One Mother’s Fire: The Gail Minger Story made its television debut with a premiere on Kentucky Educational Television, a regional PBS network of 16 stations, with a reach of 5.5 million home viewers in eight states and the nation’s largest public television network, second largest in the world.   It premiered May 13th, with several additional screenings from May to September.

This follows a successful festival run with showings at nearly 20 film festivals around the world, and multiple awards (Audience Award, Trenton Film Festival; Best Short Documentary, New Hope Film Festival; Jury Award, New Hope Film Festival; Best Short Documentary, Atlantic City Cinefest; Honorable Mention, Short Documentary, UFVA Conference, and several Awards of Merit at various festivals).   

The film showcases the life and activism of Gail Minger, who has overcome the tragedy of losing her son to become one of the leading advocates for campus fire safety in the United States.

In the early morning hours of September 18, 1998, fire broke out on the campus of Murray State University in Kentucky. Nineteen-year-old music and journalism student Michael Minger, who suffered from spatial disorientation and was mildly autistic, died in the fire.

His mother, Gail Minger, received the news a few hours later and has not stopped searching for answers since that phone call. She worked to uncover the web of lies and negligence that led to Michael’s death — factors that contributed to the tragedy almost as much as the arsonist who actually set the dorm ablaze.

These events steel her resolve to fight for change that can save the lives of other students like Michael; that will force accountability for those who hold the welfare of the nation’s children without regard.

To learn more about Gail’s fight for change, please visit the Michael H. Minger Foundation site.