B E Y O N D * T H E * R I B B O N

Mark- Tonight this will be a Center Stage first, we'll be talking with the Jennifer Welker and her documentary focusing on the War.

Mark- Jennifer Good Evening.

Jennifer- Good evening to you too.

M- I met Jennifer over myspace, actually I should explain, Jennifer is one my myspace friends, my girlfriend got me into the whole myspace thing and seems it has become very big on connections.

J- Myspace is great for self advertisement.

M- Yes it is, but it takes a lot to maintain it.

J- Right, That's true too, you have to maintain it but its definitely good for advertisement and its gotten me most of my contacts.

M- So Jennifer lets talk about your film, your in the process of making developing it. Now is the focus on the Iraq war, or just war in general. Tell us a little bit about it.

J- Well, the focus of it is on the people directly affected by War, and that being Soldiers and Refugees and what we are also trying to show is how they experience the same effects of War. We also want to show how resources have become time and time again the basis for War.

M- And resources meaning?

J- Like Oil, Gold and Diamonds, that kind of resource.

M- So is this focusing on a particular war or all wars?

J- Mainly just War in general, and because it focuses on soldiers and Refugees we've tried to pin point certain main conflicts that are happening right now like in Sudan and Iraq these are happening right now. We basically had to cut it down because if you just focus on all Wars you could go on forever.

M- And how long have you been working on this?

J- A little over a year

M- Oh so that isn't very long at all, if you recall that film When we were kings and they said it took 20 years in the making.

J- That's what I hope doesn't happen, because that's way too long to get help.

M- What I also found interesting and I was talking about this the other day with my documentary as well, is that you kind of have this fear that what if, what I'm focusing on ends before I can finish the film. Its kind of like Capote and how he wanted to help the prisoners but also couldn't finish his book unless he had an ending.

M- So have you already been to Iraq?

M- So the footage you have used on your short Are we in the dark is used from other resources?

J- Right, its footage taken from stock and the news.

M- And right now where do you stand on the progress of the film?

J- Right now I'm hoping to get more donations to continue production.

M- So all of the funds have come from donations?

J- Yes, its all been donations and out of pocket.

M- And what is the exact website address and they can also donate there.

J- Its beyond the ribbon dot com

M- Your working on getting production funding and what footage have you shot so far?

J- The ones that I have shot have been the promotional videos you'll see up there.

M- And like most artist you have to work so what do you do during the day.

M- Oh so you do all the graphics then, that comes in handy. You do all the website design?

J- Ya its all self contained, its all pretty much done by myself.

M- That's great nice job. There has been a lot of films that have come out the past few years about the the War so tell us how yours differs from others?

J- Well, most of the other films have basically been about just Iraq and focused just on that War. And what I want to do with beyond the Ribbon is not just focus on one War but War in general and the affects that it puts on the people that are in the War whether its Soldiers or Refugees and what they have to end up living with for the rest of their life. That's why its called beyond the ribbon, because you see these yellow ribbons everywhere, you even see them on trucks and cars and its very ironic to see that when you know that there is something like Oil that can be the cause of these Wars.

M- They were saying how War years ago was kept in a confined area away from cities and it seems now that it has become apart of the cities. And that we have bombed cities and brought the war into civilian lives. So what's your thoughts about that?

J- Right, well I think that probably has a lot to do with the fact that they think the insurgent groups like Al-Qaeda are in civilian surroundings. In War its usually Military fighting Military, but Al-Qaeda is civilian militants and because of that the War and bombing is being brought into civilian territory.

M- And you see a lot of human shields being used as a way to protect themselves. They are hiding behind civilians.

J- Right, I think that's exactly what these militias do, that's a terror tactic, and that's the same kind of thing that is going on in Sudan. Sudan is one of the poorest countries in Africa, and when a country is that poor and they find a resource like Oil, that brings them money, they will choose to run the people off the land in order to obtain that resource. And the Refugees end up becoming the innocence in the War.

M- Sudan is a big topic now, its getting a lot of media attention but nothing seems to be helping and of course every time you hear about something like this you end up seeing that Oil is behind it.

J- Right if you look at Chevron they were one of the first companies to go into Sudan and to start drilling Oil. So its all a domino effect, were always involved in it some how. If you look at the Congo, the Congo has gold and that's their resource and that basically is filtered down to us in our cell phones in our computers. You can't hide from a resource like that, it shows that were all responsible for things happening in the world and that we need to start being knowledgeable of what were buying and where its coming from. We should demand that.

M- We are talking with Jennifer Welker on her Documentary Beyond the Ribbon. And if you go to beyond the ribbon dot com you can find out more information and you also have a link to your myspace page as well?

J- Yes it has a link to there and to our youtube page.

M- Oh great so you can see all your videos on there as well, and your one video Imagine, now what is Imagine about?

J- Imagine is basically a lot of friends and people I just met that wanted to do something powerful. And its them talking telling you what you don't know could be hurting someone you might never see. Its basically a promotional piece to help someone get involved and even help us get some donations to finish the film.

M- That's great, and hopefully your project will get more seen. Because these issues are very powerful and need to be brought to the public. And like you said what we don't know could be hurting someone.

J- Right and that's the thing one of my friends said ya know the fact that the cell phone could actually be hurting someone that's its a disgusting thing but if his cell phone rings in five minutes he's gonna pick it up and he's probably going to continue to use it. So I think people do want to help and do want change they don't want to hurt someone but because it doesn't necessarily affect you directly we tend to forget what is at Cost.

M- Explain the cell phone thing to me?

J- They mine Gold in the Congo, and they use that Gold to make conductor chips and its used in electronics and companies like Sony and Motorola are using that Gold to put in cell phones and computers. Because in the Congo its so cheap, that's why its usually taken from there. And the War Lords are the ones using children and people forcibly to mine the gold and protect the mines.

M- So Jennifer do you consider yourself Political?

J- I do consider myself political yes, I don't try to take sides but yes I consider myself political.

M- And your film is obviously very political itself?

J- Right, but I want to show a non-biased point of view and I want to give a plat form to Refugees and Soldiers. I want them to be able to say exactly what they experienced how they feel.