DOK Industry Podcast
DOCTalk: BIPOC Representation in Front of & Behind the Camera
In this two-part conversation, American Documentary Executive Director and Executive Producer of POV and America ReFramed, Erika Dilday, sits down with four storytellers to discuss the power of creating documentaries by and for BIPOC communities.
In our first conversation, Erika Dilday joins artist and filmmaker Chloe Abrahams to dive into the creation of her first feature documentary, „The Taste of Mango“. Together the two discuss Chloe’s deeply personal portrait of her own family and the Sri Lankan British community.
In the second conversation, Erika Dilday sits down with director Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough, producer Dawne Langford and activist/doc participant Erricka Bridgeford, to discuss their film, „The Body Politic“. Together, they speak to the film’s powerful portrait of the city of Baltimore and the radical methods to end gun violence being uplifted by the city’s BIPOC community.
Length: 48:21
Recorded on August 11 and 26, 2024
Moderator: Erika Dilday
Erika Dilday, producer, journalist and media executive, is the Executive Director of American Documentary and the Executive Producer of its award-winning documentary series POV on PBS and America ReFramed on WORLD.
Previously, she was the CEO of Futuro Media Group, a multimedia organization that gives a critical voice to the diversity of the American experience through award-winning journalistic content for and about BIPOC.
She is a graduate of Harvard College, the Columbia School of Journalism and Columbia Business School. In 2020 she was a Knight Nieman fellow at Harvard University where she authored a piece for the Nieman Reports on authentic journalism in communities of color.
Her latest film projects include Civil War with Rachel Boynton and Meanwhile with Catherine Gund.
Website: www.amdoc.org
Photo credit: IDA (International Documentary Association)
Guests
Chloe Abrahams is a Sri Lankan British artist and filmmaker. Using methods drawn from both documentary and fiction practices, she investigates the therapeutic potential of the confessional, culminating in visceral work spanning moving image, sound, writing and performance.
Chloe’s debut non-fiction film, “The Taste of Mango”, premiered at True/False 2023 where it was named the #1 film by Sight & Sound.
She had her first solo exhibition at OVADA (2014), and has since been selected for exhibitions worldwide, including The London Open at the Whitechapel Gallery 2022.
Previously, Chloe worked as the Marketing Coordinator for documentary distributor Dogwoof, responsible for the execution of all UK theatrical campaigns, and recently completed a Master’s in Moving Image at the Royal College of Art, where she was nominated for the HIGH Prize for Excellence.
Photo credit: Alice Aedy
Dawne Langford expanded her role to producing after years as a broadcast television editor in public media after her acceptance to the PBS Producers Academy in 2013.
She shifted her focus to working on making independent feature documentaries, including “Check It”, “Kandahar Journales”, “Finding Joseph I”.
Recently, she produced “The Body Politic”.
She was a 2023 Sundance Producers Lab Fellow cohort member and the 2024 Sundance + Adobe Women to Watch Fellow. Her primary interest is amplifying traditionally suppressed narratives and presentations of historical events to deepen understanding, support learning, and stimulate community dialogue.
Filmography:
“The Body Politic”, 2023, Producer
“The First Class”, 2024, Associate Producer and Field Producer
“Check It”, 2016, Associate Producer
Photo credit: Martina Fornace
Erricka Bridgeford is a renowned activist, healer, inspirational speaker, peace warrior, and all-around unicorn from Baltimore. She has worked to repeal the death penalty in Maryland and has worked to get money and resources to families of murder victims.
Erricka is currently most known for being a Co-Founder of Baltimore Peace Movement, formerly known as Baltimore Ceasefire 365. This is a movement that makes quarterly calls for 72 hours of life-affirming events and uplifting peace and joy in Baltimore. In 2017, she was named the Marylander of the Year for her role in starting Baltimore Ceasefire 365. Erricka is currently Executive Director at the Baltimore Community Mediation Center, where she continues to mediate conflicts, train mediators, and lead conflict management trainings.
Filmography:
“The Body Politic”, 2023, film participant
“Charm City”, 2018, film participant
“SAGE”, 2018, film participant
Community Mediation Website
Baltimore Peace Movement Website
Photo credit: Lonnie Dawson Photography
DOK Industry Podcast 2024 is realised in partnership with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective and What’s Up With Docs Podcast, and supported by Docs-in-Orbit and film.macht.kritisch - The podcast about the *other* cinema.
DOK Industry is realised with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a Decision of the German Bundestag.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
