This is an archive site. For up to date information, go to Arts Engine, Inc.

Big Mouth Productions was founded in 1997 by Katy Chevigny and Julia Pimsleur to produce provocative and engaging social-issue documentaries and to provide production services for U.S. and international clients.

Since its inception, Big Mouth has produced 6 feature-length documentaries that cover topics ranging from the criminal justice system to alternative healing, and has worked with numerous clients in the production of film and video work.

Governor George Ryan and crew and subjects of Deadline at Sundance 2004

Big Mouth's films have played at festivals around the world with premieres at the Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, South by Southwest Film Festival and the Hollywood Black Film Festival. We have garnered awards at Cinema Du Reel Film Festival, Outfest LA, Urbanwold Film Festival, New York Latino Film Festival, the Newark Black Film Festival, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and we have been nominated for IDA awards.

Big Mouth's films have been broadcast on HBO Signature, Cinemax and public television. Our funders include the Independent Television Service, the National Black Programming Consortium, the Ford Foundation, the Soros Documentary Fund, the Jerome Foundation, the Funding Exchange/Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, the Donnet Fund, the ET Harmax Foundation, the Playboy Foundation, the Women in Film Foundation, the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation and numerous generous individuals.

Director/Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson in action

Big Mouth Productions believes that broadcast and film festival screenings are just the beginning of a film's life. We are committed to educational and grassroots distribution in addition to television broadcast and theatrical release. Our films are distributed by New Day Films, Filmaker's Library, California Newsreel and Wellspring Media. Additionally, we organize outreach campaigns to ensure that our videos are seen by the people and communities that they are meant to reach. By carefully identifying our target audiences and building networks, we are able to distribute our films to appropriate audiences. We also work closely with our funders to reach other organizations and foster media awareness among activists. Please visit Outreach Journal: Outside Looking In and Members on Outreach 1: Nuyorican Dream for some Big Mouth outreach success stories.

Recognizing the need for a space where filmmakers and organizers can share information about their work, the founders of Big Mouth Productions launched MediaRights.org in July 2000. MediaRights.org is a nonprofit organization and web site dedicated to fostering greater awareness of social-issue documentaries, advocacy videos and the work of activist organizations around the United States. MediaRights.org is administered by Arts Engine, Inc. and shares an office with Big Mouth Productions.

Big Mouth Productions can provide detailed budgets, hire complete production crews, cast talent, rent all necessary equipment, secure the proper location permissions and insurance papers and arrange accommodations for crews around the United States as well as in Latin America, Europe and Africa. We have also served as post-production supervisors for several multi-format film and video projects. These line-producing services are tailored to the needs of the production, and involve everything from setting up a shoot for one day to multi-year commitments. Big Mouth has provided production services on the following projects:

• WOMEN & I
  Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jennifer Fox, Women & I is a journey to define what it means to be a woman in today’s complicated world. It will explore the changing roles of women and men on individual and society-wide levels, resulting in an experimental drama about the collective search to makes sense of being female. By involving other women in the conversation, Women & I will create a framework of shared experiences of womanhood across cultures and generations. The film has been picked up by HBO, BBC, ARTE France/Germany, and 7 other stations around the world. Big Mouth Productions is serving as a Consulting Producer on this film.

• CARAVAN
  Shot on 16 mm film and PAL digital video, this documentary film features the sounds of flamenco, brass band, Romanian violin, Indian folk, raga and jazz. Filmmaker Jasmine Dellal also traveled with these remarkable Roma musicians to their homes in Romania, Macedonia, Spain and India. Funded by the Independent Television Service for completion in 2004. Caravan can be found online at littledust.com.

• WAR BRIDES
  This documentary tells the story of Germany’s war brides, young women who left a country in ruins to begin a new life in the United States. They were considered traitors in Germany and the enemy by their new countrymen. But they were also taking a bold step, uprooting what they knew for love and an opportunity to rebuild their lives. Directed by Juliette Cazanave, produced by Arturo Mio in coproduction with Stago Film and ARTE France.

• ON MY WAY TO HEAVEN
  A vibrant 90-minute documentary about gospel music, using live church performances and in-depth portraits of contemporary gospel singers. Groups include Willie Neal Johnson and the Gospel Keynotes, The Helping Hand Gospel Singers, and the Campbell Brothers. Shot in PAL Digital Beta. Line-produced for Gloria Films (France) and La Sept/ARTE. Broadcast on La Sept/ARTE in France in December 1998.

• WORLD JAZZ
  A 13-part series about the origins of jazz in music from around the world, with performances by Eddie Palmieri, Pablo Aslan, the Klezmatics, and musicians from Morocco, France, Spain, and Brazil. Line-produced for Euro Arts Productions (Germany) and Jones Cable TV.

Please contact us with any inquiries about your production needs. For our international clients, we speak fluent Hebrew, French and Spanish and working Italian, Chinese and Japanese.

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