Description:

Follow the Drinking Gourd is a feature documentary about the Black food justice movement. Family-friendly, funny, and moving, this 60-minute film connects the legacy of slavery, capitalism and climate change to our fight for food security. It features: Leah Penniman, author of "Farming While Black"; Naima Penniman of the award-winning, spoken word duo, Climbing Poetree, recently featured on TED; Wanda Stewart, urban farmer in Berkeley, CA; Will Scott, rural farmer in Fresno, CA; Carl Anthony, environmentalist, founder of Urban Habitat; and Rahanna Bisseret-Martinez, former Top Chef Junior finalist.

Biography:

Shirah Dedman is a filmmaker, journalist, attorney, and activist creating content at the intersection of economics, race, and the environment. Her short film on the displacement of Black Oakland, “You a Nomad,” broadcasted on Free Speech TV. Shirah is a 2018-2019 Associate of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and of the Equal Justice Initiative. She’s a member of KPFA Radio’s Local Station Board, and the Programming Committee of its parent organization, Pacifica Foundation. Passionate about cooperative action, she's a member of Liberated Lens, a horizontally-run, intersectional, social justice film collective. The journey to making Follow the Drinking Gourd changed the course of her life. Shirah's now pursuing her Master of Laws in Agriculture & Food Law at the University of Arkansas Law School.