Blending into the American Dream

Go inside the Providence Granola Project and hear directly from recent refugees on how making great food empowers them (and the larger community as well.) The workers and founders of Providence Granola Project work hard to meet several bottom lines: making the best granola and building a sustainable business while expanding the job skills of newly arrived refugees.

  • David Helfer Wells
    Director
    Why volunteer for Waterfire, Haridwar Time
  • Mae Gammino
    Producer
  • David Helfer Wells
    Editor
  • David Helfer Wells
    Camera/Sound
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes 37 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 30, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital Video 1920 x 1080
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - David Helfer Wells

Director/Cinematographer/Editor David Helfer Wells brings three decades of experience making still images and, more recently, documentary films for publications and websites. One editor described him as a “...specialist in intercultural communication and visual narratives that excel in their creative mastery of light, shadow and sound, stills and video." His still imagery has appeared in Fortune, Life, National Geographic, Newsweek, The New York Times, Time and other magazines. He received funding for past projects from the MacArthur Foundation's Program of Research and Writing on International Peace and Cooperation, the Fulbright Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Alicia Patterson Foundation. The Philadelphia Inquirer nominated his work on the pesticide poisoning of California farm workers for a Pulitzer Prize. His short documentary films have been juried into festivals in Ankara, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lahore, Lisbon, Mumbai, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, Rome, Sacramento and San Francisco.

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Director Statement

The complete list of the awards my videos have won are listed at davidhwells.com/about/resume.php

Select awards include:

Best New England Documentary Short, South East New England Film Festival, Providence, R.I., 2018
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, Project Grant for Individuals, 2017
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Mini Grant Award, 2017
Necati Celik Prize, HAK-IS Respect for Labor Intern. Film Contest, Ankara, Turkey, 2016
My video Blending into the American Dream, was selected as one of the "Picks from 2016" by David Schonauer at Motion Pro Arts. See ai-ap.com/publications/article/20147/picks-from-2016-granola-and-the-american-dream.html
My Cafe video vimeo.com/87680818 won a Best of ASMP award. See https://www.asmp.org/best-of-2014/david-wells/
Eddie Award, Folio Magazine, New York City, 2013