While looking for a job online, filmmaker Travis Wood notices a trend on many company’s Meet The Team pages. With “Affurmative Action,” he delivers the unfortunate observation as a series of video screen captures highlighting racial inequities but plenty of canine representation. Wood’s work draws profoundly from personal stories of his life, past and present, using unusual and wide-ranging techniques ranging from puppetry in “Kayla in 1A” to childlike animation of “One Peg Boss,” and he’s quietly nudging along a humble, increasingly vital body of work. Directed by Travis Wood. Composer: Brendan Moriak.
The Adopted Life: Neiko's Family - Emily Thornton
To follow Emily in the work she does:
Instagram: @emjthornton
Website at tfinitiative.com
A Night At The Garden - Marshall Curry
Recommended Reading from this episode: Nostalgia for America's past can buffer collective guilt by Baldwin, et al.
In 1939, 20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism – an event largely forgotten from American history. A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN, made entirely from archival footage filmed that night, transports audiences to this chilling gathering and shines a light on the power of demagoguery and anti-Semitism in the United States.
A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN was directed and edited by Marshall Curry and was supported and released by Field of Vision. The film was nominated for a 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short; it was also an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and was part of a special screening and panel discussion at the New York Film Festival. It was released on 22 Alamo Theater screens across the country and at The IFC Center in NYC.
Hiplet: Because We Can - Addison Wright
Please enjoy our discussion with director Addison Wright found in the video above. Mr. Wright is currently working out distribution for the HIPLET: BECAUSE WE CAN, making it unavailable for streaming at the moment. As soon as the film is available for public streaming on demand, I will link to it here.
You can also follow Mr. Wright for updates on his Instagram: @addisonwright
Created with the intention to inspire young Black women, this film brings the Hiplet™ ballerinas to center stage. Hiplet™ fuses classical pointe technique with hip-hop and urban dance styles. Hiplet™ has blossomed immensely since it's creation by Artistic Director Homer Hans Bryant in the early 90s.
Hiplet: Because We Can was shot in Chicago on the South Side at the Grand Ballroom, a hidden gem that opened back in 1923 once known as the Cinderella Ballroom. This film is meant to capture how amazing these young Black girls are, how they battle adversity and how they’ve elevated their craft in the beautiful city of Chicago.
Visit hipletballerinas.com to learn more about them!
FLAT! - with Special Guests
Quirky and subversive; FLAT! explores the conspiratorial anti-intellectual movement that has taken hold in our country and beyond from the perspective of a man who has dived head first into it, and examines how the world reacts.
Citizen Hudspeth - Hunter Powell and Hayden Zaiser
By Hayden Zaiser, Hunter Powell, Soloman Cisneros, and Xander McCabe
Standing against injustice can be lonely, but Willie Hudspeth proves it doesn’t have to be the end of your optimism. After protesting a confederate statue in his town square every week for over twenty years with no change, this film examines the value of protest, even when it seems like you’re screaming in to the void.
UPDATE:
See Willie Hudspeth as he watches Denton pull down the confedorate statue that he protested for 21 years:
Unrequited Dreams: An American Truth - Eboni Johnson
By Eboni Johnson
In 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act to dismantle discriminatory housing practices. Over 50 years later the housing gap has only widened between white homeowners and homeowners of color creating increasingly segregated neighborhoods across the national landscape. Focusing on the ever-gentrifying area of West Dallas we evaluate the meaning of the American Dream and the communities left with promises unfulfilled.