Film Makers
Diane Israel
Executive Producer, Producer, Writer, Founder of SheArt LLC
Diane is a psychotherapist and an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Counseling & Psychology at Naropa University. Her experiences as a world-class runner and triathlete led her to specialize in body image. She assists clients in celebrating their true selves, practicing self-care, and healing through mind-body integration. Diane offers consulting in the areas of personal aging and caring for our aging family members. She is a Trustee at Passageworks Institute, supporting educators with practices and principles that integrate social, emotional and academic learning.
Diane produced the award-winning independent documentary film, Beauty Mark. The film examines the race to perfection and has reached thousands of viewers through the Media Education Foundation. It is also endorsed by the National Eating Disorders Association, the Women’s Sports Foundation, and the Dove Self Esteem Fund. To learn more about Diane Israel visit her website - DianeIsrael.com.
On making the film…
Frustrated and exhausted by our culture’s fixation with thinness and external beauty, I set out on a mission to understand this mania. After years of being a very driven and compulsive athlete, this became my new obsession. I wondered what our world would be like if all the energy and time we spent seeking fulfillment outside ourselves was turned toward helping others. Were there others who felt the way I did? With the guidance and support of my childhood neighbor, Carla Precht (who became my Co-Director), and other crew members, I was forced to see that I had to be willing to tell my own story if anyone would believe our film. I never imagined that my life would become a central thread to this story. With this film I hope to encourage each of you to ask yourself “what is my unique beauty?” I am learning that when we begin to live our own Uniqueness, that is Beauty Mark! — Diane
Executive Producer, Producer, Writer, Founder of SheArt LLC
Diane is a psychotherapist and an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Counseling & Psychology at Naropa University. Her experiences as a world-class runner and triathlete led her to specialize in body image. She assists clients in celebrating their true selves, practicing self-care, and healing through mind-body integration. Diane offers consulting in the areas of personal aging and caring for our aging family members. She is a Trustee at Passageworks Institute, supporting educators with practices and principles that integrate social, emotional and academic learning.
Diane produced the award-winning independent documentary film, Beauty Mark. The film examines the race to perfection and has reached thousands of viewers through the Media Education Foundation. It is also endorsed by the National Eating Disorders Association, the Women’s Sports Foundation, and the Dove Self Esteem Fund. To learn more about Diane Israel visit her website - DianeIsrael.com.
On making the film…
Frustrated and exhausted by our culture’s fixation with thinness and external beauty, I set out on a mission to understand this mania. After years of being a very driven and compulsive athlete, this became my new obsession. I wondered what our world would be like if all the energy and time we spent seeking fulfillment outside ourselves was turned toward helping others. Were there others who felt the way I did? With the guidance and support of my childhood neighbor, Carla Precht (who became my Co-Director), and other crew members, I was forced to see that I had to be willing to tell my own story if anyone would believe our film. I never imagined that my life would become a central thread to this story. With this film I hope to encourage each of you to ask yourself “what is my unique beauty?” I am learning that when we begin to live our own Uniqueness, that is Beauty Mark! — Diane
Carla Precht
Producer, Director, Writer
Carla Precht was Diane’s neighbor growing up in Scarsdale, NY. She has spent the last 30 years running New York City educational, advocacy and social service programs and agencies that primarily served low-income families and children. She was Executive Director of a settlement house in the Bronx from 1990-2000, and is currently the Executive Director of an academic enrichment program called Horizons and the Director of the community service programs at Brooklyn Friends School. She is also establishing a foundation on behalf of the Yankees. Carla is now Diane’s booking agent as well as outreach coordinator for the Beauty Mark film. She is the mother of two children, a writer, an advocate for human rights, a trainer in the school-age care profession and a nonprofit management consultant. Carla’s passion for equality and justice, and her love of art, have propelled her into the world of film.
On making the film…
I am honored to have had the opportunity to make this film with Diane, Kathleen, the cast, and the crew. As I started to work on the film and collect information about the beauty industry, it became clear to me that Diane was very self-conscious about her own body and she even confessed to me that she had been an anorexic as a child. I realized that Diane was still battling many of her childhood demons and I felt that this would make her a believable and sympathetic guide in the film. Fortunately, Diane trusted me as an old friend to interview her in depth, as well as other people who knew her, to develop this personal story, which became the backbone of Beauty Mark.
To me, Beauty Mark illustrates how complex and layered the formation of our body image is, how our values mirror our culture, and how each of us has more choices than ever before as to how we model our lives. Our film is not meant to provide one definition of a body image disorder or a road map to overcoming a neurosis. It is just meant to give the audience something to think about and a place to begin talking honestly about these issues. Thank you Diane, and the Israel family, for being so courageous! — Carla
Producer, Director, Writer
Carla Precht was Diane’s neighbor growing up in Scarsdale, NY. She has spent the last 30 years running New York City educational, advocacy and social service programs and agencies that primarily served low-income families and children. She was Executive Director of a settlement house in the Bronx from 1990-2000, and is currently the Executive Director of an academic enrichment program called Horizons and the Director of the community service programs at Brooklyn Friends School. She is also establishing a foundation on behalf of the Yankees. Carla is now Diane’s booking agent as well as outreach coordinator for the Beauty Mark film. She is the mother of two children, a writer, an advocate for human rights, a trainer in the school-age care profession and a nonprofit management consultant. Carla’s passion for equality and justice, and her love of art, have propelled her into the world of film.
On making the film…
I am honored to have had the opportunity to make this film with Diane, Kathleen, the cast, and the crew. As I started to work on the film and collect information about the beauty industry, it became clear to me that Diane was very self-conscious about her own body and she even confessed to me that she had been an anorexic as a child. I realized that Diane was still battling many of her childhood demons and I felt that this would make her a believable and sympathetic guide in the film. Fortunately, Diane trusted me as an old friend to interview her in depth, as well as other people who knew her, to develop this personal story, which became the backbone of Beauty Mark.
To me, Beauty Mark illustrates how complex and layered the formation of our body image is, how our values mirror our culture, and how each of us has more choices than ever before as to how we model our lives. Our film is not meant to provide one definition of a body image disorder or a road map to overcoming a neurosis. It is just meant to give the audience something to think about and a place to begin talking honestly about these issues. Thank you Diane, and the Israel family, for being so courageous! — Carla
Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal
Director, Editor, Post-Production Supervisor
Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal is an independent filmmaker, Yale graduate, and Fulbright Scholar who hails from Hawai’i. She is the writer/director of a diverse body of award-winning documentaries and dramas including THE INTERVIEW, a Kafkaesque French-language film set in Paris, and SITA: A GIRL FROM JAMBU, an ethnographic drama about child sex trafficking in Nepal. Gyllenhaal was also the producer and director of photography of KIND OF A BLUR, a film festival favorite starring Sandra Oh. Gyllenhaal is a tenured professor of film production at Vassar College in New York, where she teaches directing, screenwriting and narrative and documentary filmmaking. She recently wrote and directed WALK THE FISH, a short film collaboration with Vassar film and drama students, and the award-winning Hawaiian short, LYCHEE THIEVES. Man is the co-producer of the feature film GRASSROOTS, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and starring Jason Biggs, Joel David Moore, Cedric the Entertainer and Lauren Ambrose. She is currently writing and directing COSMOPOLITAN, her first dramatic feature film and executive producing EXQUISITE CONTINENT, a documentary on dreams and dream interpretation. See Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal
On making the film…
Joining the Beauty Mark team was a major moment in my life; Diane’s struggle spoke to me right from the beginning. This was an opportunity for me to contribute to a global dialogue about the way we view the body and how we yearn to relate to one another as human beings. We all come into this world encased in a fragile shell and spend most of our lives coming to terms with our mortal coil. Diane’s brave journey was an inspiration to me during the challenging process of constructing a 75-minute documentary from over 400 hours of footage. Thank you, Di and Carla, for the opportunity. — Kathleen
Director, Editor, Post-Production Supervisor
Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal is an independent filmmaker, Yale graduate, and Fulbright Scholar who hails from Hawai’i. She is the writer/director of a diverse body of award-winning documentaries and dramas including THE INTERVIEW, a Kafkaesque French-language film set in Paris, and SITA: A GIRL FROM JAMBU, an ethnographic drama about child sex trafficking in Nepal. Gyllenhaal was also the producer and director of photography of KIND OF A BLUR, a film festival favorite starring Sandra Oh. Gyllenhaal is a tenured professor of film production at Vassar College in New York, where she teaches directing, screenwriting and narrative and documentary filmmaking. She recently wrote and directed WALK THE FISH, a short film collaboration with Vassar film and drama students, and the award-winning Hawaiian short, LYCHEE THIEVES. Man is the co-producer of the feature film GRASSROOTS, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and starring Jason Biggs, Joel David Moore, Cedric the Entertainer and Lauren Ambrose. She is currently writing and directing COSMOPOLITAN, her first dramatic feature film and executive producing EXQUISITE CONTINENT, a documentary on dreams and dream interpretation. See Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal
On making the film…
Joining the Beauty Mark team was a major moment in my life; Diane’s struggle spoke to me right from the beginning. This was an opportunity for me to contribute to a global dialogue about the way we view the body and how we yearn to relate to one another as human beings. We all come into this world encased in a fragile shell and spend most of our lives coming to terms with our mortal coil. Diane’s brave journey was an inspiration to me during the challenging process of constructing a 75-minute documentary from over 400 hours of footage. Thank you, Di and Carla, for the opportunity. — Kathleen