Bradenton TV station manager praised for latest documentary at Sarasota Film Festival
SARASOTA -- Charles Clapsaddle could be tempermental, tactless and ego-centric and get away with it under the title, "film director/artiste."
After all, Sunday's screening of "A Way Out" during the Sarasota Film Festival was Clapsaddle's third different documentary with the festival in the last five years, including 2010's powerful piece on segregation and integration called, "Through the Tunnel," and 2014's delicate as a butterfly wing, "The Enduring Beauty of Memory."
But try as people did Sunday to inflate Clapsaddle for his body of work and his latest accomplishment, which deals with women trapped in horrific and abusive relationships, the modest station manager of Manatee Educational TV for nearly 16 years graciously deflected the praise back to everyone else.
As he spoke before the film in a Hollywood 20 theater containing about 100 viewers, the silver-haired Clapsaddle gave nearly all the credit for the powerful images on the screen to the handful of women victims he interviewed in the movie and to members of the law enforcement community who taught him that the root of domestic violence is the perpetrator's desire to be in control, according to Maj. Connie Shingledecker of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
What little credit was left Clapsaddle enthusiastically bestowed upon his co-producers Durand Adams and Charles Williams.
"Charles is wonderful to work with," said Adams who attended Sunday's second-ever showing of the film along with Williams. "A Way Out" had its world premier last fall at the Manatee Performing Arts Center.
In his desire to make art that is always relevant to the community, Clapsaddle said he is already working on a new movie about immigration.
"A Way Out," which has been submitted to other festivals, seemed to impact the audience on Sunday, which was the last night of the 11-day Sarasota festival.
"What we saw is horrible," said Bradenton's Birgit A. Franckenstein, who was so impacted by the film that she had to get up and go out into the lobby to breathe.
"I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg," Franckenstein added. "This is the part that we can see with our eyes when someone suffers physical harm or even death by someone they love. What we can't see with our eyes is all the damage that is done underneath on the soul level."
Pressed to disclose at least one personal thing about how he felt seeing all those people transfixed by "A Way Out," Clapsaddle said he secretly stood in the side of the theater and watched faces during the part of the movie that told Kim Donatelle's story.
"Some were crying," Clapsaddle said.
Donatelle was nearly stabbed to death by her ex-husband in Sarasota in 1989. Although her ex-husband failed to kill her, he did kill her female roommate. He is serving what amounts to a life prison sentence, scheduled to be released in 2080, Donatelle said Sunday after the movie.
"I think Kim's story resonates with people," Clapsaddle said. "When people are watching that segment they are seeing her pain but also her triumph and to me that was the most rewarding thing."
Clapsaddle points out that the truly remarkable thing is how far Donatelle has come since she stopped thinking of herself as a victim and began to view herself as a survivor, focused aggressively now on her own life and getting happy again.
Donatelle, who simply can't be forgotten by anyone who sees Clapsaddle's film, is now working at HOPE Family Services, which provides a safe place for men and women in abusive relationships.
"She's so dedicated to what we do and saving lives," Laurel Lynch, chief executive officer of HOPE Family Services, said of Donatelle.
"I am no longer living afraid," Donatelle said after the movie. "Now I'm in a position where I get to help other people get over living afraid. I am very grateful for my life today."
Asked if she is nervous about relationships with men, Donatelle said, "One man abused me. One man tried to kill me. I don't judge other men for someone else."
But Donatelle now knows the "red flags" to look out for in a possible abusive partner.
"Extreme jealousy where it doesn't make any sense," Lynch said.
"Not being able to take responsibility for their own actions," Donatelle added.
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.
This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 9:51 PM with the headline "Bradenton TV station manager praised for latest documentary at Sarasota Film Festival ."