Special to The Truth<\/p>\n
Amid funding headwinds, national media arts nonprofit intensifies support for diverse Black stories with world premiere of a climate and social justice film.
\nBlack Public Media, the Harlem-based national media arts nonprofit, is doubling down on its mission to fund and support stories about the Black experience despite recent funding challenges.<\/p>\n
BPM has acquired \u201cWe Call Each Other,\u201d the debut short film by Chicago director Sarah Oberholtzer, for its \u201cAfroPoP Digital Shorts\u201d series. The film, which has been released on Black Public Media\u2019s YouTube channel ahead of Kwanzaa, brings to life the Kwanzaa principle of Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility),observed on December 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe Call Each Other\u201d is an emotionally rich drama of a fictional community
\nfacing drought and environmental racism. Against the backdrop of
\nlong-standing environmental racism and chronic drought, the film\u2019s
\nprotagonist Naullin faces a personal dilemma when someone steals the liquid
\nfertilizer he uses to tend his at-home garden. The short film, which weaves
\nnonfiction recorded audio into a scripted story, features residents who
\nlean on one another to create safety and redemption far outside the
\ncriminal justice system.<\/p>\n
The December\/January episode of \u201cAfroPoP Digital Shorts\u201d comes to streaming
\nas BPM deepens and expands its long-standing efforts to ensure that Black
\nstories like \u201cWe Call Each Other\u201d remain available on public media despite
\nCongress snatching back $1.8 million it had allocated earlier this year.
\nThe funding was rescinded when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was
\ngutted by the federal government. In response, BPM launched the Black
\nStories Production Fund, supported by an unprecedented grassroots
\nfundraising campaign to raise $9 million over the next two years \u2014 ensuring
\nthat Black stories are never again subject to political interference or
\nchronic underinvestment.
\n\u201cFor more than 45 years, Black Public Media has helped bring important
\nstories like Sarah\u2019s to audiences nationwide \u2014 stories rooted in community
\nand responsive to the issues shaping our lives,\u201d said Leslie Fields-Cruz,
\nexecutive director of BPM. \u201cPublic media is stronger when Black story
\ntellers and the full breadth of Black experience are centered in the
\nconversation.\u201d
\n\u201cWe Call Each Other\u201d grew out of four years of community organizing work by
\nOberholtzer (they\/them), an advocate for divestment from policing and
\nmilitarization in favor of people-centered infrastructure. Their
\nstand-alone film is a part of an anthology-format short film series
\nimagining community outside of carceral strategies for public safety.
\nThe film is directed, written and produced by Oberholtzer; Johna\u00e9 Strong is
\nproducer. Executive producers are Aymar Jean Christian and Kristiana Rae
\nC\u00f2lon.
\nWatch \u201cWe Call Each Other\u201d on Black Public Media\u2019s YouTube channel and donate to the BPM\u2019s Black Stories Production Fund this Giving Season
\nat:<\/p>\n
For more information about BPM, visit* blackpublicmedia.org
\nor
\nfollow it on social media at: @blackpublicmedia (IG, FB, TikTok and
\nLinkedIn).<\/p>\n
Black Public Media supports the development of visionary content creators
\nand distributes stories about the global Black experience to inspire a more
\nequitable and inclusive future. For 45+ years, BPM has addressed the needs
\nof unserved and underserved audiences. BPM-supported programs have won five
\nEmmys, 10 Peabodys, five Anthem Awards, 14 Emmy nominations and an Oscar
\nnomination. BPM continues to address historical, contemporary and systemic
\nchallenges that traditionally impede the development and distribution of
\nBlack stories.
\n###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Special to The Truth Amid funding headwinds, national media arts nonprofit intensifies support for diverse Black stories with world premiere of a climate and social justice film. Black Public Media, the Harlem-based national media arts nonprofit, is doubling down on its mission to fund and support stories about the Black experience despite recent funding challenges. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[326],"class_list":["post-18107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18109,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18107\/revisions\/18109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18107"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=18107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}