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A thread: I recall the days after the 2016 election and the ripples of worry and fear it created across the documentary field. I was working at @firelightmedia, and we knew that the filmmakers and communities we served would bear the brunt of his hateful legislation and rhetoric.
We knew our communities would need stories that reflected their strength, power and resilience back at them, so we commissioned a series of short films to release after the inauguration that outlined an alternative vision for the first 100 days. http://www.firelightmedia.tv/our-100-days-1
Meanwhile, many of our colleagues in the doc field questioned if they had spent too much time within the “liberal bubble” and not enough time “giving voice” to the “disenfranchised communities who voted for Trump”. https://www.indiewire.com/2016/12/documentaries-trump-liberal-bubble-sundance-1201758290/
I disagreed, and offered we might “move beyond using film to simply build empathy, and instead think about how film can serve the harder, messier, but ultimately more transformational work of building solidarity.” https://medium.com/@sonya.childress/beyond-empathy-9de95bc56f93
As we wake up to the truth that the “disenfranchised communities who voted for Trump” 4 years ago were no aberration, but instead grew to 70 million people, we find ourselves again at a crossroads. Whose voices do we center? Where is empathy directed? What stories do we elevate?
Filmmakers are themselves members of important communities, through blood or geography, and play an integral role within ecosystems of change. Filmmakers can either engage directly with their communities and these ecosystems, or pretend to be above them. https://www.fordfoundation.org/campaigns/creative-futures/?popup=14761
To me, the lesson from 2016 is not to give voice to the voiceless, but to lift up the incredible storytelling that is coming from within communities that wield real power, esp Southerners and rural folks. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/stay-mad-the-path-to-freedom-in-the-us-runs-through-the-south/
I want to hear from these communities, and I want to support the storytellers that are based in these communities. I believe more than ever that we must invest, protect, and sustain arts and cultural spaces for Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. https://culturalnewdeal.com/
Thankfully, these regional storytellers are not invisible. They simply need the documentary field to recognize the vital cultural and political work they are doing, and ensure their work is recognized, respected and resourced. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/beyond-inclusion/
