Build Up Boys Interviews Kirsten Kelly (documentarian) and Mark Wynn (DV survivor and advocate)

In this interview, Kirsten and Mark talk about the documentary film, This is Where I Learned Not To Sleep, which explores the complex relationship between police and family violence. By revealing his own haunting childhood, Mark challenges other men to stand up and reform the system to better help women and children.

Mark Wynn is a childhood survivor who has devoted his life to ending violence by working as a police officer, detective, educator, program supervisor, consultant, and advisor. A twenty-one-year veteran of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department, Mark was a key creator of the largest police domestic violence investigative unit in the United States responsible for investigations of elder, child abuse, domestic and sexual violence. He is a national trainer to police executives, patrol officers, training officers, prosecutors, judges, legislators, social service providers, healthcare professionals, and victim advocates sharing his passion, compassion, and humility in every presentation. A graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy and a Fulbright Specialist for the Department of State, Mark has testified twice before Congress on Family Violence, delivered a speech at the White House, and lectured internationally at police academies in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Over the past 20 years, he has traveled 2,478,313 miles to all 50 states and 16 other countries while visiting 1,250 cities, towns, and villages.

The Film Team...

Anne de Mare, Director/Producer Anne is an Emmy-Award winning documentary filmmaker and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Media and Journalism Grant. Her film about youth experiencing homelessness, The Homestretch, won the 2015 Emmy Award for Outstanding Long Form Reporting (Independent Lens). More recently, Anne produced and directed the 2023 documentary short This Is Where I Learned Not To Sleep, and the acclaimed 2018 documentary feature Capturing The Flag. She was Co-Producer on the PBS documentary Deej (America ReFramed), winner of the prestigious 2017 Peabody Award. She has been a Sundance Institute Fellow, part of the U.S. State Department’s American Film Showcase program, and an Associate Artist with Chicago’s legendary Kartemquin Films. Her work has been supported by Sundance Institute, MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of NY, ITVS, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and POV/American Documentary Inc. (among others). Anne’s first feature, Asparagus! Stalking the American Life, explored the relationship between asparagus farmers in rural western Michigan and the changing global economy. That film was winner of the 2006 W.K. Kellogg Good Food Film Award as well as Audience Choice and Best Documentary awards at festivals across the country. In 2010 and 2011, she worked closely with the late, great historian Michael Nash and NYU Bobst Libraries to create an extensive filmed archive of women who worked in munitions factories during WWII, accessible online as The Real Rosie The Riveter Project. Along with her long-time film partner Kirsten Kelly and award-winning animator Danielle Ash, Anne transformed their stories into The Girl With the Rivet Gun, a dynamic animated documentary short now in the permanent collection of the FDR Presidential Library. Anne currently works as Producer for William Greaves Productions and does grant writing and special projects for the Flaherty Film Seminar.

Kirsten Kelly, Director/Producer Kirsten is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, senior producer and impact producer. Her Emmy-winning film, The Homestretch (PBS), was co-produced with Kartemquin Films and had over 800 community and school screenings in partnership with PBS’ American Graduate Initiative and MacArthur Foundation. Kirsten was Senior Producer on Transform Films/Odyssey Impact’s Golden Telly-Award winning digital series Healing the Healers, which examines multi-faith leader responses after mass shootings, domestic violence and the youth mental health crisis. Though her work at Odyssey, she was also instrumental in creating a “Trauma-informed Screening Guide” for educators and grassroots screening hosts which was featured in IDA’s Documentary Magazine in October 2021. Other Films include: The Girl with the Rivet Gun (animated short, AmDoc 2020; Jury’s Choice Award, 202) Black Maria Film Festival; FDR Presidential Library Permanent Archives), Stranger/Sister (UK InterFaith Week, 2020); Asparagus! Stalking the American Life (2008, PBS). Her projects have been supported by MacArthur Foundation, Sundance, ITVS, Kartemquin Films, Good Pitch, Bertha Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Chicago Media Project, Chicken and Egg, among others. She is a former theater director and a Graduate of The Juilliard School’s Master Directing Program, an Assoicated Artist at Kartemquin Films and a member of the Sundance Institute. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son and overly-active Malinois.