Charleston Documentary Film Festival : ChasDOC : About

About ChasDOC

ChasDOC mission statement

ChasDOC is supported by ChasDOC inc., a 501c3 not-for-profit organization created in February of this year. ChasDOC inc.'s mission is to teach and educate the community on how to produce award-winning documentary films and videos on issues of concern, and in correlation with top environmental and human rights groups, produce significant works of social art, measurable in economic and cultural change through the mantra: think global, act local.

the charleston documentary film festival

ChasDOC is committed to bringing its audience innovative film work of artistic merit that informs and enlightens. We endeavor to affirm through the entertaining and visually appealing format of film what South Carolinians have known for generations: that our land, our environment, and our wildlife must be preserved with the utmost of our collective and individual abilities. Join us in the exhibition of distinctive cinematic work by filmmakers both established and up-and-coming, and learn more about eco-social issues that impact concerned citizens locally and globally.

the ChasDOC film society

ChasDOC inc. also supports a year-round filmmaking program called The ChasDOC Film Society. Currently in production of their first film, " There's No Place Like Home ," ChasDOC Film Society hopes to produce four feature documentaries a year, all with local filmmakers treating local issues. Our second film, " Water is Life " (March 2007), is a month-long kayak expedition through the entire watershed of South Carolina.

Send your film ideas to Justin@ChasDOC.org.

"there's no place like home"

Chasdoc is currently working on a documentary film that will explore the potential destruction of important historical African American communities in Mt. Pleasant, SC, through loss of land due to growth and development. A proposed highway extension threatens to bisect these close-knit neighborhoods of cousins and kinfolk, established by freed slaves and home to generations of their families for hundreds of years. Many residents are artisans and craftspeople, practicing traditional skills including sweetgrass basket making, brought over from West Africa and handed down from mother to daughter (Mt. Pleasant is the only place in the U.S. where this grass is harvested and "sewn" into this particular type of basket). The film will document the political battle currently taking place over land rights, and attempt to preserve -- at least on film -- the special places that may be lost forever as the struggle between the real "bin heahs" and the "come heahs" escalates.

"water is life"

During one full month of Spring 2007, when the the run-off of fresh, melting mountain snow-water is abundant and the rivers and lakes flow greatest with our most precious of resources, a one of a kind, pioneering educational kayak expedition will take place as an exciting, multi-part live and taped documentary film series.

This very important film series will directly engage school children, educators, scientists and our communities in a virtual field from above the upstate highlands all the way down to and through the lowcountry, as we are seen kayaking the entire South Carolina watershed. Through this series, we help students to connect to their environment while learning physics, ecology, geology, history, social issues, and how they work together. A small group of historians, scientists, naturalists, researchers and guides will kayak down the river in specific sections, hosted by LEEP and filmed by ChasDOC, as we record groundbreaking and entertaining new science, while periodically broadcasting daily lesson plans to the classroom via webcam. Closely following along with our expedition everyday, South Carolina Classroom Students will be provided with maps and worksheets that will be loaded with scientific and historic data, taking this journey with us, seeing the plants and animals, meeting the local people, coming out of their classrooms when the expedition passes their school to take samples, do scientific tests, and learn about ecosystem interaction and what it really means to preserve and protect water.

We expect participating students' science and social studies to improve while helping to create more responsible citizens. What we will come away with is not only this journey to be experienced and learned from live, but a 10-part series that will be packaged and distributed as a fun, educational documentary series that will serve as a model for classrooms all over the United States.

ChasDOC for hire

ChasDOC is also a full-fledged film and video production company for hire. Let us take your ideas, business plans, initiatives or sales tools needs and help you produce a high quality picture.

contact info

ChasDOC, inc.
A SC not for profit
The Charleston Documentary Film Festival
The ChasDOC Film Society

mailing address
PO BOX 14097
Charleston, South Carolina, 29422
office phone: 843. 277-0485
office fax: 843. 277-1422

email - for interviews, media, work, information and ideas
info@chasDOC.org

executive director
Justin Nathanson

board of directors
Nancy Cregg
(you?)

staff
(you?)

volunteers
we have a humble handful of really sharp people that needs you too!
Help us do what you do best.
Please write to volunteer@ChasDOC.org

art design
fuzzco

contributions

Sponsorship Info - For Individuals

Sponsorship Info - Corporate