Literary Divas: Donna Musil

Donna Musil is the Director, Writer and Producer of the film Documentary, BRATS Our Journey Home which chronicles American military “brats” who share intimate memories about their strange, but interesting childhoods - growing up on military bases around the world, then struggling to fit into an America with which they have little in common. The film is narrated and features songs by Kris Kristofferson and contains interviews with General Norman Schwarzkopf.

BRATS is the seven-year work of passion of independent filmmaker Donna Musil. It's the first film Donna has directed and produced. Before embarking on BRATS, Donna wrote a variety of scripts, including Ananse, a children's animated film based on African folktales, which is currently in development with Visionex/Ghana and Melendez Films/London. She co-directed a staged reading of her original feature, To Kingdom Come, with Producer Judith Pearlman, in NY Women in Film & TV's Screenplay Reading Series, representing "some of the best developing women screenwriters."

Other credits include Rebuilding America's Communities, The Carter Center documentary about inner-city poverty (PBS, 1997 WorldFest Int'l Film Festival Silver Award), and dozens of educational and industrial films for Coca-Cola, BellSouth, and M&M Mars/Snickers. Donna was on the Board of Directors for Women in Film/Atlanta, and has been awarded Hambidge Center (GA), Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain), Helene Wurlitzer Foundation (Taos), and Centrum Arts (Port Townsend, Washington) writer's fellowships.

Prior to her writing career, Donna worked as an attorney with the AFL-CIO and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, helping organize unions throughout the South. She has a J.D. and B.A./Journalism (magna cum laude) from the University of Georgia and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia.

Donna was raised an Army brat and has lived and worked in Germany, Korea, Ireland, Copenhagen, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Paris. As a child, she moved 12 times in 16 years. Her father was a JAG officer and military judge. When she was 16, her father died, and two weeks later, her family moved to Columbus, Georgia, where she finished high school.

For the next 20 years, Donna moved 19 times, graduated college, and worked in a variety of jobs, but always felt "different" from her fellow Americans. In 1997, she learned that she was not alone. While surfing the Internet, Donna discovered a Web site for her Taegu, Korea high school. A few weeks later, she attended an impromptu reunion in Washington, DC. It was revelatory. For the first time, Donna felt like she "belonged" somewhere, and thus began her journey "home."

To order this DVD or for more information visit the BRATS website at www.bratsfilm.com or info@bratsourjourneyhome.com. You can also contact Peggie Moore, Fulfillment Director, at orders@bratsfilm.com or call 949.887.4641.