defaultmovie.com

Default: The Student Loan Documentary is a feature-length documentary chronicling the stories of borrowers from different backgrounds affected by the private student lending industry and their struggles to change the system.

In 2005 private student loans were exempted of ALL consumer protections. No matter when their loans were taken, many borrowers now find themselves in a paralyzing predicament of repaying two, three or multiple times the original amount borrowed, with no bankruptcy protection, no cap on fees and penalties and no recourse to the law. The consequences are dire, with stories of borrowers in financial and emotional ruin.

Beyond these personal accounts, DEFAULT will explain the differences between federal and private student loans, a subject often overlooked by colleges and high school counselors. It will also give detail on the rise of the private lending industry and of college debt.

While the media has focused on the disaster that sub-prime mortgages have turned out to be, only superficial attention has been given to financial giants which have been profiting by approving loans to low-income students with variable interest rates up to 25%.

As The National Consumer Law Center concluded in their March 2008 report titled “Paying The Price: The High Cost of Private Student Loans and the Dangers for Student Borrowers”, there are ominous signs that “the student loan market is headed for the same fate as the subprime mortgage industry .”


Filmmakers

Aurora Meneghello (director/writer) is an award winning fine art photographer and a filmmaker. Her interest in the power of images to convey thoughts and feelings started at an early age and has fueled her passion for documentary filmmaking. She has worked on fiction and non-fiction projects as researcher, director of photography, camera operator and gaffer. Her background in art and photography and her work as an educator provide her with both aesthetic sensibility and the skills to explain facts clearly and concisely Originally from Italy, she is based in San Francisco, California. Her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles and San Francisco where she has shown at Intersection for the Arts, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and Galeria de la Raza.

Serge Bakalian (producer/writer) is the Managing Director at Golden Thread Productions and the Director of Operations for Big City Improv in San Francisco. He has worked as a researcher, fundraiser and science advisor, and presented for numerous organizations, including Greenpeace International and FAO of the United Nations. He has been a founding member of several organizations, including the Green Alliance, the Cedre Foundation and the Glendale Greens. As a writer, his works have spanned both fiction and nonfiction, having been published in the Glendale News-Press, the Los Angeles Times, San Bernardino County Sun, the Criterion and several trade journals. His expertise is in fundraising, organizing, research and advocacy.

Maria Victoria Ponce (director of photography) lives in the SF Bay area and is a proud graduate of the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking. She truly considers filmmaking her calling: from writing, to directing, to camera work, to editing footage, it is her tool of choice for assembling ideas to reach people in meaningful ways, hopefully inciting dialogue and thought. While most of her work is in documentary filmmaking, she also dabbles in fiction narratives. Her most recent self-produced works include the documentary “Engage Her” and the fiction short “Chuy.”

Staci DeGagne (editor) is a freelance video editor with experience working on everything from feature length narrative films and documentaries, to online web series and promotional corporate videos. Her love of storytelling and fascination in the magic of everyday moments, allows her to appreciate editing as more of a labor of love than as job. Staci’s passion for her craft has also motivated her to continuously work on improving her skill set and has led her to gain significant experience in a broad range of editing techniques including motion graphics, color correction and sound design. Her work can be viewed at her website: stacidegagne.com.

Ben Flanagan (music) is an acclaimed San Francisco musician. Co-fronting California post-punk rock act The Actual he joined up with Scott Weiland’s Soft Drive Records and toured nationally and internationally supporting Velvet Revolver on festivals such as the Van’s Warped Tour. After the group disbanded in 2007, he signed with San Francisco’s Talking House Records under the name The Trophy Fire with long time collaborator Jamie McGoldrick. The duo has since released their first record, titled A Lifetime in the Middle of the Ocean, which has received local and national recognition as a truly beautiful and imaginative indie-pop record.