KNOCKING DOCUMENTARY NEWSLETTER #1 SUMMER 2005
 

Thanks for your interest in the KNOCKING documentary about Jehovah's
Witnesses. I'm Joel Engardio, director of the project. Since the
www.knocking.org web site went live recently, I've been hearing from
interested
ones from Arizona to Arkansas and everywhere in between. The site is
new, and is still a work-in-progress. Check back from time to time to
see
new features, including the film clip downloads.

SPREAD THE WORD

Please forward the link www.knocking.org far and wide. Beyond a
national broadcast on public television (PBS) in the United States, our

goal
is to make the film available to international audiences with language
subtitles. Indeed, Jehovah's Witnesses are in more than 200 lands, and
their story about blood, the Holocaust and preservation of civil
liberties resonates around the globe.

OUR GOAL

The aim of KNOCKING is to give a general, non-Jehovah's Witness
audience a fair look at a religious group that has long been
misunderstood
and
relegated to cartoonish stereotypes. KNOCKING uses the real life
stories of real families to humanize Jehovah's Witnesses. But we don't
shy
from criticism. Our aim is that everything is fair and accurate. We
show
both the ups and downs, including what it is like for Witnesses who
have unbelieving or opposing family members, and how divided families
can
find common ground. For instance, the young man who undergoes a
groundbreaking bloodless liver transplant has opposing family members
who
come
to the hospital to see first-hand how the new bloodless technology
works.

WHO SHOULD WATCH

KNOCKING will be educational and illuminating for a non-Jehovah's
Witness audience. Extended family, neighbors, co-workers and classmates

of
Jehovah's Witnesses will certainly be interested to take a look. Closer
to time of broadcast, we will offer DVDs for home and school use. The
DVD will be a feature-length version of the film (the broadcast on PBS
will be shorter) and will include extras like expanded interviews.
We'll
be sure to send more details on that later.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

As of Summer 2005, the film is being edited in San Francisco.
Throughout the course of the project, we filmed in California, Georgia,
Ohio,
New York, Nevada, and Texas as well as Austria and Poland. We filmed in
Kingdom Halls, conventions and in the door-to-door ministry.

WE ARE INDEPENDENT

Keep in mind that every Jehovah's Witness who has contributed to this
film, either on camera or behind the scenes, has done so by their own
personal choice. There is no official connection to the Watchtower
Society, though the Bethel organization in Brooklyn, Patterson and
Wallkill,
New York has been cooperative with the producers of this film. We
interviewed Watchtower representatives on camera and filmed inside
Bethel.
Watchtower has no financial ties to this project, nor any editorial
control. It is important to know that this project is independently
produced for public television, using a combination of public,
foundation
and
individual funds. No one on the production staff is a Jehovah's
Witness. The director's mother, however, is a Witness. And we do have
Jehovah's Witnesses who are serving as consultants for factual
accuracy. We
also have academic, historical and medical consultants who are experts
in
their field but not Jehovah's Witnesses.

HOW TO SEE IT

We intend to premiere KNOCKING at a prestigious film festival such as
Sundance in early 2006. A national television broadcast on PBS will
follow. And the film will be made available on DVD. We also hope to
bring
KNOCKING to cities throughout the United States in 2006 for special
screenings. This will be a chance for you to see a sneak preview and
perhaps meet some of the film's subjects in a live Q&A session. The
KNOCKING
web site and these newsletters will provide updated information about
where and when the sneak previews will take place. If you are
interested
in volunteering to organize such a screening in your city, contact us
directly at . Please type "Volunteer" in the
subject heading.

We look forward to seeing the positive impact this film has in telling
the untold stories of Jehovah's Witnesses. We hope you do, too. Thanks
again for contacting us, and the KNOCKING staff will be sure to keep
you up to date on the latest progress.

Sincerely,
Joel P. Engardio
Producer/Director