We are moving stories

“This film was very personal to me because I am in a long distance relationship and wanted to share the experience of the long waiting, the phone calls, and the random times where you aren’t getting along and it gives you anxiety. I also wanted to share the experience of how happy it makes you feel to finally be with that person and be physical with them along with the cycle of them eventually having to leave and the process starts all over.”

“I created my web series because I wanted to tell the story of the late 20-something queer women of color trying to find their footing, nurture bonds with friends, and digging into what it means to be loved. I used my hometown of Jersey City as the backdrop as a sort of an ode to the city that raised me. The making of the series was important to me. I wanted to mirror the feeling of 90s sitcoms that I loved like ‘Martin’ and ‘Living Single’ with an updated style. Each character also represents a unique woman of color – in skin tones, shapes/sizes, personal beliefs, LGBTQIA+, etc – was crucial.”

“I made black enuf* in order to love myself more and investigate what passes the authenticity threshold for blackness & queerness. My interest extended to how my family thinks about race and their own identities.”

“SEARIT: We want to broaden the term “gamer” and re-introduce it with characters we typically don’t see on screen. A lot of the current representation for gamers are not favorable and/or very stereotypically male. We rarely see any media of POCs, WOCs, or LGBTQ+ gamers and we wanted to have a space for this underrepresented group of people.

KELLEY: We want people to walk away with something they relate to, whether it be: that you’re a woman of color, LGBTQ, love FPS gaming or cat games, etc. We’re reaching out to a very particular audience.”

“I would like for queer women and women of color to feel empowered by this film, to recognize that healing is an important journey, and realize that their stories matter.”

“I encountered Virginia Christian’s story around the same time #sayhername and #findourgirls were trending on social media. Sandra Bland. Tarika Wilson. Korryn Gaines. Name by name my eyes were opened to the violent oppression and silencing of black women in America. Reframed by this modern context, Christian’s story felt very relevant. It tragically didn’t feel “old” and I had an urgent desire to tell this story from her point of view.”

“Audiences should watch this film for several reasons. Alice’s story can serve as an inspiration for numerous minorities interested in pursuing STEM fields. It gives an insight into a particular time in history, specifically a time where leprosy patients were separated from their families and exiled into a remote island named, Moloka’i. It can also serve as a parallel to what the world is going through right now with the COVID-19 outbreak and human cost of ignorance.”

“you will hear first hand the stories of African American artists who, denied the same access and opportunities as their white colleagues, seized educational opportunities, became prominent faculty members and leaders of African-American schools, and established their own venues to exhibit and publish their artwork.”

“I made this film because I wanted to showcase two communities I’m a part of, but from the perspective of people in those communities that are rarely shown. I love history that pertains to black women and it has always been fascinating to me that black women have been in almost every war, yet little has been archived about them.”

“I wanted to make a personal film and tell a solid story. A story that is almost invisible in mainstream media. The story of how an African American family was affected by the Catholic Church Sex Sandel...and survived.”

“It’s a messed up world when a 16 year old gets sentenced to life in prison. I made this film because when I saw Cyntoia Brown’s Documentary, I wanted to share her story with other people with the intention that they would be motivated in the same way I was to look in to Cyntoia’s story and do something about a system that thought it was justice to carry out the type of punishment that was dealt to Cyntoia. I wanted to use my film as a way to ask a larger question and to start a conversation.”

“I want this film to affirm and open up discussion. I want it to affirm black people who hide their feelings in times of racial strife and help non-black people to understand what we deal with when racism in America pervades our lives.”

“A few personal and universal themes are family togetherness and having a faith-based foundation. Both of these items serve as a core that all individuals can go back to. There is a vast amount that the audience member can come away with, and hopefully will be changed to live better.”

“We shot an entire documentary short first that my mother, the principal subject, hated. My decision to add other genres and performance vignettes was in response to that experience.”

“My friends and I would vent to each other in frustration about the challenges of navigating privilege in the workplace. So I knew I always wanted to make a project about that topic. When I first decided to write and direct my first film, I wrestled with the type of film I should make for months. And literally, one morning I woke up with the idea to make this movie. It resonated with me so much that I wrote my first draft in 90 minutes. ”

“In 2022, 45 percent of Black Americans own a home, compared to 74 percent of white Americans – a gap wider than in 1960, when racial discrimination in housing was legal. Redlining and predatory lending are not a thing of the past; they are happening right now in Detroit, where are film takes place, and other cities across the country.”

“This film translates in a sensitive and poetic way a subject that can be lacerating for Afro-Cuban communities, from a perspective that appeals to the aesthetic rigor of representation.”

“PAT: Someday, we all will face death. We all have loved ones who will face death. This film will give everyone in the audience food for thought on how they would choose to die if given the opportunity. It will also provoke a moral discussion if this law should give people the freedom to choose when and where they want to die.”

“From a personal standpoint, I wanted to touch on the curiosity that our society has with women of a certain age not being married with kids. Also what that means for me in terms of my family’s expectation of me. Beyond that, the film offers a snapshot of the family dynamics between siblings as well as between parent and child. Most people can relate to one if not both of those very complicated relationships. It explores what it might look like to care for a parent suffering from dementia while still attempting to pursue your own hopes and dreams. All in all, the universal theme is that sometimes we encounter obstacles and disgraceful moments that eventually lead us to grace.”

“I had notes scribbled for a film based on the idiom “grist for the mill;” and I drew from personal experience as well as known experiences of family and friends and my knowledge of prominent themes in the film like sex positivity and intimate partner violence to write the script. The seven-member team, one day, net 10-hour shoot for “grist” took place at my apartment in December 2020.”

“This is the most intensely personal thing I’ve made. It’s my story, but it’s also a story I wasn’t seeing about love. And more importantly, empowering and honoring that the past can’t be any different. The enigma of love is that we are never fully prepared. The romantic tropes in film tell us to move on to someone else to feel whole again. This is not that kind of narrative.”

“It works in my film because we are all human beings and we all can relate to relationships, the ups and down, the mis-communication or even the expectations from each other.”

“In Soulmates, a young woman and a young man meet on the internet. From this meeting will be born a series of events as vibrant as it is troubling. This project is in the spirit of films such as Sixth Sense by Mr. Night Shyamalan or Ghost by Jerry Zucker. It is also, undoubtedly, an acknowledged homage to the films of Alfred Hitchcock. I think lovers of the fantastic universe will love the plot and the suspense just through the title of the movie “Soulmates”. Do we all need to know who our soulmate is in our life? That’s why I think people will go see this movie.””