Jan Burger

It’s 2019 - a year before the pandemic - and The Paperhand Puppet Intervention is set to begin its 20th season. Follow along as the company embarks on its remarkable creative journey and take a deep dive into the psyches of the company’s founders (Donovan Zimmerman and Jan Burger), and the diverse group of artists who help bring the show to life. Shot primarily on a single camera and with no budget in Saxapahaw and Chapel Hill, NC, We Are Here is a 55-minute documentary that investigates the intention and process of a community whose aim is to move us to action through moving art. It takes a whole lot more than cardboard, wood, duct tape, and string to make a great show. In We Are Here, we find out what makes a puppet come to life and we are challenged to reconsider our own place in the world.

Based on the book with the same name; meet Mart Vermaak, the disillusionment of her growing up takes place against the political backdrop of the turbulent late 1970s, while an older Mart finds herself in a disillusionment of a different kind.