Gail Dolgin, an Academy-Award-nominated documentary filmmaker, passed away on October 7, 2010, in Berkeley, CA, at age of 65. She was an active citizen, a leader in the documentary community, and unabashed about her battle with cancer during the last decade of her life.

Dolgin produced and co-directed (with Vicente Franco) "Daughter from Danang" (2002), winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary and nominated for an Academy Award. After a theatrical release and international festival run the film had a national broadcast on the PBS American Experience series. "Daughter from Danang" follows the story of an Amerasian woman and her Vietnamese mother as they reunite after a 22-year separation.

"Daughter from Danang" was lauded for its emotional power and moving portrayal of a family struggling to heal the wounds of the Vietnam War. The New York Times wrote of the film, "its power comes from its soul's-eye view of how well-meaning patronizing masked a social injustice." During her acceptance speech at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002, Gail shared with the world her battle with cancer and how she had found the courage to bring the film to completion.

"Daughter from Danang" went on to further acclaim on the PBS prime time series “American Experience,” where it was one of the first contemporary stories to be profiled and simulated more letters to than any previous Am Ex program. This success was followed by a second film for American Experience in 2007, "Summer of Love," a striking picture of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district during the summer of 1967.

Gail Dolgin was born April 4, 1945, to Israel and Diana Dolgin. She grew up in Great Neck, Long Island, a suburb of New York City, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in art history. Returning to New York, she studied photography and joined Newsreel, a social issue driven film collective that launched her interest and ultimately her career in film. Later, she earned a teaching certification from San Francisco State and an M.A. in Instructional Technology from the University of Oregon.

Her path towards documentary filmmaking is a winding intersect of photography, storytelling, social activism, and teaching. She was dedicated to documentary narrative as a way to impact the world as both an artist and an activist.

Gail was a leader in the documentary film community, in the Bay Area and nationally. Her colleagues benefited from her incisive and perceptive critiques of their works-in-progress and her empathic skills as a mediator. She served as a mentor and advisor to novice and experienced filmmakers alike. For several years, she organized and hosted a popular monthly gathering of "The Film Group" – friends and colleagues from the San Francisco Bay Area's documentary film community, who viewed recently-completed documentary films from around the world and then got on the phone with the film’s director for a spirited discourse about the film, its issues, and its making.

Gail Dolgin balanced her activism in the cause of social justice with an equally fervent commitment to the life of the spirit and was active in a close and cohesive spiritual community.