Think Big Start Small: Film & Outreach
John Scheinfeld
Director/Writer/Producer
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From politics to pop culture, world religion to sports, Venice and Toronto film festivals to PBS and your local movie theatre, Emmy®, Grammy® and Writers Guild Award nominee John Scheinfeld is a critically-acclaimed documentary filmmaker with a broad range of subjects and productions to his credit.
In 2016, Scheinfeld completed production on “Chasing Trane,” the first authorized feature documentary about the legendary musician John Coltrane. The film was an Official Selection at Telluride, Toronto, DOC NYC , IDFA (Amsterdam), and many other prestigious film festivals. In April 2017 it premiered in New York and screened in more than 70 cities in North America and in international theaters. It appears on PBS Independent Lens on November 6.
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Scheinfeld also recently completed “I Hope You Dance: The Power and Spirit of Song,” the first feature documentary to explore how an extraordinary song has changed people’s lives. This film about hope, faith, and the power of music to inspire and heal is set for national release in 2016.
Previously, he directed, wrote and produced two high-profile documentaries for PBS: “Dick Cavett’s Watergate” and “Dick Cavett’s Vietnam.” These documentaries were intensely personal, intimate and entertaining explorations of critical events that helped shape American history in the 20th Century, each framed by guest interviews from the period and commentary by legendary talk show host Dick Cavett.
Scheinfeld is best known for two widely acclaimed feature documentaries: “The U.S. vs. John Lennon,” the true story of the US government’s attempt to silence the beloved musician and iconic advocate for peace, and “Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)?,” a compelling yet wildly entertaining documentary about one of the most talented and uncompromising singer-songwriters in pop music history. “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” was an official selection of the Venice, Telluride, London and Toronto International film festivals and was released worldwide by Lionsgate. Born out of his love for the music of the Beatles and a keen interest in freedom of speech and personal courage, Scheinfeld earned the trust of Yoko Ono and was given access to her extraordinary archive.
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For “Who Is Harry Nilsson…?,” Scheinfeld was nominated for the prestigious Writers Guild Award and USA Today named him one of the Top 100 People of 2010 in their pop culture poll.
Kathleen Ermitage
Producer, Project Director
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Kathleen is an associate producer on documentary films, including “Chasing Trane” (an official selection at Telluride, Toronto, and other major film fests) with John Scheinfeld. She also has worked as an associate producer on programs that have aired on television for American Masters/PBS and WTTW.
Kathleen founded a children’s educational media company in 2008. She has written, produced, and directed more than 300 educational multimedia programs for children and young adults for Enter Here Productions, Learning Seed, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, Media Rich Learning, and Thomson Learning, and a range of nonprofit organizations. Her work for the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education (for NROC and Hippocampus.org) was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.
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Kathleen served as the Editorial Director and Director of Video for an educational development packager—managing 25 in-house staff and 150 contractors/freelancers. As the director of the video/film division for Enter Here Productions, she produced career education video programs for at-risk youth and an animated series that was distributed to schools in 48 U.S. states, Canada, and on Channel One. One of the video series was funded by the State of Illinois Dept. of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Her products are sold and distributed by national and international distributors.
In 2009, she was chosen to serve as a juror for the Chicago International Film Festival and a finalist for Scriptapalooza. She has served on the board for Women in Film Chicago. Kathleen has a master’s degree from Northwestern University.