Our COVID1619 Project is an anthology of four distinct films by four SIFT director/producers that are packaged for broadcast and online screenings which promote new ways of examining the stories from Black and Brown Philadelphians and foster a sense of community while advocating for social change. Each speaker tells their story of how they moved from sadness or rage to service in their community during the global pandemic. You never get to hear everyday Black and Brown people like this in mainstream media. And they affirm that we have the power to help solve problems within our communities.
We also collaborate with local artists through artistic practice & artist workshops, such as Ursula Rucker CRT Popup Poetry Memoir . Ursula Rucker, Tim Motzwer and Lenny Seidman created original music on the soundtrack for our COVID1619 anthology and took our project to very spiritual and meditative space.
The COVID1619 Project is a collaboration between HipCinema Labs and SIFTMedia 215. HipCinema Labs served as the incubator for the SIFT in 2019 and 2020. HipCinema worked with SIFT to supervise post-production and launch COVID1619 Vol. 1 – From Rage to Sadness to Service.
THE LAST RESPONDER
Producer/Director: Nikki Harmon
Cinematographer: Stephanie Malson
Editor: M. Asli Dukan
Running Time: 10 Min
Synopsis: This short doc tells the story of a Philadelphia undertaker and the impact the pandemic has had on his business and his life. Keith Hodges is the director of the Beckett, Brown, and Hodges Funeral Home in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia. The funeral home services primarily African-American families and has been overwhelmed with the bereaved needing their assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
PHOENIX RISING
Producer/Director: Lois M. Moses
Running Time: 8 Min
Synopsis: This short doc tells the story of a Yogini Nya Patrinos who is incited during the confluence of the pandemic, the Breonna Taylor and George Floyd demonstrations, such that she goes out to march, befriends a group of African American teenage girls, and reflects that she has been playing life too small. Through that experience, she turns her practice of yoga into her activism, following a long tradition of yogini’s who fought in and for revolution.
WE, THE ARTISTS
Producer/Director: Melissa Beatriz
Animator : Gabrielle Patterson
Editor: Tatiana Bacchus
Running Time: 2 Min
Synopsis: A reflection on how Philly artists/cultural workers have been impacted by the pandemic, and how they are envisioning a new future that includes cultural equity. The piece uses a combination of documentary footage, animation, and voiceover.
ON THE FRONTLINE
Producer/Director: Eboni Zamani
Produced by: Pearl’s Girl Productions
Cinematographer/Editor: Stephanie Malson
Running Time: 10 Min
Synopsis: This short documentary takes a look at the impact that the dual pandemics of COVID 19 and racism have had on the lives of Black people in Philadelphia. We speak with Sanitation Worker and Advocate Terrill Haigler, Community Organizer Shakira King and Nurse Toni T. about their lives during 2020. We discuss what life has been like for them during a year of civil unrest, personal loss, economic crisis, and a global health crisis.
Click Image below for Snip-its of Private Screening Video on IG
Slide #2
We are honored to have Ursula Rucker provide a score for the project, with musicians, Tim Motzer and Lenny Seidman. The final film edits were deftly accomplished by Steve Schaffer. And the final sound mix and edits were masterfully handled by Sound Engineer, Michael Moore at Lil’ Drummaboy Recordings Studio (818 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19147).
Nadine Patterson, COVID1619 Producer w/ Sound Engineer Mike Moore
SIFTMedia #COVID1619, respectfully borrowed from the sentiments and ideology of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ New York Times 1619Project, by creating work that expresses both the inequities & black/brown resilience that happened around the pandemic.
This project is funded in part by individual donors and the Independence Public Media Foundation. IPMF seeks to build power with communities across Greater Philadelphia by investing in community-owned media and community-led media-making. We support work that amplifies voices, ideas, and solutions rarely heard in mainstream media.
SIFTMedia 215 Collective is a cooperative that centers Black and Latinx women-identified independent media artists who work in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. As filmmakers, we seek to educate ourselves and the wider community by creating socially conscious, culturally relevant work that challenges mainstream narratives and structures. Our mission is to use our collective strength to amplify the work of and create meaningful opportunities for Black and Latinx Women content creators by providing a community of support to share resources, skills, and creative space.
Originally Published March 2022
Sisters in Film & Television - SIFTMEDIA 215 