I started my sojourn as a filmmaker in 2013 when I was asked to co-produce Vow of Silence a multiple award winning narrative short film by Be Steadwell. Leading up to that hands on experience, I felt a deep connection, as a child during the Civil Rights Era and the Black Power Movement, to "Race Films". Movies such as Nothing But A Man, A Raisin In The Sun, Watermelon Man, In The Heat of The Night, even the Pam Grier Blackploitation films caught my imagination at times. I knew the power of film to connect with its audience, to impact the heart, soul, mind. The possibility of reaching audiences through film with the intent of centering voices that often are unheard and marginalized, is why I chose this art form. My filmmaking is a continuation of the goal of giving a platform to artists activists when I produced and hosted a radio series, This Light: Sounds For Social Change. Today we find ourselves in a time where truth is sanctioned and history is cherry picked. As a filmmaker, I feel that I am charged to shine a light on stories that can stir conversation hopefully catalyzing progressive social change.
"If you are silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it."
Zora Neale Hurston
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This documentary gives us a more intimate view of Mary Lumpkin through the oral history shared with her great, great granddaughter Prof. Carolivia Herron. The connection between slavery and today's systemic racism and Black women, not unlike Mary, who resist via community organizing, and more. Release 2024
BackBurner Dreams Trailer