Multi-Film Screening: Documentaries of History, Land and Resilience

Still Waters

A daughter asks her mother a question about her mother’s childhood. Her answer begs them to wade through its rippling effects throughout their lives.

Where The Soil Waits

A saxophonist contemplates her connection to her ancestors, their lives, and their Mississippi land through bluesy improvisation carried on autumn wind.

All In The Water

Set in Texas, Michigan, and Oregon, All in the Water raises the volume on the stories shared by people of color who are not only passionate about fly fishing, but passionate about opening up the outdoors and more specifically, the fly fishing world, to people of color so that everyone can find their way to the water to cast to a rising fish.

The narratives find a common thread in seeking to move beyond just being able to walk into a river or stream to fish but to feel truly welcome and enjoy all that the water provides. These are stories of ardent optimism in the face of long-entrenched barriers that are just beginning to fall in outdoor spaces.

Detroit We Dey

Detroit We Dey examines the history and future of a social club founded by a community of Nigerians who immigrated to Detroit in the 70s and 80s. Through the establishment of social clubs, these immigrants are redefining ideas of home and community within their adopted homelands. But as the pandemic disrupts how members physically gather and the association grapples with the realities of an aging membership, new anxieties of traditions and history being lost to time emerge and the hopes of building a sustainable future hangs in the balance.

On The Pulse Of Life

Dive into the birth justice moment in Alameda County, California, where Black babies are less than half as likely to survive as white babies, fighting for a future where “the first few breaths of life” are equally precious for all.

Smile4Kime

Smile4Kime is a timely character-driven short documentary that uses animation and live action footage to explore the taboo topics of sexual violence, trauma, and mental health through the perspectives of two Black women. The film's story unfolds as a conversation between the two protagonists, the director (Elena) and Kime, best friends who commune with each other through Elena’s spiritual practice after Kime’s untimely death. The narrative arc of the film foregoes traditional linear modes of storytelling and instead throws viewers into different spaces and times. In flashbacks, we hear Kime reflect on her experience with trauma, depression and sexual assault. The movement between the past and present happens through Elena's altar, and is inspired by her spiritual practice of Puerto Rican Espiritismo. Through it we are transported into the past, to spiritual and dream worlds, and future moments that were never realized. Animation becomes the creative tool by which the altar — and Kime — comes alive. Memory and interactions with Kime’s spirit allow the audience to bear witness to Elena's grieving process as she attempts to come to terms with her own trauma and mental health challenges. By the end of the film, we arrive at a new beginning; one where Kime’s and Elena's friendship has transformed, and even in Kime's death, they continue to help each other grow stronger. 

Lifetimes

LIFETIMES looks at the practical and emotional labor of fighting for racial equity long-term through a portrait of one family, encompassing four generations of Black community leaders in Lansing, MI

School Of Fish

Indigenous people and salmon have been intertwined for thousands of years in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The knowledge of harvesting, preserving and sharing fish is as important here as any lesson in a book. Today, kids must not only learn from their elders how to fish, but also how to fight. For the last century, corporations have sought to extract the wealth of this rich region. Now Pebble Mine threatens to pollute the pristine headwaters of Bristol Bay.

“School of Fish” offers an intimate portrait inside one family's seasonal salmon rituals and their connection to the Bristol Bay Guide Academy, where local youth are empowered through flyfishing to serve as guides and conservationists. Can the next generation step up to defend the most prolific salmon run left on earth?

Seven Acres and A Church

A septuagenarian and community matriarch fights to preserve her church, heritage, and community's history in Savannah, GA.

A Legacy Lost and Found

During the height of Jim Crow in Kentucky, Cherokee Park (a segregated park for Black vacationers), operated from 1951 to 1964, just two miles from the whites-only Kenlake Park. This is that story.

The Exchange Girl

The Exchange Girl is a short documentary about women working in dangerous conditions in silent film post-production. Those positions did provide women with an entry point to film work, but those jobs suddenly disappeared with the coming of sound. The film also explores how Margaret Booth, one of the great editors, started her legendary career that way. I'm a filmmaker and college professor in Los Angeles, and this is based on my PhD research at Berkeley and my book out with Routledge.

Interception

A bronze-skin bombshell rocks the world of Sunday Football and network television. Millions tuned in ---but few know the tumultuous story of Jayne Kennedy, the first African-American woman to boldly intercept the rigid racial lines of American sportscasting.