By Margaret A. McGurk
Enquirer staff writer

Wyoming High School graduate Jon Shenk discovered his life's calling as a documentary filmmaker when he took a college course on the subject.

IF YOU GO: Jon Shenk

What: The Lost Boys of Sudan When: 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday; 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Where: Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Drive, Mount Adams, DeWitt Entrance (rear). Tickets: $8; $6 for art museum and Cincinnati Film Society members. Information: 251-6060. Online: www.lostboysfilm.com • Born in Cincinnati, raised in Wyoming. • Graduated from Wyoming High School. • Undergraduate degree in English from Yale University; graduate degree in documentary filmmaking from Stanford University. • Now lives in San Francisco with wife Bonni Cohen, children Abraham, 5, and Anabel, 1.

"It excited me there was a way to tell human, non-fiction stories that were visual," he said.

That neatly describes The Lost Boys of Sudan, Shenk's newest work with partner Megan Mylan, a gripping and heartbreaking journey alongside two teenaged African orphans as they struggle to make new lives in Houston. Four screenings of the movie are slated at the Cincinnati Art Museum Saturday and Wednesday.

"This type of filmmaking is not just time-intensive, it is also life-intensive," Shenk said. "You have to live with your subjects for a long time. That's very satisfying. They become part of your life, your family, your friends."

The project took off after Shenk and Mylan read a news story about the special Sudanese refugee program that brought the boys to the United States.

"We thought it would be incredible if we could get on board as it was happening, if we could get over to Africa and film these guys as they were arriving. Things moved very quickly," he said. "We read the article in April (2001); ... in August we were in Kenya in a refugee camp filming.

"We knew if we didn't go over soon, we're going to miss out."

The movie has been opening slowly around the country, and has gotten a number of rave reviews. It is scheduled to air on PBS on Sept. 28 on the documentary series P.O.V.

By documentary standards, that spells rare success. But Shenk and Mylan, who financed the early stage of the $425,000 project on credit cards, have no illusions about Fahrenheit 9/11-sized financial returns.

"We have international distribution, a video, theatrical release," said Shenk. "We have all the things we wanted to have, and still we're waiting to break even."

E-mail mmcgurk@enquirer.com