Gwen's Story
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Gwen's Story Latest News Grants from the Fledgling Foundation and Chicken and Egg Pictures move us rapidly toward the finish line. On June 1, 1980 at an Alaskan Campground, Gwen was thrown into a campfire by her mother. She sustained third degree burns over her back, legs, arms, face and head, losing fingers, an ear and half of her scalp. In 2004 Gwen suffered a mental breakdown. The film journeys with Gwen as she uncovers the abuse and deception that has haunted her youth and creates her own prescription for survival. |
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Background of Gwen's Story Pilot News Cover Story Click Here to View The Trailer Help us to insure this important story is told. Click the 'Make a Donation' button below. |
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Gwen's Story - Update!
There have been many steps along the way in Gwen's journey toward healing. Thanks to continued support from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, A & E Television, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and small private donors, we have been able to shoot another 60 hours of footage, and were able to engage the services of an editor who has assembled a rough cut of 50+ minutes.
We were able to include an interview with Gwen's father about the night of the incident. |
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In the summer of 2005, Gwen learned she has a sister Dinah, living in Minnesota. She was able to bring Dinah to Alaska to meet her and spend time connecting with another family member sharing a struggle to understand a mother who abandoned her as well.
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Then in the spring of 2006, with the help of a retired police detective Gwen was able to locate the last man known to have lived with her mother - in Indiana. She traveled to Indiana in hopes of finding her mother and was able to see photographs for the first time, as well as touch objects possessed by her mom. Gwen looked in homeless shelters and mental hospitals, always a couple steps behind her mom. Here she sits on the porch of the last known residence of her mother.
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Unsuccessful in Indiana, she went on to visit Dinah and her family in Minnesota where she was welcomed with open arms. But still Gwen was haunted by the driving need to find her. The same detective kept on the case, as a dedicated volunteer who understood Gwen's pain. In December of 2006, Gwen learned that her mother was likely to be in a homeless shelter in Vermont, and off we all went, on a wing and a prayer, no address, no contact, just faith. |
It was nothing short of a miracle that we found her, in the brief four hour window between being released from a mental hospital and getting on a bus for parts unknown. Was this the answer Gwen was seeking? What did she learn? And what happened next? Stay tuned as we near the final chapters of Gwen's Story. |
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