Photo Credit: Claudia Chavez

The image features a woman with long, wavy black hair and light to medium skin. She is wearing a bright red top under a dark denim or denim-like jacket, adding a casual, stylish contrast. Her expression is gentle and calm, with a slight smile. She is standing against a stone wall that serves as a textured, neutral background, highlighting her natural look. The lighting is soft and natural, accentuating her facial features and the color contrast between her outfit and the stone wall.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Crystal Chien

[Image Description: Jennifer, pictured from the chest up, wears a black sweater, a grey, knitted winter cap, and a pair of black framed glasses. She looks directly into the camera.]

Filmmaker, activist, and co-founder of Re-Present Media Jennifer Crystal Chien joins host Toni Bell in examining the need to generate new and more authentic representations and portrayals of BIPOC communities and expand those stories to other ways of storytelling.

This discussion engages the vital question of who is determining what is of interest and to whom. The question of an audience is an important one because it is often asked from the white dominant perspective, which influences the filmmaking process and limits topics and story arcs deemed acceptable for mainstream storytelling, thus barring some BIPOC filmmakers from accessing funding structures if they do not follow a specific type of mainstream narrative.

Jennifer's theory of change for the field is rooted in liberation and the spirit of the song she picked for this episode by the late great Curtis Mayfield, “Keep On Keeping On”.

Photo Credit: Taz.de

[Image Description: Jihan is pictured from the chest up. She wears a white cotton long-sleeved shirt with a blue design on the shoulders. She wears a necklace with large beads Her curly hair rests on her shoulders.]

During this conversation, I speak with the filmmaker, archivist, and the artistic director of Dox Box, Jihan El Tahri about the manifesto, “Liberate the Image.” The manifesto was a call to action to make archives more accessible to content creators living in the Global South. During the conversation we discussed:

Archival preservation of assets of those who are part of the Global Majority.

Who gets to monetize archives and when does monetization make access to historical assets prohibitive.

The role archivists play in the preservation of history and limitations due to limited staff, storage capacity, and adequate facilities.

Access to non-commercial archives such as museums, community organizations, and individuals.

Licensing struggles across the bordersg.

Photo Credit: Tommy Lau

[Image Description: Mariam is pictured from the torso up. She wears a grayish-blue T-shirt and a dark blue jacket. She has black hair with big curls.]

We recognize that war, conflict, and occupation often bring destruction to physical bodies and the histories, archives, and cultural identities of the people impacted. During this conversation, I spoke with artist, writer, filmmaker, and teacher Mariam Ghani about her latest project, What We Left Unfinished, which is executive produced by Alysa Nahamis. We discussed the necessity and importance of rediscovering history previously thought to be lost and the unique ways those subjected to occupation and conflict, whether through war or political structures, can hold on to their stories.

In this episode, I speak with Jessica Devaney, the founder and president of Multitude Films, an LGBTQ-led independent production company and Emmy, Academy, and Peabody Award winning director, producer, and editor, Geeta Gandbhir. Calls to end extractive storytelling and demands for responsible authorship, and accountability in the documentary field have been the rallying cry for many documentary creators who do not belong to privileged groups. In our conversation, Geeta and Jessica examine the colonial roots of the documentary craft, the harmful and sometimes violent ways these practices are points of view are still upheld wihtin the industry by filmmakers, funders, and other gatekeepers, and what needs to be done to make the change. Because it has become readily apparent that those of us who are committed to this change must stay constantly vigilant, this week’s song is Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”

Photo Credit: Odille

[Image Description: Quentin is pictured from the waist up. He wears a black coat, grey hat, an African mask pendant, and futuristic glasses. Butterflies rest on his hat and shoulder. In the background is a large silver architectural structure.]

In this episode, I speak with award-winning, multidisciplinary visual griot, artrepreneur, art educator, artivist, and ever-growing interstellar tree Quentin VerCetty. Quentin is one of the founding members of the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM) and co-editor of the first Canadian Afrofuturism art anthology, Cosmic Underground Northside: An Incantation of Black Canadian Speculative Discourse and Innerstandings. The term Afrofuturism addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and science fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afrodiasporic experiences. Because Quentin’s vision of Afrofuturism includes looking to our past to conquer the challenges of the present to create a egalitarian future, this week’s song is Chronixx’s “Dela Move.”