FAMILY PORTRAIT

Written & Directed by Patricia Riggen

Produced by Patricia Riggen & Alvaro Donado

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Short Film • Documentary • USA • 2004

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Sundance Film Festival - Jury Prize

In 1968, Gordon Parks wrote an article on race and poverty for Life magazine. For his story, Parks photographed the Fontenelle family, a disenfranchised African American family of twelve living in extreme poverty in a small Harlem apartment. In this moving and insightful documentary, the only surviving members of the family, render their own family portrait as they recount their challenges with racism, poverty, addiction, and AIDS.

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Family Portrait enjoyed a 20-market theatrical release in the US, and is currently streaming on Sundance Now.