REFUGE
EDITOR, PRODUCER

REFUGE premiered at DOC NYC, where it won Juror's Special Mention in the U.S. Category. It also won the Director's Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Sedona Film Festival and the Impact Award at the Boulder International Film Festival.

Chris Buckley is a father, veteran, and former leader of the KKK living in rural Georgia. Following concern from his wife, Buckley receives help from an extremist group interventionist. Despite his renunciation of the KKK, Buckley retains a deep prejudice against Muslims, stemming largely from the 9/11 attacks and his experiences in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chris' long-held beliefs are challenged when Dr. Heval Kelli, a cardiologist and Kurdish refugee living in the resettlement community of Clarkston, GA, reaches out to him. Dr. Kelli believes that he must do what he can to quell the rising, hateful rhetoric of white nationalism that threatens his diverse community of refugees who have fled persecution and violence for a better life in America. He takes it upon himself to try to understand Chris and others like him. An unlikely relationship develops. What's possible when we are willing to face hate with humanity? Refuge follows the intimate journey of these unlikely companions connected by the most diverse square mile in America - Clarkston, GA.

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Katharine also edited the film's trailer.

DIRECTORS: Erin Bernhardt, Din Blankenship

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Katie Couric, Brenda Robinson, Pat Mitchell

SALES & DISTRIBUTION: Shout! Factory

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