Butterfly+Trees

KY Place is an independently produced web series that encourages conversations about issues relevant to Kentucky, without shying from taboos. It asks questions and seeks answers while understanding that sometimes there are none.

A place well known for bourbon, coal, fried chicken, and horse racing, the Bluegrass State has become a folksy centerpiece on the national stage that’s commonly misunderstood. Using the shareable nature of the web series format, this series seeks to give voice to those who have been historically marginalized and show that this state – like many places around the world – is complex, diverse, and beautiful.

In just four episodes, we spoke with sixteen individuals who brought their experiences, ideas, and solutions to the table; recognizing both the traditions that bring us together and the obstacles that hold us back.

As a proof of concept, KY Place demonstrates how locally-produced media could function as a catalyst for open discussions—for Kentuckians and for people facing similar challenges elsewhere.

Looking ahead, the future of this series will go where Kentucky goes. Progress starts on the community level, and communities grow when neighbors talk to one another. Consider donating to KY Place and help keep the conversation going.

LOOK & SEE IS A CINEMATIC PORTRAIT OF THE CHANGING LANDSCAPES AND SHIFTING VALUES OF RURAL AMERICA IN THE ERA OF INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE, AS SEEN THROUGH THE MIND’S EYE OF WENDELL BERRY.

LOOK & SEE revolves around the divergent stories of several residents of Henry County, Kentucky who each face difficult choices that will dramatically reshape their relationship with the land and their community.

In 1965, Wendell Berry returned home to Henry County, where he bought a small farm house and began a life of farming, writing and teaching. This lifelong relationship with the land and community would come to form the core of his prolific writings. A half century later Henry County, like many rural communities across America, has become a place of quiet ideological struggle. In the span of a generation, the agrarian virtues of simplicity, land stewardship, sustainable farming, local economies and rootedness to place have been replaced by a capital-intensive model of industrial agriculture characterized by machine labor, chemical fertilizers, soil erosion and debt – all of which have frayed the fabric of rural communities. Writing from a long wooden desk beneath a forty-paned window, Berry has watched this struggle unfold, becoming one its most passionate and eloquent voices in defense of agrarian life.

Filmed across four seasons in the farming cycle, LOOK & SEE blends observational scenes of farming life, interviews with farmers and community members with evocative, carefully framed shots of the surrounding landscape. Thus, in the spirit of Berry’s agrarian philosophy, Henry County itself will emerge as a character in the film – a place and a landscape that is deeply interdependent with the people that inhabit it.

For more information, please visit https://www.lookandseefilm.com

REDUCTION is a documentary feature about breasts and how they fit into a larger conversation about women’s health and rights.

The average size of the female breast is increasing, yet breast reduction surgery remains a procedure held in low regard. The documentary examines this seldom discussed surgery by following a group of women from diverse backgrounds, who all share the same struggle: their breast size negatively impacts their quality of life. REDUCTION explores the cultural context, medical science, and social stigma surrounding women’s breasts, as well as the life-changing decision of undergoing breast reduction surgery.

For more information, please visit www.reductionfilm.com

Thank you so much for your contribution!

Directors: Marlon Johnson & Anne Flatté
River City Drumbeat (Documentary, 95 minutes) is a multigenerational story of music, love, and legacies set in the American South. Edward “Nardie” White devoted his life to leading the African-American drum corps he co-founded with Zambia Nkrumah in Louisville, Kentucky three decades ago. Together they inspired youth from their West Louisville neighborhood to thrive by connecting them with the art and cultural traditions of their African ancestors. Now Albert Shumake, whose destiny was shaped by the drumline, must take up the mantle for the next generation. Meanwhile, student drummers Imani, Jailen, and Emily navigate adolescence and life changes. River City Drumbeat follows this creative community of mentors, parents, and youth making their way in a world where systemic forces raise obstacles to fulfilling their dreams.

Our film team has been working on this labor of love for nearly four years, and we are thrilled to be at this stage of the project. The World Premiere screenings at the DOC NYC Film Festival in Manhattan in November 2019 generated enthusiastic momentum, and we are currently on our festival run, with screenings announced in Miami, Austin, and Louisville and several more scheduled for 2020.

We are now embarking on the distribution, outreach and audience engagement phase, and we’re committed to the great potential of this independent film to engage and impact audiences in Louisville and at the national level with community and educational screenings. We have developed an outreach and impact proposal, and are seeking support and partners for this campaign to connect the film to audiences in 2020 and beyond.

The mission of our film’s engagement campaign is to inspire others to understand the importance of arts education for all children. River City Drumbeat can generate increased public awareness around this issue by reaching the widest possible audience. The film can serve as affirmation nationwide for people who already live in arts and music communities like that of West Louisville, and as a testament to local and national policymakers who still have more to learn about the value of arts and music education. River City Drumbeat can be employed as a filmic case study for prioritizing art/music education and cultural connection in marginalized communities, and be of use to mentors, educators, parents and youth and the organizations that serve them.

Campaign Goals

• Deepen our nation’s understanding of the importance of arts and music education, mentorship, and afterschool programs
• Connect with stakeholders—community partners, educators, and youth service providers at the local and national level—who can use the film as part of their work
• Involve film in local and national conversations about arts and music education, youth development, education, funding, African-American youth
• Inspire youth and adults to give time to the young people around them, and cultivate cultural connection and art in their lives

Visit www.rivercitydrumbeatmovie.com for more information about the film. Our full Outreach and Impact Proposal is available upon request. Please support our work with a donation to our outreach and impact campaign.

Thank you for donating!

Your tax-deductible contribution will support streaming the film to individuals, high schools, libraries, colleges, universities, and community organizations nationwide. It will also support virtual Zoom Q&A conversations with film participants and filmmakers. Thank you!

Race… white privilege… who or what determines the truth…what do communities choose as symbols? These are the questions examined in Statues, another in the series written and produced by Morgan Atkinson that examines his hometown of Louisville. This hour-long documentary considers America’s current state of intense polarization through the lens of seven public meetings that took place in Louisville between 2017-2019. (In addition to the meetings and their aftermath, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well the extensive unrest sparked by police violence is considered).

The purpose of the meetings was to determine what is appropriate public art for the community. Though the meetings took place throughout Louisville ultimately every meeting returned to the question of what to do about the statue of General John B. Castleman standing in the Cherokee Triangle neighborhood. Is the statue a Jim Crow era tribute to a racist traitor or a fitting salute to a man who made significant contributions to the community? As the “Castleman question” is examined it becomes obvious this is not your standard “Lost Cause” issue. The tension between acknowledging/embracing new cultural norms and determining what is an accurate historical record is palpable. Statues doesn’t choose a side but allows the various points of view to be presented. Like the classic film “Rashomon” it becomes obvious that one person’s sense of the truth does not always resonate or correspond with others. In the end it is up to the viewer to decide in this compelling portrait of a community grappling with many of the issues that are dividing our country.