Project Description
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We are Through A Lens Darkly LLC, independent documentary filmmakers
who, for over 25 years, have focused on creating unique audio-visual
experiences that inform, educate and entertain,
while illuminating the human condition in the search for identity,
family and
spirituality.
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TALD producers Thomas Allen Harris & Deborah Willis with Ford Foundation President Darren WalkerWe have successfully launched an epic new award-winning documentary film,
THROUGH A LENS DARKLY: BLACK PHOTOGRAPHERS AND THE EMERGENCE OF A PEOPLE, which has played to sold-out audiences at festivals and in theaters in over 60 cities around the world, from New York to Melbourne, Los Angeles to Cairo, Chicago to Krakow, Atlanta to Rio de Janerio and everywhere in between, and will be nationally broadcast on PBS' Independent Lens on February 16th.
Through A Lens Darkly, inspired by the ground-breaking work of photo-historian Deborah Willis, PhD., is about contemporary artists probing the recesses of the American dream by
interrogating images of stories suppressed, forgotten and lost. It is the
first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity,
aspirations and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the
present.
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Our companion transmedia project,
DIGITAL DIASPORA FAMILY REUNION: 1WORLD1FAMILY, launched in 2009, is specifically
designed to get audiences to personally engage with the subject matter of the
film by bringing their own family photographs to a live public event, where their
images are shared with others in the creation of a new form of community, where
strangers are transformed into “family.” We have held over 23 DDFR engagements across the country, interviewing over 900 participants, gathering over 1000 hours of video footage, collecting over 10,000 images and receiving over 80,000 "Likes" and over 12.2 million media impressions, which have resulted in an additional 2,000 images being gathered from people eager to share their stories via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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Thomas Allen Harris and TALD Team @ Dartmouth CollegeEverywhere we have traveled, people have asked us how they, too, can use our film and transmedia platform in their schools, places of work, organizations and neighborhoods to spark cross-cultural and inter-generational dialogues on issues of race, visual representation, self-identity, self-determination and how we "see" one another, especially ideas around "The Other." This campaign will help us to create "Train-the-Trainer" materials and guides so that we can enlarge the reach of the film and DDFR. Specifically, we are looking to create:
- Educational Teaching Guides for High Schools Educators
- Diversity & Inclusion Templates for Businesses & Institutions
- Community Tool-kits for Local Organizations
The funds raised will be used for scholars, academic consultants, writers, multilingual translators, multimedia producers, videographers and editors to help us develop innovative tools that will enable the issues, ideas, messages and values prominent in the film and throughout the DDFR transmedia project to be successfully duplicated anywhere and everywhere.
We are at a socio-cultural and political moment where our understanding of people who are different from us is of vital importance to our own ability to understand ourselves. We see daily reminders of the dangers of marginalization and lack of representation in the images that define a society.
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People Killed In Police Custody 1999 - 2014 Source: NAACP LDF, Inc. & Gawker
Through A Lens Darkly and Digital Diaspora Family Reunion offer Hope and a way forward that leads to greater social harmony and improved relations between people, founded on our shared values and experiences as Human Beings. This campaign will help us to spread that Hope far and wide.
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Through A Lens Darkly Screening, Cardinal Ritter High School, St. Louis, 2014What We Need
We are looking to raise $150,000 to cover production costs associated with the creation of the 1World1Family Tool-Kit. We already have a substantial amount of content "in the can," which needs to be reviewed, transcribed and turned into short video pieces. We need to create specific teaching and discussion guides for each short piece and the guides need to be translated into Spanish. We need to create step-by-step instructional materials for how to run a DDFR event, including associated film screenings, community photo-sharing sessions and community discussions on visual literacy. We need to develop best practices and business cases for Diversity & Inclusion training and facilitation guides. We need to create specific educational classroom guides and student activities using our existing content and conforming to Common Core protocols.
We are routing contributions to the campaign through our fiscal sponsor, National Black Programming Consortium, which has been a very strong supporter and funder of our project. All contributions over $150 will be tax-deductible (less the value of the premium received.)
The Impact
PROJECT IMPACT – TALD: Post-VIP Screening, Aug 12, 2014
“The film
is very important to anyone who is seeking liberation from self-doubt, and
looking to reconnect to the greatness and power of family and community. This
was a serious undertaking by committed artist who have a love for human
family..........kudos TEAM DDFR/TALD” - Kev via Facebook
“Thank you so much for
this wonderful and necessary piece of work! I left the theater proud,
reaffirmed, uplifted and education. There are so many artists in this project that I have studied and
purchased their books. It also affirmed the decisions and sacrifices I have
made over the past 4 years to switch careers and pursue fine art photography.” - Kimberly via Facebook
"I
cannot speak enough about your movie. After the screening, my head was about to
explode because of the many images that were running through my brain. I
could not go home. Instead, I went to a Harlem bar with my friend … to
have a debrief ....There, we sat and talked about
the many stories and emotions packed in your movie: abandonment, life
without a father, African-American history, self-esteem, family, freedom,
slavery, family secrets, passing, the value that people of color place on each
other (i.e. the photos that were tossed in the garbage). I could go on
and on and on. … I stayed at the bar until 1AM talking about
your film and how we need to get others to experience it....You gave each of us who saw your film a gift,
and I thank you.” - Alton via email
PROJECT IMPACT – DDFR: Post-Brooklyn College Engagement,
"Thank you to Thomas Allen Harris and his crew for reminding us how and
why real people make real history every day. While DDFR encourages us to opens
our hearts and our minds to own personal history, sharing our these experiences
in front of an audience of our colleagues, friends, and family members opens us
to a much wider human experience. That we can share and admire why we are
historically and culturally unique as we behold and treasure our affinities as
human beings is, for this participant, the wondrous balance created by
DDFR. ... History will never be the same in these parts." - Steve via email
Other Ways You Can Help
Please help us to spread the word about Through A Lens Darkly and Digital Diaspora Family Reunion. Tell you friends, share on social media, send the link for the campaign to your contact lists and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
If you know of organizations or community groups, schools or colleges, people or collaborators we should speak with; or know places that we should screen the film, host a discussion or bring the DDFR Roadshow, contact us, we play well with others!