Press Kit - Beautiful Son

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT
Julianne King
808-262-2552
For additional information: www.beautifulson.com
[email protected]
BEAUTIFUL SON
RECEIVE BEST DOCUMENTARY & AUDIENCE AWARD
AT THE HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
A documentary about one family’s struggle to heal their son from autism
Honolulu, Hawaii-- The team that brought the 2002 Hawaii International Film Festival “Special
Jury Prize Aloha Spirit Award” - HEART OF THE SEA, the portrait of Hawaiian legend Rell
Sunn- was back with the world premiere of BEAUTIFUL SON, a moving documentary about
one family’s attempt to heal their autistic son. The film received the Best Documentary Award
and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival.
In 2003, Hawaii filmmakers Don and Julianne King realized something was wrong with their
three-year-old son, Beau. Around age two-and-a-half, Beau started loosing his ability to speak,
his coordination, and was becoming disconnected from the outside world. Determined to help
Beau, his parents brought him to the best doctors in the U.S. and took along a video camera to
document the results. Two months later, Beau was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
(ASD).
In BEAUTIFUL SON, Don and Julianne take us on their journey through the landscape of this
debilitating neurological disorder as they attempt to recover Beau from autism. Along the way,
through their research and personal interaction with various medical professionals, Don and
Julianne come to believe the establishment has little to offer apart from advice of “good
parenting” and behavioral therapy. Desperate to find help, they stumble upon a community of
doctors and parents who are experimenting with alternative treatments and who are, they believe,
successfully recovering some kids from autism.
BEAUTIFUL SON is the story of an illness reaching epidemic proportion, now affecting one in
150 children. And, it’s the story of a grass roots movement of parents and doctors who believe
that vaccines, mercury and other toxins may be triggering some forms of autism and demanding
research be done to help their children.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Don King: Director, Cinematographer
Don King has been making waves in Hollywood for years. He is best known for his underwater
cinematography and second unit D.P. work in such films as Cast Away, Die Another Day,
Riding Giants, Blue Crush and Charlie's Angels II. Don is currently shooting (on land & sea)
for the Emmy award winning TV series LOST.
His directorial credits include the 2005 Laird Hamilton's American Express commercial, 2006
Cool Water commercial and All Aboard the Crazy Train, which won best documentary short at
the 2005 Maui Film Festival, & best cinematography at the X-Dance festival.
A Hawaii state swimming champion and NCAA Stanford championship water polo player he's
been trained to shoot in the most intense situations. His adventures include sailing across the
Indian Ocean from Bali to Madagascar in a traditional wood & bamboo canoe for which he was
knighted.
Julianne Yamamoto King: Director, Producer
Julianne Yamamoto King's production background includes shooting for KHON, producing
independent sports shows like H3O, and associate producer for award winning PBS documentary
Heart of the Sea.
She credits herself on becoming an advocate for her son Beau. She hopes this film will help the
thousands of children suffering from neurological disorders. Her vision is of a world, which
protects the environment and the health of all people, especially children.
Charlotte Lagarde: Executive-Producer, Producer
Charlotte Lagarde is the award-winning Producer/Director of Heart of the
Sea: Kapolioka’ehukai (2002), a documentary about the Hawaiian surfing legend, Rell Sunn,
which won numerous awards including the Audience Award at the San Francisco International
Film Festival, Best Documentary Award at the Ashland Independent Film Festival and the2003
PBS Independent Lens Audience Award. Lagarde was the executive producer of Reporter Zero,
a portrait of AIDS journalist Randy Shilts nominated for Best Documentary at the 2006 Berlin
International Film Festival. She is currently co-producing Deann Borshay Liem’s Precious
Objects of Desire, a follow-up to the Emmy nominated First Person Plural.
Lagarde's productions Voting in America (2004), Every Child Should Have a Chance (2001),
Tribal Sovereignty: Unplugged (1998) and Juvenile Justice: Unplugged (1997), are distributed
in public schools throughout the United States. Her films Swell (1996), about four generations of
female surfers (Gold Apple from the National Educational Media Network) and Zeuf (1994), a
documentary about a woman surfer's struggle with breast cancer (Directors' Choice award at the
Black Maria Film and Video Festival) were broadcast on PBS stations and the Sundance
Channel. Lagarde holds an MA in documentary filmmaking from Stanford University.
Vivien Hillgrove: Editor
Vivien Hillgrove is a highly acclaimed editor whose extensive picture editing credits include
Henry and June and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Phil Kaufman. Her sound editing
credits include Blue Velvet by David Lynch, Amadeus by Milos Foreman, which won 11
Academy Awards in 1984, and One From the Heart by Francis Coppola.
Her documentary work includes Broken Rainbow by Victoria Mudd, which won an Academy
Award in 1985, six award-winning documentary films by Lourdes Portillo including The Devil
Never Sleeps and Senorita Extraviada, which won a special jury prize at Sundance and the 2002
International Documentary Award. Her other documentary credits include First Person Plural
(P.O.V.), Heart of the Sea (PBS-Independent Lens Audience award) and The Future of Food by
Deborah Garcia.
Todd Boekelheide: Music Composer
Todd Boekelheide started working in film in 1974 as a member of the staff at American
Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola’s production company in San Francisco. In 1976 he left to work
as an assistant editor on Star Wars, and went on to edit picture and sound on The Black Stallion
2 years later. This film kindled an interest in film music, so he began music studies at Mills
College in Oakland. As he began to develop his film scoring career, he also specialized as a
rerecording mixer, and won an Oscar for mixing the music on Amadeus in 1984. He has scored
several feature films, including Dim Sum and Nina Takes a Lover, and numerous documentaries,
notably Emmy Award Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse. In 1999 he won an
Emmy for his score for the documentary Kids of Survival: The Life and Art of Tim Rollins and
the KOS. Up-to-date credits information can be found at www.tobomusic.com.
ABOUT ITVS
The Independent Television Service (ITVS) funds and presents award-winning documentaries
and dramas on public television, innovative new media projects on the Web and the Emmy
Award-winning weekly series Independent Lens on Tuesday nights at 10 PM on PBS. ITVS is a
miracle of public policy created by media activists, citizens and politicians seeking to foster
plurality and diversity in public television. ITVS was established by a historic mandate of
Congress to champion independently produced programs that take creative risks, spark public
dialogue and serve underserved audiences. Since its inception in 1991, ITVS programs have
revitalized the relationship between the public and public television, bringing TV audiences faceto-face with the lives and concerns of their fellow Americans. More information about ITVS can
be obtained by visiting itvs.org. ITVS is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a
private corporation funded by the American people.