Amy Gerber
●Indie Filmmaker
●Professor of Film
An independent production company that makes documentary, narrative, and art films.
Welcome to FlatCoatFilms, LLC
Created in 2000, FlatCoatFilms, LLC has produced award-winning and critically acclaimed independent films for almost two decades.
Hope of Escape - In pre-production
Hope of Escape is a non-fiction feature (part documentary, part reenactment) that follows the story of Diana Williams, her daughter Cornelia, and her daughter’s sweetheart, William, as they plan their own emancipation from slavery in Wilmington, North Carolina. Time is running out. Diana and Cornelia are terrified of being sold and separated forever. William discovers a window of opportunity to break free, but he's overwhelmed by timing and logistics that are more complicated than he could have imagined. Filmmaker Amy Gerber, who is a direct descendent of Diana, Cornelia and William, brings her forebears to life by having a sit-down interview with them in a studio. From their own memories, that come into view as flashbacks, we learn about the harrowing journey they made. Hope of Escape recasts the history of enslaved persons pursuing freedom and highlights the trials and triumphs of one family determined to make a better life and a better country.
Documentaries
We seek out stories off the beaten path and give voice to people and topics that traditionally tend to be ignored by the mainstream.
Narrative Storytelling
Our engaging and provocative stories ask the viewer to look at the world from different perspectives and experiences. We have particular interest in showing the extraordinary story within the ordinary character, setting, or theme.
Art Films
Not afraid to explore new ways of expressing thought-provoking ideas and concepts, we strive to experiment, re-examine, and reinvent approaches to film as art.
Filmography
- Hope of Escape (current project) Feature documentary drama. Stay tuned for updates.
- Do Cell Towers Dream of Morse Code (2019) Experimental short, digital video. Click here for more info.
- Russia Was A Woman (2018) Feature screenplay, historical drama, animation.
- The Truth About Trees: A Natural and Human History (2015) A PBS three-part documentary series in collaboration with The James Agee Film Project, dir. Ross Spears
- Ass Backwards: A Virginia Story in Reverse (2013) Experimental short, digital video.
- My Grandfather Was A Nazi Scientist: Opa, von Braun and Operation Paperclip (2011) 60 min. documentary. Distribution by Amazon.com
- Public Memory (2004) Documentary feature, digital video, live action. Distribution by The Cinema Guild.
- The Prophet of the Plains (2002) Documentary short, digital video, live action.
Other prior credits include:- Birds In L.A. (1999) Experimental documentary, Digital video, live-action
- Made In L.A. (1996) Documentary short – 16mm, live-action; Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
- Modern America, Modern Sculpture (1995) Documentary short – 35mm, live-action; Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
- Your Race Is Doomed (1993) Experimental documentary short – 16mm, live-action, animation; California Institute of the Arts.
- The Pacific Rim (1993) Documentary short, digital video, live-action, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Here are some more details about past projects:
Do Cell Towers Dream of Morse Code?
EXPERIMENTAL SHORT
Do Cell Towers Dream of Morse Code? offers a brief view from an observer at a unique vantage point. High above a city street, a collection of stories unfold as we experience a witness’ fixed perspective of events that occur on a supposed benign street corner. Who is the witness? And what is the witness’ connection to the lone souls below, parked in cars and affixed to their smartphones? Do Cell Towers Dream captures a linear moment in time, exploring the ideas of connection and isolation, detachment and engagement that sometimes occur simultaneously in our modern world.
My Grandfather Was a Nazi Scientist: Opa, Von Braun and Operation Paperclip
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Filmmaker Amy Gerber accidentally stumbles upon her grandfather's secret past, including his work on Nazi science that the Allied victors raced to obtain at the end of WWII. Her grandfather, Dr. Eduard Gerber, joined hundreds of other Nazi scientists brought into the U.S. under the classified and controversial government program called OPERATION PAPERCLIP. The most famous of these scientists was rocket expert Wernher von Braun. My Grandfather follows a granddaughter on a personal journey, who with her dynamic German interpreter, Julia, investigates old FBI and CIA files that they discover at the National Archives. As Gerber begins to retrace her grandfather's history and find out more about his 'other life', larger historical questions arise as she pursues many unknowns about this early Cold War period that still remain classified by the U.S. Government. Distribution by Amazon.com
Public Memory: A Film About American Memorials
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Public Memory encourages Americans to think more deeply about the importance of memorials on our landscape. Surrounding the September 11th memorial design in New York, the film asks the greater public to rethink meanings and motivations behind building a memorial of historical significance. Why do some memorials move us? Why are others forgettable? What do they mean? Are they still important to us today? The film covers a specific group of memorials—including the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Pan Am Flight 103 Memorial Cairn, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and plans for the first African-American lynching monument, among others—in an attempt to answer these questions. Public Memory, through its provocative examination of what we can learn from controversial memorials and the many complex issues that involve memorializing crimes against humanity, breaks new ground by taking a fresh look at how and why the public remembers. Distribution by The Cinema Guild.
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Bio
Amy Gerber has produced and directed independent films for over twenty years. Her films have won honors at numerous film festivals and professional venues such as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Film Forum, Los Angeles, Women in the Director’s Chair, and the Charles Guggenheim Center for Documentary Film. She also has directed art films for the Los Angeles County Museum of art. Her films focus on the intersection of memory, culture, and history. In the 90s Gerber worked as a casting associate on twelve major motion pictures, including Angels In The Outfield, City Slickers, Tank Girl, Goldeneye and The Mask of Zorro and worked for all the major Hollywood studios including Disney, Warner Bros., and Columbia Pictures. Prof. Gerber-Stroh received her M.F.A. in Film/Video from the California Institute of the Arts. She chairs the film department at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia where she teaches production, animation, and film studies. Find out more about studying film at Hollins University here. (For Amy Gerber's Hollywood credits see her IMDb page.)
