Blogtalkradio interviews Selena Burks, Author of Saving Jackie

Blogtalkradio and Hamilton County Job & Family Services will be interviewing documentary director, Selena Burks on September 29 at 10:00 a.m.  Ms. Burks is the author of Saving Jackie.  The award winning documentary short, Saving Jackie, is a snapshot of a recovering addict's attempt to repair her relationship with her two estranged daughters.  Saving Jackie exams the long-term side effects on abusive behavior in family relationships.  Be sure to call in at (347) 637-1719 to listen in.

Ms. Burks will be the featured speaker at the foster parent event on October 13th from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.  Foster parents and their guests will be able to participate in a discussion with Ms. Burks at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center in Cincinnati.  The Mayerson Jewish Community Center is located at 8485 Ridge Road, Cincinnati, OH  45236.

Ms. Burks, a resident of Dayton, was quoted in January 2005 saying in an interview with Citybeat, "The film is about my sister Lorita, my mother Jackie and I.  It's about the process of learning how to forgive someone who has made major mistakes for many years because of a disease."  Over the course of the movie, daughter/director Selena Burks revisits the life changing events through family interviews and candid photographs.

Ms. Burks received a prestigious Media Arts Fellowship Award of $35,000 from National Video Resources (NVR) so that she can focus on her next film production.  “Selena Burks’ award demonstrates what a difference one person can make when they have the skills and training and when they dedicate themselves to making movies that can change people’s lives”, said Stuart McDowell, Ph.D., professor and chair of WrightStateUniversity’s Department of Theatre of Arts. “Selena’s exceptional documentary, Saving Jackie, has had a huge impact on people, which you could already see when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year. It led to greater understanding about the horrors of drug addiction.  WrightState’s Motion Pictures program attracts and nurtures filmmakers with a conscience,” he said. “Selena Burks is a filmmaker who is making a difference.”

“I want to use this opportunity to create an interesting piece of work that will reach out to young girls,” said Ms. Burks.  “It doesn’t matter if you grow up in an abusive home or a sheltering nurturing environment. Everyone feels unloved at one time or another and this film is about that search for love.”

In her next movie, Fuse, Ms. Burks will be telling the story of her foster sister, Stephanie, who was abandoned and left in an apartment building when she was five months old by her prostitute mother for days.  The story will talk about how Stephanie responded to her life by doing the same things that her biological mother did.