignant, tragic and humorous... which I cannot share. In service of the social work value of advocacy for the most vulnerable populations, the opportunity for merging my instincts as a storyteller and social worker came through the local news coverage of a horrific hate crime in 1990 that took the life of 32-year-old lesbian Talana Kreeger. The print and broadcast reporting of her murder was replete with graphic descriptions of the carnage wrought by long distance trucker Ronald Thomas, while Talana remained a "body found in the woods," as her killer was humanized in the photos and narrative.

As the United States advances from the historic Supreme Court decision affirming marriage equality, we are now confronted by institutionalized hate directed towards LGBTQ citizens through regressive legislation proposed and enacted in many states. In particular, it appears that a false sense of security has made these communities more vulnerable to the specter of hate crimes in recent years... and these attacks are disproportionately directed towards individuals who are too old, too young, too poor, too isolated to insulate themselves from harm.

In light of the reality that legal hate crime protections for LGBTQ citizens are still lacking in many parts of the U.S., including North Carolina... I am excited about the completion of Park View, a documentary film project that will resonate nationally to create awareness of this ongoing threat to basic human rights, and its inconsistent coverage in the media.


Please tell us your motivation for making your film :

Like most of the Southern coastal community of Wilmington, NC, I learned of Talana Kreeger’s 1990 death through media coverage that graphically described the horrific details of her murder… yet somehow left her identity as a human being unreported. As a social worker, I was well-trained to witness and interpret the stories of clients in the confidential setting of clinical agencies, but I sensed that the life of Talana Kreeger was at risk of being obscured by the horror of her death and its sensationalized coverage. I felt compelled to make sure that her story was told authentically, despite the fact that her community was too traumatized to tell it on their own.


What is the theme of your submission?:

Suffering and redemption through the telling of our stories.


What was the message you wanted to convey with this project?:

The Park View Project embraces the daunting task of producing a documentary film about a thirty-year-old murder to reveal the layers of trauma and transformation that pervaded the life and death of a lesbian and her impact on the community. Woven into this complex story are the destructive and redemptive aspects of the criminal justice system, print and televised journalism, and religious institutions of that era. Though hate crimes are conceptualized as specific acts of violence targeting particular communities, their impact is anything but finite, reverberating through generations of people and their institutions. Park View deconstructs the complex layers of ignorance and hate, to reveal the humanity of a woman rendered a “body found in the woods,” in the interest of a consciousness-raising that challenges and overcomes the enabling of violence against vulnerable populations.


Any further comments about your submission:

We appreciate the groundbreaking work of the Gilbert Baker Film Festival in carrying the passion of its namesake for celebrating 2SLGBTQIA+ stories!


Park View (2020) News & Reviews:


https://www.parkviewproject.com


"Review of Park View"

LesFlicks

https://www.lesflicks.com/read/review/park-view-review/

"Park View: A Q&A With Film Producer, Tab Ballis"

National Resource Center on LGBT Aging

https://www.lgbtagingcenter.org/resources/resource.cfm?r=1048&fbclid=IwAR3OTzBwT_nN720jtljNGlmMOBj0g9VNaf5WOhBi_pEnBgNLXGlpexR8xhE

"Documentary on murder of Talana Kreeger to raise awareness of LGBT hate crimes"

National Association of Social Workers

http://www.socialworkersspeak.org/hollywood-connection/documentary-on-murder-of-talana-kreeger-to-raise-awareness-of-lgbt-hate-crimes.html

"‘Park View,’ a film about an LGBT hate crime in Wilmington, launches fundraiser"

Wilmington Star News

http://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20160916/park-view-film-about-lgbt-hate-crime-in-wilmington-launches-fundraiser

"Shining a Light on the Story of Wilmington's Talana Kreeger"

Encore Magazine

http://www.encorepub.com/live-local-live-small-shining-a-light-on-the-story-of-wilmingtons-talana-kreeger/

"Documentary About Notorious Wilmington Murder to Screen"

Wilmington Star News

https://www.starnewsonline.com/entertainment/20200214/documentary-about-notorious-wilmington-murder-to-screen

"New Documentary Focuses on 30-Year-Old Wilmington Murder"

WWAY TV

https://www.wwaytv3.com/2020/01/27/new-documentary-focuses


From Tab Ballis:

Like most of the Southern coastal community of Wilmington, NC, I learned of Talana Kreeger’s 1990 death through media coverage that graphically described the horrific details of her murder… yet somehow left her identity as a human being unreported.

As a social worker, I was well-trained to witness and interpret the stories of clients in the confidential setting of clinical agencies, but I sensed that the life of Talana Kreeger was at risk of being obscured by the horror of her death and its sensationalized coverage. I felt compelled to make sure that her story was told authentically, despite the fact that her community was too traumatized to tell it on their own.

As a professional social worker, I was inspired by a screening of Stu Maddux's powerful documentary, Gen Silent, at the NC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, to make sure that Talana Kreeger's tragic death was not forgotten, but channeled into the ongoing struggle for social justice... particularly relevant as North Carolina remains one of eighteen states with no hate crime protections for LGBTQ citizens.

My background as a helping professional equipped me to respectfully research Talana’s story, and to begin producing the Park View Project.

On a deeper level, I understood that the civil rights movement of the 1960s needed the participation of young white Americans to join the marches and bus rides into the segregated South, in order to gain the moral investment that would move a nation. I believe that LGBTQ human rights are at a similar point of inflection, where the visible support of family, friends and community allies is essential to solidify the gains and overcome the obstacles in heterosexist/transphobic institutions.

I took seriously the responsibility of exploring the life and death of Talana Kreeger, and her impact on this community, without causing unnecessary harm to the people who lived the story. A major reason that it took fifteen years to produce Park View was the care we have taken to allow the community to take its own time to process events that were buried for decades.

The Park View Project embraces the daunting task of producing a documentary film about a thirty-year-old murder to reveal the layers of trauma and transformation that pervaded the life and death of a lesbian and her impact on the community. Woven into this complex story are the destructive and redemptive aspects of the criminal justice system, print and televised journalism, and religious institutions of that era. Though hate crimes are conceptualized as specific acts of violence targeting particular communities, their impact is anything but finite, reverberating through generations of people and their institutions.

Park View deconstructs the complex layers of ignorance and hate, to reveal the humanity of a woman rendered a “body found in the woods,” in the interest of a consciousness-raising that challenges and overcomes the enabling of violence against vulnerable populations.

Viewers are advised that Park View contains graphic descriptions of a violent crime.




Park View Credits:


Tab Ballis:

Director

My Marriage Is Not Threatened By Gay Marriage in North Carolina

Tab Ballis

Producer


Stephen Sprinkle

Associate Producers

"Unfinished Lives"

Michael Davenport

Associate Producers


Laura McLean

Soundtrack

  • Year
    2020
  • Runtime
    97:32
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    United States
  • Subtitle Language
    English
  • Content Warning
    Death, Murder, Assault
  • Note
    https://www.parkviewproject.com/
  • Social Media
  • Director
    Tab Ballis
  • Producer
    Tab Ballis
  • Executive Producer
    Stephen Sprinkle, Michael Davenport
  • Composer
    Laura McLean
  • Music
    Laura McLean