The Secret Song chronicles the final months of Doug Goodkin’s fabled 45-year career teaching music to children in San Francisco. Goodkin’s time-tested methods are thrown into disarray as the pandemic forces schools into “distance” learning, and a music program that always prioritized singing and learning “through the ear, not through the eye” has to adapt to an online format. The film shows the dynamism and adaptability that all teachers find and bring forth in the classroom, and how a sense of belonging helps us surmount hardships and adversity.
Biography:
Samantha Campbell is a filmmaker and advocate. She is the president of The Campbell Foundation, an organization committed to the protection of our natural resources, and a trustee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Her work is devoted to pursuing and advancing projects that lift up stories of human achievement, the environment, community, and the arts. Samantha lives in San Francisco, California with her two children. She will enthusiastically join any singalong. The Secret Song is her feature film directorial debut.
Todd Dayton is a San Francisco-based filmmaker whose award-winning work has aired on HBO, Showtime, PBS, MSNBC, Bravo, and many other networks. He has produced both independent and television documentaries, garnering awards from film festivals and broadcast recognition from the CINE Masters’ Series and the Chris Awards. He received a master’s degree from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Rachel Benson is a producer living in San Francisco, CA. Originally born and raised in New York City, she began her career in marketing and advertising before she received her MA in Broadcast & Communication Arts from San Francisco State University. Her documentary work has taken her as far as Uganda and her narrative, feature film, Opal, screened nationally. She produces videos for nonprofits, foundations, schools and small-businesses in addition to running her business curating, cataloging and editing archival footage.
