News from With Wings and Roots (Newsletter)

Nevertheless She/We Persisted,

We are embracing this motto as we dig deep in our storytelling to reframe migration, citizenship and belonging. We recently returned from editing in Puerto Rico, and are headed to Los Angeles for a roughcut screening tonight the International Documentary Association's DocuClub Series. We trust that our film, which has taken longer than expected to come out into the world, will in fact, come out at the time it is most needed.

While we are infuriated by the U.S. president holding 800,000 federal workers and 800,000 DACA recipients hostage over a wall, we are working hard to offer a substantial contributions to the conversation. Below is a short update of what we’ve been up to.

The Film

We have been working, slowly but surely, to make the strongest film possible while continuing our ongoing community work (see below). If you happen to live in Los Angeles, come join us on Monday for what will surely be a meaningful conversation about our latest cut of the film.

Since we last wrote, we had the feedback screenings at the San Francisco Art Institute, Allied Media Conference in Detroit and with the Seattle Documentary Association at NW Film Forum. We participated for ten days in the inaugural Doc Lab of Hedgebrook, an incredible residency space for women authoring change. There, we were able to work closely with powerhouse mentors and other inspiring filmmakers.  With all that great feedback and lots of encouragement, we raised funds to get back to the edit.

Christina was recently in Puerto Rico along with Berlin collaborator Lotti Schulz working with Gisela Rosario Ramos–an editor, director, and performance artist known for her non-fiction and fiction work. An active U.S. colony, working on the Island offered an incredible context to see our material about migration, citizenship, and diaspora with new eyes. In addition, the beach was absolutely the best place to clear our heads after a day in front of the computer screen.

In Community

We continue to offer workshops and screenings in schools, conferences, and festivals in the U.S. and Europe. A few highlights from the last year include a day-long workshop for 50+ attendees in Seattle on Migration in the World, and a weeklong installation of our website ReimagineBelonging.org at the Malta Festival in Poland

Education: "Miman's Story" in Schools

We are thrilled that our 4-module curricula released in 2016 on anti-Roma Racism is being used to train teachers and social workers at various universities in Germany.

The video modules and activities have been taught as exemplar curriculum.

ReimagineBelonging.org

Got some recent events for both Germany and the U.S., written by our awesome new collaborator Kadija Diallo.

We are also thrilled that Friedemann Altrock and Michael Czechowski have come on to help us keep the site growing and running smoothing.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE!

Several recent major gifts have given us incredible momentum, and we are going to keep it up! We also received support from NY Women in Film and Television for color correction.  We are in high gear, and are actively fundraising to close the gap.

If you were moved by the work we are doing, please consider making a tax-deductible donation towards closing our budget gap. The film has always been the heart of this project, and we believe that getting it out now is so important.  Every size of donation helps. Tax-deductible donations can be made through our fiscal sponsor, Women Make Movies (scroll down to With Wings and Roots ) OR You can mail a check to Women Make Movies - 115 W. 29th Street, Suite 1200 New York, NY 10001 Make Sure you put With Wings and Roots on the memo line

During one of our recent presentations, an activist shared, “We can talk about the problems all we want, but this work moves people. It reminds me of the power of film...” Another attendee spoke: “By using the word belonging you’ve unearthed an approach to the topic of immigration that we desperately needed.” We invite participants to reimagine belonging and citizenship beyond the culture of scarcity, and see ourselves as connected to global conversations.

Please stay in touch via email and social media.

Until then, back to the edit!