“We know that our rising tide lifts all boats. We are who we depend on, so we create spaces where we can uplift each other. This is not a place where you’re going to go to a party and everyone will be looking over their shoulder for the more important person. We support each other’s films, we support each other as filmmakers, we applaud each other’s rising, and we take credit for each other. We’re a family, we’re all we got, and we know it.”
Darcy McKinnon, Producer “Commuted”
I have had to give myself time to let my experience of New Orleans’ vibrant film community marinate within my consciousness. It felt like a dream, my time there, but in the best way. I feel like the film community in New Orleans could be used as a road map for other film communities that are not LA or NYC. I would not call the film community of New Orleans “emerging” because I feel they have “emerged,” and really have set themselves apart as one of the most collaborative film communities in the country. When I was there earlier this month, I dove deep into my experience, and I was drunk with the exuberant creative energy I immersed myself in.
I lead my wrap-up piece with a quote Darcy McKinnon said in response to my question, ‘what do you hope people see in your film community?’ This is a question I so often ask, but it’s usually more directed to filmmakers about their films. Every time I ask that question, as repetitive as it is, it gets to the heart of it every time. Darcy is the producer of “Commuted,” which was one of the opening night films of the festival. And she was the former Executive Director of NOVAC, a digital youth media program for young future creatives, ages 8 to 24, from diverse backgrounds in South Louisiana. I asked her and the rest of the panel on the New Orleans Independent Film community this question. The panel also featured Jason Waggenspack, head of The Ranch Film Studios; Stevee-Rayne Warren, also working at NOVAC; and independent filmmaker Thomas Lim. Carroll Morton, Director of Film New Orleans, served as the panel’s moderator.
I have already shared my interviews with four filmmakers whose work screened at the festival, Nailah Jefferson (“Commuted”), Jaclyn Bethany (“Before the World Set on Fire”), Raven Jackson (“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”), and Michéle Stephenson (“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”). But I’d like to highlight some other films that I was able to screen by integrating words from the producers or filmmakers of these films.
Bone Black: Midwives vs. the South/Creative Non-Fiction Producer Panel
The film is poetry and dedicated to the Black women of the South. A beautiful directorial work by Imani N. Dennison. I had the opportunity to attend a panel that featured producers of Creative Non-Fiction. Flor de oro Tejada, the producer on the film, was on this panel and said, “I really started thinking about creative non-fiction in a way I related to it in like the literary form, essays, poems, and personal memoirs. I felt that there is something that is really artistic, and poetic in and diverse in creative non-fiction that I think is unique in what we’re trying to do. I think there are a lot of people who want to push the boundary in what documentaries can do, telling truthful stories. I was really thinking that I’m a person who has historically had a hard time reading thick historical books. And for me, my way to get into those stories is creative non-fiction. So I think with documentary, it’s nice to have the lens of poetry in it.” The film was supported by the Queen Collective, also supporting frequently featured Luchina Fisher’s short film “Team Dream.”
“Bone Black: Midwives vs the South” won the Jury prize for Documentary Non-Fiction
Richland/Creative Non-Fiction Producer Panel
“Richland” has had a timely festival release during the Barbenheimer craze this summer. The focus of this film is not about a man, but about a town in Washington that was the community behind the building of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. We see Richland’s present day community. I really felt drawn in because the voices were of the town members, and not outside talking heads. There is a rift in perspective in the community between the youth and the older generations. The youth reflect their history as problematic and difficult for them to embrace. The film is directed by
Irene Lusztig, and produced by Sara Archambault. Sara was on the panel with Flor (“Bone Black”), and she also had some great things to say about producing Creative Non-Fiction films, specifically with “Richland”, “A different language is used for fiction or other kinds of work than documentary, but it allows you to push back on basically the normal kind of cinematic language that are handed to the formulaic language. So when you break out the formulas that people are seeing, you are often bringing a kind of politics to that work, just to be active in breaking form.” You can see the fluidity of this film’s story through a broadening of the storytelling in “Richland.” It’s chilling, but also has some hopeful elements through the younger generations.
Garden High/Creative Non-Fiction Producer Panel
“Garden High” director and producer Jayme Kaye Gershen takes it back to the earth with a lens on a backyard community garden in Miami. We see the meditative impact it has been making on the people in that community. Jayme added her thoughts on Creative Non-Fiction on the producer panel, “but in my world I love the term creative non-fiction, it makes more sense for anything I’ve been using. And I think it’s a creative way to go about storytelling, and connecting that goes beyond traditional structure of documentary filmmaking.” Jayme is part of the emerging Miami film community that has some of the pieces that makes New Orleans’ film community so successful. Jayme is in good company with filmmakers like Monica Sorelle, who screened her film “Mountains” at the festival. I interviewed Monica earlier this year.
You and I
I so loved Summer Shelton’s “You and I.” Her feature directorial debut was a gem with so many different facets and edges, and complexities of beauty. It’s a sexy film, with intense emotions. Great supporting role by Ashley Shelton. I got to see the Q&A with Summer after the film screened. She shared that she came up with this film during the pandemic, and that this film wasn’t a true story, but was inspired by aspects to her past relationships. You can tell that she let her heart bleed through this project, and it shows through the performances, and the delicate edits of this painful love story.
South Pitch Documentary
I was unable to attend the South Pitch Narrative, but I was able to watch the documentary pitches. The theater was packed, and the energy for these filmmakers was on fire. The winner of documentary South Pitch won $10,000, with the other finalists receiving $1000 each. Something I learned through this experience is that the south is rich with talent, vibrant, and so diverse in their story telling. One pitch was by two Cuban women, Ana Alpizar and Zoe Garcia Miranda. They are from Miami, and show again how Miami is emerging with talent within their film community. They pitched their feature documentary, “The Cuban Suitcase: The Smell of Progress,” which tells the story of their immigrant experience through suitcases. Another pitched film, “Basketball Heaven,” and the winner of the pitch, directed by Resita Cox, is about her town Kinston, NC, and how they’ve fostered professional Basketball talent over the years, including Michael Jordan. Resita ran into her pitch wearing a basketball jersey with a basketball in hand, you could see the passion and fire in her. One of my favorite pitches was for “Mississippi Mercedes”, a story about a lesbian woman in a small town running for mayor. The director is Hanna Miller, and she has an authentic voice that I feel should be elevated, her quirky folksy humor is so needed within our film voices.
The pitch session was for three hours, but I did not even notice. The panel of judges was moderated by Elise McCave, Head of Film at Kickstarter. Elise was so good at keeping everyone within time, and you could tell she was very excited about all of the up and comers.
In conclusion, I’m so excited about this community, and I can’t wait to come back next year. I hope to deepen my bonds with the people I met there.
