This powerful documentary won best picture at Raindance Film Festival in 2003.

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Country	USA	Run Time:	103 minutes
Format:	Hi8/Digital8	Director/Screenplay	Jonathan Spirk
Producers:	Jonathan Spirk, Daniel Spirk	Featuring	Jonathan Spirk, Daniel Spirk

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Gingerbread Man Website

This film was one of the most talked about films at Raindance when it screened at Raindance in 2003 where it deservedly won Best Film.

Writer/director Jon Spirk's film won the attention of every single distributor in Europe and America, but never secured a deal due to the intense subject matter: child abduction.

When I took Jon to the BBC for an interview, we were thrown off the radio show as soon as the presenter discovered the true nature of the movie. Apparently child abduction (in this case for sexual slavery) is one of the few taboos on the BBC.

It remains one of my favourite films, and I hope one that will get seen.

Here is the review I wrote for the film festival catalogue:

The Gingerbread Man is the story of third grade school teacher Jon Simon whose six-year-old daughter was kidnapped and declared dead by the FBI. The insensitive attitude of the police scars Jon deeply.
Jon’s brother documents his grotesque journey through the underbelly of America. The outraged Jon takes it upon himself to rescue abducted children. He discovered that they are being taken by an organization which profits from the sale of children for adoption, pornography and slavery. As Jon becomes ever more aggressive and resorts to murder himself, we are torn between sympathy for his one-man fight against child abduction and revulsion at the extreme violence this grade-school teacher so easily adopts. His brother hauntingly records this vigilante mission in order to educate the public about the hideous trade in children, and to offer his brother a basic defence, should he ever be charged. Jon has returned a dozen children to their relieved parents, and killed nineteen child abductors. He is currently in hiding and wanted by the FBI.

Journeyman actor Spirk has teamed up with his brother Daniel to create an astonishing and riveting debut. The movie is shot fly-on-the-wall style, and expertly edited together by Spirk himself. He also composed the musical score. The director will be present at the screening.

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