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Interviewed by Natalie Bullock Brown.   N: Start off just by giving us your name, tell us a little about where you’re from, and how you got into filmmaking. J: I’m Jacqueline Olive. I am a director, producer, and writer of films, and primarily documentary films. I got into filmmaking because I fell in love with still photography and the power of an image to not just give you the information and facts of a situation or an event but to really bring you there so that you experience and you feel what goes on in a particular moment that you’re capturing. I was taking photographs of my son, I took probably ten thousand photographs of him by the time he was two and then was hooked. So, I decided to work in the industry and got hired to shoot news, sports, and weather for an NBC affiliate in my hometown in Mississippi. Loved a lot about it, but didn’t like that they were 60 second news packages. If you were lucky, you got to make 90 second news stories. I wanted to tell more in-depth stories and really looked into how I could do that and studied documentary film at the University of Florida and just moved into the industry from there.   N: Tell us about Always in Season and how that came about. J: Always in Season is a documentary feature that examines the lingering impact of more than a century of lynching African Americans. I filmed in eight or nine communities across the country with relatives of the perpetrators and the victims of lynching, looking at how they were on a very grassroots level, looking at how they might be able to honor the victims, to acknowledge them, to repair the damage and lay the groundwork for reconciliation. The film ties that work around historical lynchings but through a very contemporary lens about the impact of what’s going on right now. We tie that in the film to the story of the 17-year old named Lennon Lacy who was found hanging from a swing set in 2014. Many people, including his mother Claudia, believes that he was lynched. So, we follow her journey to get an FBI investigation opened into the case.  

I had been filming in communities across the country. So, I understood the horror that people faced historically around lynching. I had also moved back home to Mississippi and was there for seven years. During those seven years, I heard of at least four cases of young black men found hanging from a tree publicly from their own belts. Sadly, it was a very common story. I wasn’t even working on a film about lynching at the time.

 

N: What drew you to that story? I understand the work that you were doing in communities around lynching. What drew you specifically to Lennon’s story and to the community that he was apart of? J: I just heard it incidentally. That stuck with me when I heard in the media about Lennon’s death. I couldn’t imagine how a mother could deal with that level of trauma. My son was 17 at the time. I just couldn’t imagine. I wanted to reach out to see what was going on there, how I might be able to help.  

I went there with that intention. The idea was to talk to everyone. I was never looking at the story as just whether Lennon was lynched or not. The driving force for me is how the police investigated his death. They did not consider the history of lynching terror in this country. They also didn’t consider the racial divisions that are going on in Bladenboro.

  N: At what point did you decide that in the telling of Lennon’s story, it was important for you to really incorporate the input of not only Lennon’s mom, but also the community? J: For me, beyond the question of whether Lennon was lynched, was all the ties that were going on in that community that have been happening historically. The police very quickly, sweeping the death under the rug with a cursing investigation that’s happened historically. A community that’s left with stories, left with speculation, and rumor. That’s also reflected in communities that are dealing with historic lynchings. That’s what drove me there was to find out, not just what was going on around Lennon’s death, but to really suss out the impact on the entire community.   N: Since you were not apart of Bladenboro, how did you negotiate that outsider relationship that you had to the community? How did you approach the community? How did you approach Ms. Lacy? How did you do all of that to really pay honor and respect to the fact that you were coming in wanting to tell a story that wasn’t your own? J: That’s a good question. Questions of representation when you’re a filmmaker, making a film in a community that is not your own are really important. They are questions that I ask of myself regularly. Not just about how I approach people but am I telling the story that accurately reflects what’s going on in the community and their experiences? And so a couple of things, there’s one: I’m from Mississippi. I’m from the South. I’m a Southerner. So, there are things that I know even though I didn’t grow up in a small town. Bladenboro is 1700 people. It’s small. Even in the scope of what people consider to be rural areas.  

There’s a lot that I know about the South. There is a lot that often is not portrayed about the South that I started to see on the ground that reminded me of my experience in Mississippi and also things that I had anticipated seeing. I’m also an African American filming a story in part about an African American community and their experience around this horror. It was really important for me to show up in a way that is ahistorical. Historically, the story of African Americans around lynching terrorism have been covered up and they’ve been denied. It was really important to dig in and to really reflect everyone in the community. Folks that are black, white, and people of color about their experiences there around Lennon’s death.

  I reached out at first to Claudia and understandably Claudia wasn’t able really to engage with the media and didn’t want to engage with the media. Quite understandably, because she was deep in grief. I talked with Pierre and was really impressed as I spoke with him about how sincere he was. Neither Claudia or Pierre, by the way, said initially that they were convinced that Lennon was lynched or that they were convinced that he committed suicide. They both said that they wanted answers. They wanted to know what happened, regardless of where that led them. So, I understood very early on that the family had a lot of integrity. I reached out and connected with people in the community who did believe that Lennon was lynched like his friends, his neighbors, and people in the area who knew him. And it showed up across race. The other really interesting thing is that I expected that people would have various things to say about Lennon’s character. As it is with most people, you get some people who like you, some people who don’t like you. Literally, everyone that I talked to said what a beautiful person Lennon was and that he was a kind, warm, loving person. And it was a loss of everyone in the community, even when they thought they he committed suicide.  

I spoke with people who didn’t believe that he was lynched. I really wanted to reach out and make sure to cover all of my bases so that I could understand fully what’s going on from a multitude of perspectives, including the officials, the police officers, the medical examiner, the DA’s office.

  Read the full interview here.  

From our home base in Wilmington, North Carolina, Working Films collaborates with organizers and activists around the country to leverage powerful documentaries as tools for change. We often screen the film projects we work with in Port City, but this year we’re committed to bringing even more of these narrative-shifting films to Wilmington audiences in collaboration with local organizers and nonprofits working for social justice. In the coming weeks, we have four screenings lined up and more to be announced soon. Find the full details for these screenings below, and follow our socials for additions to our Wilmington screening series schedule.   2023 Wilmington Screening Series:   REFUGE Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm UNCW - Bear Hall #106 The leader of a white nationalist hate group finds healing from the people he once despised: a Muslim heart doctor and a town of refugees. Panelists:

• Dr. Mayra Galeano (Med North Director)
• Wesley Magruder (Church World Service Wilmington Director)
• Edelmira Segovia (Director of Centro Hispano)

This event is presented through a partnership with UNCW Department of World Languages and Cultures and UNCW Centro Hispano.   FREEDOM HILL Thursday, April 20, 2023, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S 17th St, Wilmington, NC $10 suggested donation Freedom Hill explores the environmental racism washing away Princeville, NC, the first town incorporated by freed, formerly enslaved Africans in America. Panelists:

• Resita Cox (Filmmaker of Freedom Hill)
• Dr. Britt Moore (UNCW Professor of Environmental Science)
• Deborah Dicks Maxwell (President of the NC NAACP)
• Gene Felice (FLOW ILM Curator)

Additional details here. RACIST ROOTS Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Cape Fear Community College, Union Station Room 170 A 25-minute film created by the Center for Death Penalty Litigation that exposes the death penalty’s deep entanglement with slavery, lynching, and racism. Panelists:

• Moderated by NCCADP Executive Director Noel Nickle
• Daquan Peters (Founder of LEX)
• Dr. Kimberly Cook (Professor and Director of Restorative Justice Collaborative at UNCW)
• Alfred Rivera (Exoneree from NC's death row)
• Spoken word performance by Nick Courmon

Presented in collaboration with NCCADP, the New Hanover County NAACP, CFCC, LINC, and The Restorative Justice Collaborative at UNCW. Additional details here. ALWAYS IN SEASON Friday, April 28, 2023, 7:30 pm Jengo's Playhouse, 815 Princess St, Wilmington, NC 28401 When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swingset in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother’s search for justice and reconciliation begins, while the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present. Panelist:

• Jacqueline Olive (Director of Always in Season)

This event is presented through a partnership with the UNCW Office of the Arts, through the NEA Big Read program, the UNCW Office of Institutional Diversity & Inclusion, and Working Films. RSVP here.  

For regular updates on the 2023 Wilmington Screening Series, follow Working Films on Twitter and Instagram.

 

We are pleased to announce the five locations and community leaders selected for Rural Cinema 2023: Kansas Rural Center and Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation), Environmental Justice Community Action Network (Sampson County NC), 7 Directions of Service (Pleasant Grove, NC), Safe, Affordable, Good Energy (SAGE TN) (Cookeville, TN), and Iowa CCI (Scott County, Iowa). Rural Cinema is a training institute and community engagement program aimed at supporting community leaders located in rural areas and small towns across the United States to utilize documentary films to advance their local efforts to move people to action on critical issues facing their area. This year’s cohort will participate in Rural Cinema’s virtual training institute covering Working Films’ Eight Elements of Putting Films to Work, a curriculum focused on best practices for using documentary film for change. At the end of the training and through individualized consultation, community leaders will organize multiple screening events over the course of the year. Each organization will receive $7,500 in monetary support and EPIC Outdoor Cinema solar-powered film screening equipment (projectors, screens, speakers, etc.). Meet the 2023 Rural Cinema cohort: 7 Directions of Service Founded by frontline activists Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck and Jason Crazy Bear Keck, 7 Directions of Service (7DS) is an Indigenous-led environmental justice and community organizing collective based on Crystal’s ancestral Occaneechi-Saponi homelands in rural North Carolina. Their mission involves canceling the Mountain Valley Pipeline/Southgate Extension and campaigning for legal Rights of Nature laws in North Carolina. 7DS is striving towards a long-term vision of rematriation and Indigenous-led food justice by developing its community garden into a hands-on learning and cultural center. Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck is a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and she has dedicated the past 5+ years to defending her homelands against the Mountain Valley Pipeline/Southgate Extension. She is leading a campaign to bring Rights of Nature laws to North Carolina to protect the waterways and communities in the path of the pipeline. Crystal completed her Doctorate at the University of Dayton, focusing on the social justice epidemic of Missing Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) tied to gas and oil pipelines. This led her to launch the Missing Murdered Indigenous Women Coalition of North Carolina. Crystal serves on the boards of Movement Rights, The Haw River Assembly, The Women’s Resource Center, and Benevolence Farm, and is Policy Director at Toxic Free, North Carolina. Jason Crazy Bear Keck is the co-founder of 7 Directions of Service with his wife, Crystal. With a multiracial heritage as Choctaw-Apache, French African Creole, and European, Jason’s leadership is driven by the power of grassroots solidarity and bridge-building across differences. He is the former VP of outreach for an international men’s organization and currently leads programming for men and boys that foster Indigenous values and healthy male identities. Jason is a board member of Benevolence Farm, President of the Alamance County Native American Caucus, and the Communications Director of the 17 Rivers North Carolina Chapter of the American Indian Movement. Learn more: https://7directionsofservice.com/. ‏‏‎ ‎ Iowa CCI The mission of Iowa CCI is to empower and unite grassroots people of all ethnic backgrounds to take control of their communities; involve them in identifying problems and needs and in taking action to address them; and be a vehicle for social, economic, and environmental justice. Toby Raine is one of CCI’s Membership and Database Coordinators. He is involved in cleaning up member data, creating strategies for member growth and retention, and coordinating fundraising efforts. He came to CCI after several years of working for the Polk County District Court. Frustrated by the lack of public resources within the Justice System, Toby realized he wanted to be part of an organization dedicated to positive change rather than one that maintains the status quo. He is originally from a tiny town in southwest Iowa and went to a high school surrounded by corn and soybean fields. In his spare time, he likes to crochet, sew, read, and travel the Midwest with his partner. Ava Auen-Ryan started as Farm & Environment Organizer in July of 2018 and worked with CCI for three years before going on a vision quest to Ohio. Ava moved back to Iowa and rejoined the staff in November of 2022. Some of her favorite memories growing up in Iowa are playing in the crick on her grandparent’s farm, going fishing in the driftless region of the state, and the views of the Mississippi from her backyard in a small town in Southeast Iowa. Learn more: https://www.iowacci.org/. ‏‏‎ ‎ ‏ Environmental Justice Community Action Network Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) is an organization focused on, and dedicated to, achieving environmental justice around North Carolina. EJCAN focuses on issues that have a significant impact on health, economic outcomes, and quality of life for residents in the state. Sherri White-Williamson co-founded EJCAN along with colleagues from Vermont Law School in July 2020. Since moving back to North Carolina she has worked to empower local community members to advocate for change in Sampson County. To date, the organization has helped to prevent contaminated soil from being dumped at the local landfill – the largest in the state. EJCAN continues to work in collaboration with university partners to provide free water testing for residents. Learn more: https://www.ejcan.org/. ‏‏‎ ‎ Kansas Rural Center and Praire Band Potawatomi Nation The mission of Kansas Rural Center is to promote the long-term health of the land and its people through research, education, and advocacy that advance an economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially just food and farming system.The Kansas Rural Center will be working with members of Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation located on Prairie Band Potawatomi land, currently known as Jackson County, Kansas. Mikayla “MK” Kerron is an Environmental/GIS Technician for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation where she coordinates the Clean Water Act 319 Nonpoint Source Pollution, Wetlands, and GIS Programs. She holds a B.A. in Indigenous and American Indian Studies from Haskell Indian Nations University where she focused her studies on climate change in Indigenous communities and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Mikayla is an enrolled member of the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes in Oklahoma and is also a descendent from the Muscogee Creek Nation, Makah, and Quileute Tribes. Prior to her job with Prairie Band she was also a GAP Technician in the Environmental Programs Department for the Wichita & Affiliated Tribes and also a Bureau of Indian Affairs Intern for the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center at North Carolina State University. She will continue her studies at the University of Kansas to receive a M.S. in Geography and further her research climate change in Indigenous communities and TEK. Jackie Keller is the Sunflower Stories Program Coordinator for the Kansas Rural Center (KRC), a non-profit organization founded in 1979 that has been working with communities across Kansas on environmental issues since its inception. KRC’s mission is “To promote the long-term health of the land and its people through research, education and advocacy that advance an economically viable, ecological sound, and socially just food and farming system.” Jackie has been closely involved with KRC for over 20 years, much of which was spent serving on the board. Jackie earned a M.A. degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University with an emphasis on Environmental Policy, thesis topic was Sustainable Agriculture. She’s worked with diverse communities at Food First in Oakland, CA, Global Exchange and the San Francisco Departments of Agriculture and Environment. In 2000, she moved back to Kansas and transitioned her parent’s 200 acre conventional crop ground to organic, attaining certification in 2004. She’s been awarded the NRCS Water Quality Award for Shawnee County and the John Vogelsberg Sustainable Agriculture Award. Jackie has served on her Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committee for twelve years. For almost thirty years she has advocated for healthy soil, water and food access, and social justice. Learn more: https://kansasruralcenter.org/ and https://www.pbpindiantribe.com/. ‏‏‎ ‎ Safe, Affordable, Good Energy (SAGE TN) Safe, Affordable, Good Energy for Tennessee (SAGE TN) brings together community members in Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland fighting a proposed “natural” gas pipeline in their. The 122-mile Ridgeline Expansion Project would be owned by Enbridge, but is part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s proposal to replace their coal-powered Kingston Fossil Plant with gas. Formed at the end of 2022, SAGE is working to stop these gas plans and instead urging TVA to choose a cleaner, more affordable plant replacement. SAGE TN believes in energy systems that support clean water, public safety, and environmental justice, and envision a future of local and sustainable energy in the Upper Cumberland. Gabi Lichtenstein is the Tennessee Energy Democracy Field Coordinator with Appalachian Voices. She organizes alongside SAGE TN and other communities impacted by TVA’s proposed gas replacement for the Kingston Fossil Plant. While pursuing her M.A. in geography, Gabi became active in the labor movement, organizing with co-workers at the United Campus Workers of Georgia (UCWGA). Her graduate research focused on power shutoffs and utility justice, and followed several years working to support energy democracy. Gabi is committed to transformative change led by impacted communities. She enjoys mountain hikes, outdoor concerts, and growing things. Breanna Ortner is a Media and Event Coordinator with SAGE TN. Brea grew up in rural Arkansas, but has lived in Cookeville for the last six years and is proud to call Tennessee home. They are so excited to combine their two great loves of theatre and activism. While you’re more likely to see them standing on the Square with a protest sign than on the stage, Brea has assisted in numerous local productions, namely CPAC’s The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged and Cookeville Theatre Company’s I am My Ancestors’ Wildest Dream. They would like to thank Working Films, Gabi with Appalachian Voices, the Universalist Unitarian Congregation and all SAGE TN’s volunteers. They give special love and thanks to their ever supportive husband Zac, Sisters Sam and Emily, and their forever found theatre family.

For regular updates on the Rural Cinema 2023 cohort, follow Working Films on Twitter and Instagram.

Applications for Rural Cinema 2024 will open in late Winter 2023.

Rural Cinema is made possible with generous support from the Kendeda Fund, Perspective, Putnam Foundation, and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. 

Download the press release here.

Cuentos Sin Fronteras es una colección de documentales que muestran una imagen más completa de los ataques a las familias y comunidades inmigrantes. Más allá de generar empatía, estos cinco cortometrajes presentan historias reales de resiliencia y fortaleza, al tiempo que ilustran algunas de las formas en que las personas pueden brindar su tiempo, energía y recursos para apoyar la organización liderada por comunidades de inmigrantes. ¡Únase a nosotros para esta proyección y conversacion para obtener más información y descubrir qué puede hacer para participar en la lucha por los derechos del inmigrante! La abogada de inmigración Vanessa González y la directora de Clínica Latina, Elizabeth Uzcátegui, hablarán sobre los impactos emocionales y legales de las políticas de inmigración en las comunidades de inmigrantes Cuentos Sin Fronteras 21 de Marzo 2023 6:00 pm | Gratis UNCW Bear Hall Salón 106, Wilmington, NC Registrarse en linea: https://bit.ly/StoriesBeyondBorders2023   Stories Beyond Borders is a collection of documentary films that show a more complete picture of the attacks on immigrant families and communities. Beyond building empathy, these five short films lift up real stories of resilience and strength, while illustrating some of the ways people can give their time, energy, and resources to support organizing led by immigrant communities. Join us for this free screening & discussion to learn more and find out what you can do to get involved! Immigration attorney Vanessa Gonzalez and Clínica Latina director Elizabeth Uzcategui will speak about the emotional and legal impacts of immigration policies on immigrant communities. Stories Beyond Borders March 21, 2023 6:00 pm | Free UNCW Bear Hall Room 106, Wilmington, NC Register to attend: https://bit.ly/StoriesBeyondBorders2023  

Across the US we are seeing stronger and more frequent climate-fueled disasters, exposure to environmental racism, and threats to our democracy – all compounded by the breakdown of civil discourse and community relationships – face to face dialogue, whether in-person or virtual, is critical for civic engagement. We also know that changemakers in rural areas and small towns are consistently under-resourced and must exercise everything in their toolbox, and film screenings are a powerful tool for organizers to gather their community and move them to action. Hosting these events is a unique way for organizers to share stories on screen that mirror the environmental problems they’re facing, as well as showcase successful organizing tactics that could be replicated locally. With all of this in mind, we’re excited to announce the next round of Rural Cinema.

Rural Cinema is a training and community engagement initiative supporting environmental leaders in rural areas and small towns across the nation in using films as a resource to gather their communities to discuss local impacts and opportunities to protect the environment. Any leader working towards environmental justice and protection in a small town or rural area is eligible to apply.

“At a time when neighbors barely know each other, and communities face mounting environmental issues from pollution to dealing with climate disasters, gathering together to discuss these problems and work on solutions is more important than ever,” said Working Films’ Director of Campaigns and Strategy Andy Myers. “Film screenings provide the perfect platform for leaders to create this space to gather their community and watch a movie about an issue that mirrors their own experience and shows how other towns successfully fought back.”

The deadline to apply for Rural Cinema is January 31, 2023. Selected applicants will participate in four virtual training sessions focused on best practices for using documentary film as an organizing, educational, civic engagement, and advocacy resource. They will also receive a $2,500 honorarium, film screening equipment provided by Epic Outdoor Cinema, a solar battery to run the equipment, and a $5,000 budget for any other hard costs needed to host a film series in their community.

We are delighted to continue our partnership with Cucalorus Film Foundation for the 14th annual Works-in-Progress Lab (WiP) and excited to reveal the 2022 cohort of filmmakers who are working on stories exploring music's cultural impact on society, self-made hair stylists creating authentic hairstyles, and a Detroit mother fighting for freedom. Send your congrats to the filmmakers! 🎉 The Cucalorus Works-in-Progress Lab, co-designed and coordinated by Working Films, serves filmmakers making social justice documentaries, with a focus on Black filmmakers. The following documentary films were selected for the Cucalorus 2022 WiP lab:

2022 Works-in-Progress Lab Filmmakers

Black Strings by Marquise Mays

An all-African American string orchestra in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, performs in the immediate aftermath of incidents of gun violence, altering the notion of “first responders.” Marquise Mays is an award-winning filmmaker and film professor based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Experienced in an array of media and arts practices—from cinematic storytelling to exhibition curation—Marquise brings imagination, technical expertise, and cultural awareness to entertainment productions, journalistic undertakings or media-rich events and civic engagements. He holds a M.A in Cinema and Media Studies from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California (USC) and a B.A in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison).

Tribal Strands by Suzette Burton

Self-made hair stylists create authentic hairstyles, leading the anti-hair discrimination movement. They inspire people to embrace their natural hair worldwide while exploring the intersections between modern and ancient African tribal indigenous hairstyles. Suzette Burton is an award-winning filmmaker and received a B.F.A. in Film/Video from Pratt Institute. She has directed the short documentary film “Disconnected” about her father’s mysterious death, which premiered at The B.A.M. Theater (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in 2006. Since graduating, she has co-produced the documentary “Daddy Don’t Go,” directed by Emily Abt. The film was also executive produced by Omar Epps and Malik Yoba. It aired on the Starz network in 2015 and screened at over 30 film festivals, winning eight best documentary awards. Suzette has also worked as a co-director, producer, cinematographer, and editor.

Raza Rap by Camilo Hannibal Smith

The untold story of how Chicanos created their own rap scene in the largest city in the South. Camilo Hannibal Smith is an Afro-Latino filmmaker and journalist based in Houston, Texas. He began shooting his first documentary film Raza Rap Project in the fall of 2018.  It’s the untold story of Southern Latino rap from Houston, through the eyes of the city’s first Latino gangster rapper, Ikeman, and Uncle Tino, a rapper fighting to realize his truest self. Camilo’s work is focused on storytelling that lies at the intersections of history, identity, culture, and justice. He’s created video content and written about hip-hop in Venezuela and Mexico, where he presented a multimedia project at Postopolis! (2010) about Mexico City’s underground rap scene. He directed and produced the short news doc Petare: a little hope for the most dangerous slum in the world, about a Christian rapper in Caracas in 2014.

 

I Believe in Our Power by Kimberly P. Mitchell and Siwatu-Salama Ra

Detroit mother and organizer Siwatu-Salama Ra fights for freedom following an unjust conviction, and shares her story as a love letter to her children. Co-director Kimberly P. Mitchell developed a strong commitment to creating socio-economic change through dynamic, storytelling, photography and video at the Detroit Free Press. Dedicated to covering local issues in metro Detroit, she has documented the passing of civil rights activist Rosa Parks, Michigan prison neglect and the abandonment of inmates, Super Bowl XL nightlife, rare diseases like Progeria, and homelessness affecting children. She hopes to honestly reflect the people, events and moments that have defined the community through her photography.

I Believe in Our Power by Kimberly P. Mitchell and Siwatu-Salama Ra

Siwatu-Salama Ra is a mother and organizer who was born and raised in Detroit. She grew up in the environmental justice movement, and served as the co-director of East Michigan Environmental Action Council. In addition to her work locally and across the country, Siwatu represented Detroit and the United States at global social justice events in France, Turkey, and Senegal. She also led youth organizing and media justice work with the Young Educators Alliance and Detroit Future Youth. In March of 2018 Siwatu was incarcerated for defending herself, her mother, and daughter. At the time she was in her third trimester of pregnancy and was forced to give birth to her beautiful son during her imprisonment. After nearly nine months at Michigan Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, Siwatu was released in November 2018 on bond, in order to appeal her unjust conviction and was reunited with her family. In August 2019 she won her appeal and her conviction was reversed. In February 2020 she won her total freedom. She continues to advocate for the liberation and dignity of thousands of women and people inside Michigan’s Women’s prison, as well as organize for environmental justice, climate justice, and a world without prisons or militarism. FreeSiwatu.org

Salsa, A Caribbean Swing by Beni Marquez

Afro-Venezuelan director Beni Marquez explores salsa music’s cultural legacy and evolution from the heart of Caribbean barrios to New York in Salsa, A Caribbean Swing. Beni Marquez is an Afro-Venezuelan filmmaker and music video director from San Agustin, Caracas. His current project Salsa, A Caribbean Swing (Salsa, un tumbao’ caribeño) explores salsa music’s cultural legacy and contemporary realities from the heart of Caribbean barrios to New York City. Beni’s African ancestry, experience as an Afro-Latino immigrant, and upbringing in San Agustin, a working-class barrio in Caracas, guide his filmmaking approach and serve as inspirations for this story. Beni’s previous documentary, Mamá África (2018), focused on the timeless cultural connections between Nigeria and Venezuela.

 

Now in its fifth year, Working Films' Impact Kickstart program has helped underrepresented filmmakers create strategic goals for impact and specific plans to engage future partners, funders, and audiences in meaningful ways. This year, we will be providing in-kind partnership and strategy development support in addition to $60,000 of impact campaign funding to each recipient.  In reflection about the Impact Kickstart program, Gerry Leonard, Director of Filmmaker Services says, "As Working Films and its programs continue to grow and evolve, we remain rooted in prioritizing and increasing support for underrepresented filmmakers. We believe the intentionality and equity lens that goes into our Impact Kickstart program reflects our deep commitment to redistributing resources and access within the documentary filmmaking ecosystem and highlighting critical stories that illuminate the complex intersections between people and issues." We are thrilled to announce the two films receiving an Impact Kickstart in 2022! STORMING CAESARS PALACE by Hazel Gurland-Pooler (Director/Producer) and Nazenet Habtezghi (Producer) When Ruby Duncan faces harassment by a fraud-obsessed welfare department, she ignites “Mother Power” mobilizing a welfare rights group to fight for justice, dignity, democratic participation, and an adequate income. With low-income mothers across the country, and two radicalized professors George Wiley and Frances Fox Piven, they form the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO). In 1972, with feminist Gloria Steinem, the NWRO campaigns for a guaranteed income. When thousands of Las Vegas families are slashed from the welfare rolls, Ruby calls the NWRO and launches “Operation Nevada.” They lead an army—including Ralph Abernathy and Jane Fonda—down the Strip into Caesars Palace, shutting it down. From protesters to lobbyists to founders of an anti-poverty community center, Ruby proves her mantra, “we can do it and do it better.” Featuring lost archival footage and a cast who played pivotal roles in these events, Storming Caesars Palace reveals that it is the disenfranchised who stand up for America’s principle of justice for all. UNTITLED UNDERGROUND RAILROAD RIDE  by Fiz Olajide (Director/Producer), Faith E. Briggs (Impact Producer/Associate Producer), Jon Lynn (Editor/Co-Producer), Nerenda Eid (Executive Producer) On the heels of 2020's global protests for social justice and the run-up to the US presidential elections, five Black and Latinx cyclists led by NYC-based messenger, John “Bobby” Shackelford attempt to traverse a route inspired by the Underground Railroad which led many enslaved Black people to freedom in the 1800s. Riding alongside the magnetic Bobby - Richard Carson, a camera-shy cyclocross racer from Indianapolis; Rashad Mahoney, a soft-spoken bike mechanic in Baltimore who loves the outdoors; Edwardo Garabito, a gregarious Latinx custom bike builder at a NYC shop and Alex Olbrich, a spirited DC bike salesman of Ghanaian-German heritage. They seek agency to combat the lack of representation in the ultra white world of cycling and to inspire BIPOC kids with their representation of Black manhood. Over the course of 17 days, as each man attempts this ambitious athletic feat, the challenges of the road transform them in this thought-provoking and complex tale of freedom and identity. Congratulations to the film teams selected! We are excited and honored to be working alongside these incredible projects. Thank you to all the incredible individuals who helped us move through this collective and collaborative process.    ABOUT IMPACT KICKSTART Impact Kickstart was launched with the understanding that a solid strategy for audience engagement and strong partnerships are critical for a documentary film to make a difference. Filmmakers often lack time to do this work themselves or the expertise and the funds to pay for it. Emerging artists, creators of color, and other underrepresented filmmakers can face the biggest hurdles, despite the potential of their projects. To respond to this challenge, Working Films offers free impact campaign development services to underrepresented artists whose films hold great promise to shift understanding and catalyze action that addresses some of the most critical issues of our time.  

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