Standalone Documentaries
Ropes In Brown Hands (2022)
Role: Editor
Oklahoma was home to the most Black towns out of any state in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Boley is one of only 13 that remain today. The town is rich with a history of Black success, and an integral part of that history is the annual Boley Rodeo, which is said to be the longest running, Black community-based rodeo. We follow CJ Demery, a cowboy who grew up competing in the rodeo, and who wants to continue the tradition of rodeo in Black culture.
Awards:
Grand Prize Best Short Film & The Better Economies for All Prize, Better Cities Film Festival (2022)
The Freedom Singer (2021)
Role: Editor/Animator
In the early 1960s, The Freedom Singers traveled across the country to raise funds for the civil rights movement. Their songs spread a message of determination and hope. Rutha Mae Harris was one of the original members of The Freedom Singers, and she still takes every chance she can to tell the story of the civil rights movement through song. This piece shares the oral history of a civil rights activist that left college and the path she was on, to fight for the rights of Black folks in her community and give everything she had to the movement.
Selected for Video Consortium Atlanta’s programming
Catfish Kingdom (2020)
Role: Editor/Animator/Sound op
The 1980s saw an explosion of catfish production in the U.S. — the south was dotted with dozens, if not hundreds, of processing plants. Every last one, however, was under white ownership. That is, until Ed Scott Jr. came along.
From being refused government loans, to having 900 acres of land taken during “The Great Land Robbery,” Scott battled entrenched, institutionalized racism to become the first person of color in America to own and operate a catfish processing plant.
This animated piece tells the story of the Mississippi Delta catfish legend. We spoke with Willena Scott-White, Scott’s daughter and the “family historian,” about her father’s life and legacy. Between the oral history from Scott-White, archival footage and animation, we weaved together the story of Ed Scott Jr.
Selected for Video Consortium DC’s programming
Selected for the 2020 Crossroads Film Festival
Asylum: Beyond the Border Crisis (2018)
Walkout: The School Funding Rebellion (2018)
In Dry Water (2020)
Ghost Forest: Dying trees show climate change's advance (2019)