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SINCE I BEEN DOWN panel discussion live from Alma Mater is underway! Tune in now: http://bit.ly/SIBDpanel ">https://bit.ly/SIBDpanel...
Thank you @ohdamn_jam for facilitating the discussion with director Gilda Sheppard, Tonya Wilson, and Kimonti Carter (named L–R; Wilson and Carter are subjects in the film, and Carter is joining via the phone from inside prison).
There are SO many great things being said, we really might have to replay this livestream as soon as it ends. “We’re not just waking our imagination, we’re WORKING our imagination.” —Gilda Sheppard
Concluding thoughts from each panelist: "People are always striving to become better versions of themselves. The main problem is that many people don’t know how to change. Most of our imagination has been by destroyed by poverty, institutional racism… We fail to dream. #2020TFF
We have to be part of the process. It cannot be something we relinquish to the control of others. Passions and dreams are not transferable. We need our imaginations to dream. Never stop dreaming because anything is possible." —Kimonti Carter #2020TFF
"You have to bring those imaginings into fruition and it takes work. To be a better person, sometimes the first thing you have to do is suffer. You have to see where you are right now… see the people and world around you. #2020TFF
We don& #39;t like to suffer, but that& #39;s how our spirit grows. Be willing to suffer those things that are going to be difficult at first. And then be brave. Don& #39;t set your progressives shoes by the door, go home and be something different. Be brave at home, with your friends. #2020TFF
These are two things that are tied up with fear. So just look at it. We only give fear the power to hurt us. Without us moving in some way in response to that fear, it is just still an emotion. Be curious about that." —Tonya Wilson #2020TFF
"As an artist, I go by what James Baldwin said: & #39;The role of the artist is exactly the same as the role of the lover. If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.& #39; And that& #39;s what I want this film to do: uncover some things you refuse to see. #2020TFF
And you don& #39;t even know you refuse to see it, right—until you look at it. Look at gentrification. Don& #39;t just say & #39;oh I shouldn& #39;t have moved here!& #39; No, you& #39;re here. You got some responsibility. #2020TFF
We want you to look at this beyond a prison film. Don& #39;t put it just there. Put it, as Tonya said, in your house. What ideas do you refuse to see? As a teacher I& #39;m not trying to change nobody& #39;s mind—I& #39;m trying to put something else on it to consider." —Gilda Sheppard #2020TFF
"Empathy, curiosity—I learned a long time ago that it does me no good to be rigid in thought, and not interested in the world or the people around me. Even myself watching this film, I learned—you know, I have my own stigma that I place on people who are in jail. #2020TFF
I have to constantly remind myself we are all one choice away from a life that is not the one we have envisioned. What this film taught me was to not think that I know, and to not think that I have it figured out, and that I’m woke and equitable in everything that I do. #2020TFF
If I am not constantly challenging myself, I fall back on compartmentalizing people, as an easy way to move through the world. Instead of seeing people in situations as individual. It& #39;s individual but it& #39;s collective: individual choices can impact an entire community. #2020TFF
Nobody is disposable. Situations that we put stigma on, that we make unredeemable—we can all be on the other side of that. This film reawoke that mentality that I need to stay vigilant when I& #39;m considering how I move through the world." — @ohdamn_jam #2020TFF
