Beyond The Powder: The Legacy of the First’s Women’s Cross-Country Air Race Production is in Full Swing

The documentary will follow a team of two women air racers in the 2014 Air Race Classic, to mirror the story of the original Air Race of 1929. Director Kara Martinelli will accompany them to document and fly in the race. The first Women’s Air Derby was a cross-country race flown from Santa Monica to the finish line in Cleveland, Ohio to kick off the National Championship Air Races.  The eyes of the country watched as they made history while flying in what was thought of as a man’s competition. They encountered sabotage, death, and all the difficulties of flying at the dawn of aviation. These women made history and this documentary will inspire girls and women to do the same. White and her team hope to tell the story of how the legacy of the first women air racers lives on, and still inspires women today to reach for their dreams and achieve whatever they wish to do.The Race will begin in Concord, CA and ends in Cumberland, PA with stops in Klamath Falls, OR; Elko, NV; Pinedale WY; Scottsbluff, NE; Norfolk, NE; Iowa City, IA; Danville, IL; and Ahtens, OH.

The award-winning production company, Hemlock Films, will produce the documentary and it will be aired nationally on PBS once funding is secured. Hemlock films, headed by Martinelli, are currently working with several Women Aviation groups to help with an Indiegogo campaign to help cover some of the costs of this elaborate trip. The company hopes to fund most of it themselves, but is looking to crowd-sourcing to make up the difference for this once-in-a-lifetime film.Director, Kara Martinelli, has already completed two aviation documentaries for Hemlock Films. Both have won awards: The Restorers: They Were All Volunteers has won two Emmy Awards for Writing and Technical Achievement and Rise Above has won the International Council of Air Show – Special Achievement Award. She is currently working on post-production of two more aviation history documentaries, one of which will be a television series.  An episode of that series is dedicated entirely to the Aviatrix, with stories of the Women’s Air Service Pilots from WWII, Jackie Cochran, and Louise Thaden’s aircraft that she raced in the 1929 Women’s Air Race.

Hemlock Films’ Adam White will be attached as Producer and Cinematographer.  Adam, a graduate of the Film program from Wright State University, has won multiple regional Emmy Awards for his documentaries The Restorers, Red Tail Reborn and The Restorers: They Were All Volunteers, and an Emmy for Cinematography for the PBS documentary “Generations: Cuyahoga Valley National Park”. Hemlock Films is based out of Cleveland, OH.

Pre-production has already begun with Production beginning in June. Hemlock Films are currently talking with companies for corporate sponsorship, as well as running a crowd funding effort on Indiegogo. They are still looking for any interested sponsors and donors to help this documentary film take flight.