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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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Rural Cinema is a program that trains environmental justice organizers to use film screenings to bring people together and solve challenges facing their communities. The program provides grassroots groups and organizations with film screening equipment by EPIC Outdoor Cinema (projectors, screens, speakers), solar batteries to run the equipment, and funding to host a film series that can inform and inspire people to get involved in their efforts. Recognizing the importance of documentary storytelling to prompt civic dialogue and action during a time when rural areas across the country are increasingly devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate disasters, and polluting industries, Rural Cinema will help organizers create much needed spaces for building community.  We are excited to announce the five rural-based organizations working towards environmental justice across the United States that were selected for Rural Cinema 2022: Faith in Place (Illinois), NAZO Society (South Dakota), Camas to Condors Project (Idaho), Our Future West Virginia (West Virginia), and Rogue Climate (Oregon). Check out their missions and the representatives who will be taking part:   Faith In Place Since 1999, Faith in Place has empowered Illinois people of all faiths to be leaders in caring for the Earth, providing resources to educate, connect, and advocate for healthier communities. As a statewide, multifaith 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Faith in Place serves Illinoisans of diverse races, ethnicities, religions, genders, ages, socioeconomic conditions, and geographic regions. Our strong commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion derives from our environmental justice mission and reflects the diverse communities we work with and serve . Wade Halva  grew up in Raleigh, NC at the end of a half-mile long dead end dirt road. The back property line was a creek, and Wade’s early playground was the woods. His roots in the forest continue to ground his care for creation. Wade received his BA in history and religious studies from the College of Wooster, a Master’s in Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary, and a Master’s of Arts in Christian Education from Union Presbyterian Seminary. He has served in parish ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Illinois and Utah. For rest and relaxation, Wade enjoys the mountains and the beach, the forests and the bluffs, and Malawi, Tanzania, and  Zambia hold a special place in his heart.    

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  Camas to Condors Project Camas to Condors is a restoration and conservation project encompassing the Blue Mountains ecoregion, the Bitterroot Mountains, and the Salmon, Clearwater and Tucannon River Subbasins, all of which are contained within the Nez Perce Tribe’s usual and accustomed areas. It is a tribally-led, collaborative, multidisciplinary response to the dire threats climate change is bringing to places, species and lifeways in our shared home. Our mission is to build culturally relevant conservation power in the Nez Perce homelands. Develop and share a holistic vision for climate + cultural + ecological resilience. Grow an ethical, inclusive, and adaptive restoration economy/a healing economy. We envision a shared home where the time-tested Indigenous relationship with the land is honored as a model of resilience; where land protection is restitution for past harm; where land restoration is an arena for eco-cultural healing and a foundation of the regional economy; and where stewardship priorities shape land management that is responsive, holistic, and just. Meadow Wheaton (Nimiipuu) grew up in Willamette Valley of  Oregon. She is currently finishing her AmeriCorps VISTA service with the Nez Perce Tribe Climate Change Program and moving on to finish her undergraduate at the University of Idaho in Broadcasting and Digital Media. She hopes to start a career in film making with a focus on communicating environmental science, and traditional ecological knowledge.  Tiyana Casey (Wasq'u, Yakama, Umatilla, Nimiipuu) uses science to perpetuate the values of her indigenous culture; advancing the understanding and management of her ancestral territories for both tribal and non-tribal people. As a life-long advocate for tribal youth, she has been responsible for the cultural transmission and education of indigenous youth across the PNW with the intention of offering healing pathways to professional spaces. The synthesis of her education, research, and leadership roles with the invaluable education she has received from tribal elders, hunters, gatherers, and community members informs Tiyana's current roles both professionally and in her community.  

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Nažó Society ‘NAZO’ means to “sound or blow the whistle in alarm” in Lakota. Nazo was formed in 2019, when a group of women came together on the Cheyenne River Reservation to discuss the threat of the man camps which would accompany the TransCanada KXL Pipeline. It has since evolved into a safe space for people to share experiences and community concerns. NAZO seeks justice for women/ children/ relatives who experience sex trafficking and those who are targeted. We aim to educate our communities in preventive action regarding the hazards of the extractive industries that are currently targeting our lands in South Dakota. We organize to build awareness, patrol our rural reservation communities and offer educational presentations to our schools. We also host self-defense training. Our reservations in South Dakota have long been targeted by extractive industries. Indigenous people around the world are on the front lines in fighting against environmental destruction. Women have long held powerful leadership within these resistance movements; a fact that is often unrecognized by larger society. When we fight for the earth, we are fighting for our own survival. Marcella Gilbert is the daughter of Madonna Thunder Hawk and a Lakota and Dakota community organizer with a focus on food sovereignty and cultural revitalization. She earned a Master’s Degree in Nutrition from South Dakota State University. Gilbert was a 2014 Cohort of the Bush Foundation's Native Nations Rebuilders Program.   Ryia LeBeau is Lakota and Diné, belongs to the Two Kettle Band at Cheyenne River, and grew up on the vast, open lands of the Oceti Sakowin. She is studying Indigenous and American Indian Studies at Haskell Indian Nations University, founded in 1884 as an Indian Boarding School for children. When not studying, Ryia works as a media and oral history apprentice for the Warrior Women Project, a collective that works at the intersection of media, history and Indigenous matriarchy. She is also a part of  Nažó Society, describing her role as “a niece and granddaughter;  I listen, I observe, and learn by doing—honoring the stage of ‘wikóškalaka’ (the ‘young woman’ phase of life) learning the very “how to” from my elder women.”   [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://www.workingfilms.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Rural-Cinema_Video.mp4" autoplay="true" preload="auto" loop="true"][/video]  

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Our Future West Virginia Our Future West Virginia meets folk where they are, helping communities build local power to upend oppressive systems around them. We envision a West Virginia where EVERY person has the justice, dignity, and equity needed to thrive. Our Future West Virginia is a statewide non-profit, working on local and state issues of Civic Engagement, Education, Healthcare, and Environmental, Racial, Economic, and Social Justice. We work to change the balance of power through grassroots led policy change, developing local leadership, and bringing diverse voices together. Kathy Ferguson is a community advocate from the unincorporated district of Institute, WV, where she's been using her 25 years of experience working in social services within the criminal justice system to inform her activism and organizing work.  Currently serving as the Interim Exec. Director at OFWV, she continues to demonstrate a clear commitment to helping those who are in most need and giving voice to those who are disenfranchised.  An agent for change Ms. Ferguson is a believer in social justice and equality for all and dedicates both her professional and personal time towards this end. Traci Phillips holds a B.S. in Communications from Bowie State University and has worked for companies such as C-SPAN, CBS Newspath, BET Nightly News, Radio-One Inc., XM Satellite Radio, Fox 5 in Washington, DC and WCHS-TV in Charleston, WV. She is an on-air personality for WSVQ 92.1’s Charleston’s Voice for Equity and Empowerment, an initiative of the Partnership of African American Churches and is an active member of the Charleston, WV NAACP. She is currently the Interim Communications Director with Our Future West Virginia. Traci and her husband Justin have 3 children and live in Charleston, WV.    

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Rogue Climate Rogue Climate’s  mission is to empower Southern Oregon communities most impacted by climate change, including low-income, rural, youth, seniors, and communities of color, to win climate justice by organizing for clean energy, sustainable jobs, and a healthy environment.   Blanca Gutierrez is the Leadership Development and Cultural Director at Rogue Climate and works to build leadership with the Latinx community in the Rogue Valley. Raised in Southern Oregon she grew up with a family who worked hard as farmworkers and in warehouses for little pay. After seeing and experiencing the disparities that appear in every space of the nation, she engaged in organizing for climate justice and the well-being of future generations, especially low-income folks and communities of color who continue to bear the brunt of climate chaos, the housing crisis, and more. Blanca believes that art in the movement and in life are crucial and continues to make art as part of daily life. Russell Zook is Rogue Climate’s Operations Director as well as a multi-faceted Artist and Producer. Russell’s role at Rogue Climate is to build and maintain infrastructure and systems to support Rogue Climate’s staff and community leaders. He has lived in the Southern Oregon Rogue Valley since 2015 and worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he was charged with producing and managing engagement programs; the Living Ideas: Art and Community Dialogue Series, and various programs for groups, patrons and community members. During this time, he co-created an immersive experience that combined live storytelling and emerging technologies entitled Take Them Into The Dirt and subsequently directed a documentary film on the making of the project.  

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The Works-in-Progress Lab (WiP) is a partnership between Cucalorus and Working Films that supports the audience engagement and impact strategies of social issue documentaries being made by Black filmmakers. The week-long residency is a key program of the annual Cucalorus. Five filmmakers receive extensive community feedback during a series of public and private screenings, workshops, and one-on-one consultations with expert mentors. The following documentary films were selected for the 2021 WiP lab:

2021 Works-in-Progress Lab Participants

Little Sallie Walker by Marta Effinger-Crichlow

Play is a lifeline for Black girls across the generations. Little Sallie Walker tells the story of Patricia, Billie Jean, Raisha, and Kristi, who instinctively understood that coming-of-age in America involved creating and cultivating worlds-of-make believe through different types of play. Pattycake, dress-up, double dutch, dollmaking, and hide-and-seek offered sanctuary from discrimination, violence, and poverty.

My Mother is an Artist by Maya Horton

My Mother is an Artist tracks the impact of one mother’s incarceration and follows her journey to get justice, make art and find joy. After serving 30 years in prison for murder, Lajuana Lampkins is now a staple in Wicker Park, Chicago, where she sells her drawings to the late-night crowd.

Humble in the Jungle by Ricky Kelly

The Jungle Brothers are known as the pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music.Their hip-house club hit single, “I’ll House You” changed the course of hip-hop and dance music by expanding it across the globe. With all the fame and success, Michael Small aka “Mike Gee”, an unassuming licensed plumber and family man shows humility and astounding work ethic by continuing to work full time as a plumber while performing with The Jungle Brothers

 

Paradise by Gabby Sumney Paradise is deep dive into a multiracial Caribbean American family history exploring race, immigration, and imperialism. Featuring interviews from Sumney’s family, historians, and others and using a variety of stylistic elements to interrogate these issues, the film is a series of five non-linear acts tied together by the central themes of race and national origin.       Duality: A Collection of Afro Indigenous Perspectives by Kimberly M. Knight and Frederick Murphy   Duality is a collection of experiences by individuals who identify as Afro Indigenous from various tribes across the United States.The film will explore the history of the two ethnic groups individually and as a collective via the institution of slavery,food ways, dance, dress, spirituality, legal challenges, marginalization, resilience, state/federal recognition and much more.               The Works-in-Progress Lab is designed and led by Working Films, a twenty three year old Wilmington based nonprofit organization that is nationally recognized for their work to inform and involve communities by resourcing them with Documentaries that address social and environmental issues that impact their lives. The 2021 Works-in-Progress Lab mentors include acclaimed filmmakers Byron Hurt and Jacqueline Olive.

As rural communities across the US are increasingly devastated by the cascading crises of a global pandemic coupled with stronger and more frequent climate disasters, civil discourse about the environmental and public health challenges in non-urban communities has also broken down. A recent study conducted by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke found that “While many rural voters voiced concern about climate change (and particularly its disproportionate impact on rural communities), they were generally reticent to talk about it with their friends and neighbors given the polarization and controversy surrounding the issue.” In response, an opportunity to foster face to face dialogue around climate and other environmental impacts in small towns launches this week, the nonprofit organization Working Films announced today.

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.

“Rural communities are crucial to growing the movement for a clean energy future.” said Andy Myers, Director of Campaigns and Strategy at Working Films. “Film has an incredible power to inform and shift the story about an issue. Our Rural Cinema program is here to support rural leaders by providing the films, equipment and resources needed to create space, either in-person or virtual, so their community can come together, learn and become inspired to work with each other to tackle the environmental problems affecting their lives.”

The deadline to apply for Rural Cinema is January 17, 2022. 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.

Now in its fourth 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 $30,000 in impact campaign funding to each recipient, in addition to our in-kind services. Impact Kickstart recipients will use these grants toward the implementation of each film’s impact campaign. In reflection about the evolution of Impact Kickstart, Gerry Leonard, who now leads the program says, "In all of our work, we prioritize amplifying and increasing support for underrepresented artists. We believe the intentionality in our Impact Kickstart program reflects our commitment to redistributing resources and access within documentary filmmaking as well as 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 2021! BRING HER HOME by Leya Hale (Director/Producer) and Sergio Mata’u Rapu (Producer/Editor) Native women make up less than one percent of the U.S. population yet face murder rates that are more than ten times the national average. Bring Her Home follows three indigenous women – an artist, an activist, and a politician – as they fight to vindicate and honor their missing and murdered relatives who have fallen victims to a growing epidemic across Indian country. Despite the lasting effects from colonization, each woman must search for healing while navigating racist systems that brought about this very crisis. FIRE THROUGH DRY GRASS by Andres “Jay” Molina (Co-Director), Alexis Neophytides (Co-Director/Producer), Jennilie Brewster (Producer), Peter Yearwood (Associate Impact Producer), and Vincent Pierce (Impact Strategist/Musician) Fire Through Dry Grass uncovers in real time, and with singular access, the devastation nursing home residents experienced during the coronavirus pandemic. Co-Director Andres “Jay” Molina is one of the Reality Poets, Black and Brown disabled artists who live in an NYC nursing facility. Prior to Covid, they traveled throughout the city sharing their art and wisdom. Using GoPros clamped to their wheelchairs, the Poets document the harrowing year on “lock down.” Nurses beg for PPE, sick patients are moved into crowded rooms with the healthy, while refrigerated-trailer morgues hum outside the windows and city officials lie to hide their deadly decisions. Fire proceeds from the Poets' world to unmask the many issues and inequities that historically impact those most vulnerable, and shows the power of community and creativity. The Poets’ rhymes flow throughout the film, revealing their inner lives and describing life in the city-run institution, now as dangerous as the streets they once ran. Congratulations to the film teams selected. We look forward to the work ahead! Special acknowledgement to all the individuals who played a role in seeing this process through.   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. Impact Kickstart is made possible through generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Perspective Fund.

Rural Cinema is a training institute and community engagement program resourcing leaders from rural areas and small towns across the United States to use films in their work for environmental justice and protection. The program supports participants in holding screening events that engage their communities and advance their goals over the course of one year. Rural Cinema creates spaces for residents to come together (in-person or virtually), discuss issues affecting their communities, learn and be inspired by the visual content and one another’s experiences, and generate solutions that address their needs and priorities. This year, we will be working with five organizations in communities that are directly affected by polluting industries or are transitioning from being economically fueled by fossil fuels to adopting other more sustainable approaches. We are excited to announce that the 2021 Rural Cinema cohort will include: The Center Pole (The Crow Indian Reservation, MT), the Missouri Rural Crisis Center (Cooper County, MO), Mountain Watershed Association (Melcroft, PA), Partnership for Southern Equity (Fort Valley, GA), and the Rural Utah Project (Grand County, UT). The Center Pole The Center Pole is a Native non-profit organization founded in 1999. The campus is located at the foot of the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Originally a youth development organization, The Center Pole has expanded their work to include projects for a stronger Crow community. The expansion includes an alternative energy demonstration project, work in the area of food sovereignty, a digital archive, an indigenous media and education center and a radio station to give the Crow people a voice. Mila Big Hair's Crow name is Holy Water Drum. Mila grew up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and is 33 this year. Mila participates in the Crow sun dance and other sacred ceremonies and speaks the Crow language. Mila grew up at the Center Pole, her mother Peggy Wellknown Buffalo’s non-profit, and has worked there for about 10 years. Mila attended Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mila is a visual artist and sees film as an important tool to build knowledge, justice and awareness in her Native community. She believes her community is her teacher. David Driftwood's Crow name is Child of the Sundance Whistle. David was born in Wyola, Montana, on the Crow Reservation and has lived there all his life. He is 24 years old. His father died when he was 12. His father instilled a work ethic in him and he began to be industrious, self motivated and interested in helping others at a young age. He grew up assisting his uncle, a filmmaker and teacher, to produce films for Little Big Horn College. He works at the Center Pole, Peggy Wellknown Buffalo’s community organization in community development, particularly in the area of food sovereignty. He has four children: 6, 5, 2 and 1 who are the lights of his life.  

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Missouri Rural Crisis Center The Missouri Rural Crisis Center (MRCC) is a statewide farm and rural membership organization founded in 1985 with over 5600 member families. MRCC’s mission is to preserve family farms, promote stewardship of the land and environmental integrity and strive for economic and social justice by building unity and mutual understanding among diverse groups, both rural and urban. MRCC carries out this mission through its programming areas, each with its own specific role in advocating for family farms and rural communities. Their innovative approach to family farm organizing includes challenging corporate control of the food supply, creating sustainable alternatives to the current farm and food system, and generating community participation to create a just, democratic society based on equity and fairness for all people. MRCC fights to preserve family farms and independent family farm livestock production, promote stewardship of the land and a safe, affordable high-quality food supply, support social justice and economic opportunity, and engage rural Missourians in public policies that impact their farms, food, families and communities. In addition, MRCC plays leadership roles in national and international efforts for fair farm and trade policies. Jamie Blair is a longtime resident of Audrain County, Missouri,  hobby gardener, mom, and amateur potato scientist. She became Rural Organizer and de facto Digital Organizer with Missouri Rural Crisis Center in early 2020. She is passionate about MRCC’s mission to curtail corporate control of our food systems and restore the natural relationship between farmers and the land. She is especially devoted to the role that sustainable farming can have on our environment through carbon sequestration, decreased runoff, and responsible water use. She wants to see a day where we can start to achieve carbon drawdown as well as a fair price for the farmers who put food on all of our tables. She loves nothing more than talking with other rural folks and finding ways that we can help them meet their needs and conquer the unique challenges that come with rural life.  She also enjoys snuggles from friendly cows, horses, and llamas but makes do with her two dogs and cats for everyday affection. Erich Arvidson is a Loan Officer in Mid-Missouri. He grew up in Delta, Missouri and now resides in rural Cooper County. He has a boundless curiosity that has led him to master a variety of hobbies and skills such as restoring antique cast iron and vintage video games, as well as soap making and bee keeping. Erich is also the type of volunteer that can be counted on and has given his time to the Special Olympics, the Mid-Missouri Food Bank, the Cooper County Democratic Committee, The Missouri Democratic Party State Committee, and MRCC. Erich became involved with Missouri Rural Crisis Center and our Rural Healthcare work as a Medicaid Ambassador after losing both parents in the gap between Medicare and Medicaid in 2019. He made it his mission to make sure another family didn’t have to struggle to make vital healthcare decisions based on cost. He was an integral part of our effort to expand Medicaid in the state of Missouri and stayed involved with our work on healthcare education, racial justice, and environmental justice. He brings enthusiasm and versatility to our Cooper County Rural Cinema project and is personally invested as a resident of Cooper County  

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Mountain Watershed Association Mountain Watershed Association works to preserve, restore, and protect the Indian Creek and greater Youghiogheny River watersheds. These watersheds are located in the Appalachian foothills of Pennsylvania, a region known as the Laurel Highlands. Mountain Watershed Association organization has a unique approach in that they pursue on-the-ground restoration of past coal mining damage while we also advocate to protect our communities from the impacts of continued extraction for coal and, more recently, natural gas. Their work blends environmental monitoring, legal advocacy, and community organizing in order to empower local residents to take action to defend the waterways and communities they love. James Cato is a Community Organizer with Mountain Watershed Association. He lives in Pittsburgh, PA and he graduated from Oberlin College in 2020 with a degree in Environmental Studies. His organizing work focuses on the impacts of the petrochemical buildout in the Ohio River Valley. In his off time, he publishes speculative fiction about rural environmental issues, hoping to contribute to a greater narrative movement. Stacey Magda is a community organizer with Mountain Watershed Association and lives along the Chestnut Ridge in the Laurel Highlands. She focuses on engaging communities around coal mining developments, fracking waste stream impacts, and defending the celebrated and endangered Youghiogheny River. Her deep appreciation of the area and natural resources feeds her passion for this work. When she isn't hosting community meetings and working on environmental impacts, she enjoys exploring rivers and trails with her young daughter and family. .

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Partnership for Southern Equity Founded in 2009, the Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE) advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of Atlanta and the American South. PSE advances its work through an Equity Ecosystem to grow the momentum for change. The Equity Ecosystem uses equity as the lens to propose and pursue just and equitable solutions. Through Values-Based Organizing, community engagement, coalition building, and leadership development, PSE works with communities to promote just energy policies in Georgia and across the American South. A big part of that is helping people understand where their energy comes from, how that affects them, and how they can get involved. Racial equity is utilized as a framework for mobilizing advocacy around energy equity issues. Mobilization takes on many forms including the Just Energy Circle, which is made up of like-minded frontline community organizations and individuals looking to advance a “New Southern Agenda” in the fight against climate injustice. Marsha Gosier is the Central and Southwest Georgia Organizer for the Just Energy issue area within the Partnership for Southern Equity. Born in East Point, Georgia, and proudly representing her hometown Fort Valley, Georgia, Marsha is a natural born organizer, changemaker, influencer and strategist. She dedicates her passion and time to ensuring equity, with a special focus on racial equity matters through the lenses of environmental justice and economic development. In her role at PSE, she has facilitated values-based racial equity and environmental equity trainings, created hubs and organized around environmental justice issues throughout Georgia, including Peach, Houston, Taylor, and Lowndes counties, and in metropolitan areas including Columbus, Macon, Warner Robins, Fort Valley, and Albany. Marsha is passionate about ensuring that just, fair, and equitable policies for low-income and urban communities are attainable throughout the South, and her work is an intentional work of love. Keta Lucas is one of Marsha’s partners in community. Keta is currently participating in Just Energy’s 2021 Just Energy Academy, which advances energy equity in formal and informal leadership positions. This program was designed to provide cohorts with the knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively engage stakeholders regarding community concerns and policies that impact their communities; in particular, energy equity and climate justice issues. Marsha and Keta have partnered together within their community while supporting one another’s organizations, including Culture 64 and Sankofa Speaks. Keta is a community advocate with the objective of encouraging and inspiring the members of her community to reach their potential. Her work is dedicated to advocating for the underserved families in the Fort Valley community.  

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The Rural Utah Project The Rural Utah Project is dedicated to increasing civic engagement in rural communities across Utah. We’re a young organization and are motivated to build a powerful movement with our neighbors that fights for a more just and sustainable future for rural Utah’s communities and landscapes. We seek to expand civic participation by breaking down barriers to the ballot box and providing organizing tools to local communities.   Nate Vosburg is a community and labor organizer having worked for political campaigns and unions across the country. Now based in southeastern Utah, his work with the Rural Utah Project focuses on voting rights and civic engagement, economic justice for workers, and just transition advocacy. Krystyna has lived and worked on the Colorado Plateau since 1992, first in Grand Junction, CO, now in Moab, UT. After ten years teaching high school and middle school mathematics, she refocused her energy on public lands, community development, and the environment with Public Land Solutions as Executive Coordinator and Technology Manager. An avid hiker, trail runner, and explorer, she holds a B.S. in Physics, an M.A. in Education and is currently working on a graduate degree in Natural Resources from Utah State University. She recently joined the board of KZMU 90.1, a local radio station, and volunteers with other organizations in the area. On the weekends she can be found roaming the desert with her dog, Beau. .

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