Director Statement
I saw so many layers to her story. It was a storyteller’s gold mine! I also suspected that the bigger story in here was not always what we do as humans, but that we try. You don’t need to be Irish or Native American or Minnesotan to appreciate this film because this story could be about anyone trying to understand their family history and the stories that get uncovered along the way. This is not a film that gets wrapped up in a nice bow, but I do hope it does make people think.
RITA’S STATEMENT: One of the first things I learned about filmmaking was the magic that happens when you adjust the focus on a camera. Put the subject in focus and one story emerges. Highlight the background and a different story comes to light. The making of this film required focusing on the background of my family’s history in St. Paul, Minnesota. What external forces shaped the lives of my ancestors, both in Ireland and in the U.S.? It has been a good, hard trip through history. I am thrilled to share Stories I Didn’t Know with others interested in taking that path less travelled.
What I’ve most loved about this exploration is the new conversations and connections it has made possible. That opportunity – to discover and reflect on our past – is a healing and rewarding thing. It is at the core of Stories I Didn’t Know. I am deeply hopeful about what’s possible when we find our past, face it and learn from it.
Melody Gilbert
Director
Melody Gilbert is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has directed, produced, shot and edited eight feature-length documentaries that have screened at noteworthy film festivals and been broadcast internationally. She also works as a producer for other documentary projects that inspire her, including LOVE THEM FIRST: LESSONS FROM LUCY LANEY ELEMENTARY (2020 Alfred I. duPont award) and BENEATH THE INK (nominated for a 2019 Emmy for Outstanding Short Documentary that qualified for an Academy Award), WOMEN OUTWARD BOUND (2016/PBS)and the James Beard award-winning THE STARFISH THROWERS (2015). The films that Melody directs are noteworthy for featuring a rare intimacy with her subjects as she unearths previously hidden worlds. She works mostly solo and has the ability to get people to reveal their innermost thoughts, whether it’s the family of a child who can’t feel pain (A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN/SXSW), a former Vice President of the United States (FRITZ: THE WALTER MONDALE STORY/PBS), or people who have full- fledged relationships with synthetic companions (SILICONE SOUL/currently on iTunes and Amazon Prime). Melody is also a passionate educator currently on the faculty at Northwestern State University in the Department of New Media, Journalism, and Communication Arts. The Documentary Channel calls Melody “one of the most fearless filmmakers in contemporary documentary cinema.” Read more about Melody at www.frozenfeetfilm.com.
Rita Davern
Director
Rita Davern is a first time filmmaker. Over the past 40 years, Rita Davern (originally Davoren) has traveled the Burren, birthplace of her grandmother’s people in County Clare, Ireland. Her daily life, like that of her father before her, includes time searching for the people, places and stories her immigrant ancestors left behind. When drinking tea with Irish friends and relatives, the conversation often turns to those who stayed and those who left, as the devastation of colonization, hunger and emigration took its toll. Rita knows first-hand that, for U.S. people with European heritage, reconnecting to our homeland and our cultural history adds huge richness to our lives. Rita worked as a communication and leadership trainer for twenty years. When her adopted Korean son became ill, she learned, and now teaches, Parenting-by-Connection, an approach to parenting that builds close, healing relationships with children through play. Stories I Didn’t Know is Rita’s first film. She is currently working on a second film, Burren Girl, focused on the Ireland part of her family story.
