NOVEMBER NATIONAL ADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH: REVISIT WITH NJ DISCOVER TV GUEST; NAM HOLTZ, Producer, Director, Found in Korea; Adoptee; by Calvin Schwartz November 7. 2021
NAM HOLTZ
In 2016, NAM HOLTZ was a guest on NJ DISCOVER TV SHOW which featured ADOPTION. LINK TO SHOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoEio5gn6aI&t=1885s
THIS IS A DESCRIPTION HOW THIS TV SHOW EVOLVED: “We like to share with our audience how a particular show came to be (evolved). Cut to two years ago. NJ Discover Live was on the road shooting our Holiday Show on location in Belmar, New Jersey at the ocean front home of Richard Hoynes. There were seven invited guests to be interviewed that night, a few weeks before Christmas. As it turned out, all the guests had music in common except of course the hosts, Tara-Jean Vitale and Calvin Schwartz (not necessarily musically inclined, but love music and can dance and are music journalists.)”
This reporter interviewed NAM HOLTZ on Wednesday November 3rd 2021 for “Conversations with Calvin We the Species”
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Each year, November is recognized as National Adoption Awareness Month. While all adoption-related issues are important, the particular focus of this month is the adoption of children currently in foster care.
The first major effort to promote awareness of the need for adoptive families for children in the foster care system came in 1976, when Massachusetts governor Mike Dukakis initiated Adoption Week, an idea that grew in popularity and spread throughout the nation.
President Gerald Ford later made the first National Adoption Week proclamation, and in 1990, the week was expanded to a month due to the number of states participating and the number of events celebrating and promoting adoption.
During the month, states, communities, public and private organizations, businesses, families, and individuals celebrate adoption as a positive way to build families. Activities and observances across the nation, such as recognition dinners, public awareness and recruitment campaigns, and special events shed light on children who are in need of permanent families.
The month also includes National Adoption Day, traditionally a Saturday, which is observed in courthouses across the nation, where thousands of adoptions are finalized simultaneously.
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INFO ON INTERVIEW WITH NAM HOLTZ ON WED NOVEMBER 3rd
CONVERSATIONS WITH CALVIN WE THE SPECIES https://bit.ly/3mSXWJQ
112 Interviews. Global Reach. DEI. Climate. Earth Life. Amazing People.
NOVEMBER NATIONAL ADOPTION AWARNESS MONTH
A Very Special Interview:
NAM HOLTZ; ‘Found in Korea;’ Producer, Director, Documentary; Adoptee; Psychotherapy, Counseling, Child Trauma; Former Broadway Actress, Dancer; Hunter College, MSW, ’20 NOVEMBER NATIONAL ADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH (NAAM)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvvxq8XVzs0
BIO: LMSW (Silberman at Hunter College) Clinical Focus: Child and Adolescent Trauma, attachment, adoption, youth, families, and individuals.
Producer/Director of award-winning documentary film, “Found in #Korea about #adoption birth search, and identity.
Public speaker re: adoption related issues.
BFA (SUNY Purchase), performed on #Broadway Las Vegas, US National Tours, and on London’s West End.
CONTACT: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nam-holtz-lmsw-she-her-hers-21570825/
website: www.foundinkorea.com
twitter: @foundinkorea
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foundinkorea
Instagram: @foundinkoreafilm
VOD: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/foundinkorea
NAM INTERVIEW ALSO ON: AUDIO: SPOTIFY http://spoti.fi/3bMYVYW
GOOGLE PODCASTS http://bit.ly/38yH3yP
NAM HOLTZ ON Broadway PHOTO CREDIT WEISSER PHOTGRAPHY
FOUND IN KOREA;
“Found in Korea”
‘”Found in Korea” is geared towards children; age 10 is the sweet spot, as there are subtitles at some points in the film. However, thus far, children far younger and adults far older have enjoyed viewing snippets. The reason I created the film is so children and adults can have a dialogue about questions, thoughts, ideas, and emotions surrounding adoption.” -Nam
Synopsis: Abandoned and left in the streets as a newborn baby, KAD (Nam) returns home to find the world she lost as a baby. In search of her birth parents, she attempts to retrace her journey from birth to being adopted by a family in America, but old records and 35 years of economic growth have transformed the Korea of her infancy into a country where information held on paper is a thing of the past, leaving her with no trail to follow.
Desperate for more information, Nam travels south to the island where she was born in hopes of discovering unknown files and people who might remember her story. Along the way she interviews social workers, Koreans and other adoptees, and discovers why over 200,000 children have been sent away from Korea for international adoption.
FOUND IN KOREA
CREDITS:
NAM HOLTZ (Executive Producer/Director/Writer) was born somewhere in S. Korea, found on the streets as an unidentified infant, and adopted to America at 6 months of age. Nam is an award-winning filmmaker via Found in Korea. She was raised in the north suburbs of Chicago, IL where she was intensely involved with dance, theater and the trumpet. Nam graduated cum laude with a BFA from SUNY Purchase and began her professional career on stage in Broadway’s “The King & I” as a 14-track singing and dancing swing. After performing in musical theater productions in London’s West End, Las Vegas and in US National Tours, Nam began studying acting in her now home for 20 years, NYC. At age 35, Nam traveled back to Korea for the first time with a small film crew to document the discovery of her culture, and her search for answers to an unknown past. Nam is currently obtaining a MSW (class of 2020) and will continue working with and advocating for children and families in the adoption and foster care constellation.
ALLISON LANE (Director/Editor/ Producer/Writer) is an award-winning filmmaker and a graduate of the University of Michigan. As a director/writer/producer/editor, Allison was won multiple awards including Best Comedy (International Television Festival, Los Angeles), Best TV Pilot (Hoboken International Film Festival), Best Comedy Short (Illinois International Film Festival, Chicago), and Best Ensemble Cast (Houston Comedy Film Festival). In addition to awards, her work has received critical praise. Rogue Cinema raved “Allison has turned me into an instant super fan. I want to see everything she makes or is involved with now”. She directed/wrote/produced/edited the critically praised multi-award winning TV pilot WTFU and 3 seasons of the hit comedy web series TMB. She has also written for Your Tango Media, as well as produced, written and edited numerous commercials, corporate spots, shorts, and web series for a variety of clients. Allison is currently Unit Production Managing the narrative feature film thriller Kiss Me, Kill Me. Allison is also directing, executive producing, and editing the 30-minute documentary Memories of Pearl Harbor: The Jeanne Smith Story. Allison is the President of Reel Spiel Productions, LLC.
KEVYN SETTLE (Director/Producer) was born in Richmond VA. Kevyn is an award winning, producer, director and writer, heading his own production company, Napkin Sketch Productions. Kevyn’s short narrative Tracks, appeared in over a dozen film festivals, winning Best Short in three festivals, including, Jury Prixe Best Short Film at the 14th Long International Island Film Expo, and Best Short at the Virginia Independent Film Festival. During 2011, Kevyn also wrote and directed the dramatic thriller, Playback. Kevyn is currently working on a yet-to-be titled Viet Nam documentary about two brothers separated by over 60 years of conflict.
CO-PRODUCERS: Reel Spiel Productions LLC, Andrea & Paul Compton, Fred Isozaki, William Kaplanidis & Ethan Le Phong
CAMERA 2: Jon Foy
SOUND EDITOR: Bill Mattinson
MUSIC BY: Ben Lewis, Stephen Lu, Jont & Bill Mattinson
WRITERS: Nam Holtz & Allison Lane
