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An anthology series about love and grief during quarantine. Filmed entirely during the Coronavirus Lockdown using Social Distance and Virtual Directing. Ya’Ke Smith's films have received worldwide acclaim, screening and winning awardsat 100+ film festivals. He has received honors from the Director’s Guild of America, the Student Academy Awards, HBO, and Showtime. He is currently an Associate Professor of Film and Associate Dean at UT Austin's Moody College of Communication.

Pandemic Chronicles

An anthology series about love and grief during quarantine.

In October 2000, a police officer shot and killed unarmed 17-year old Asel Asleh. His story is tragically familiar for Americans, but Asel was not killed in Ferguson, New York City, Atlanta, or Minneapolis. Asel was a Palestinian teenager who was murdered by Israeli police as he participated in a demonstration, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and settler-colonization. There Is A Field began as a play about Asel’s life and his death, told from the perspective of his older sister, Nardin. Through Nardin’s struggle to cope with the murder of her brother, the play offers a uniquely personal lens for learning about intersecting systems of oppression, including Zionism, Jewish supremacy and white supremacy—root causes of state-sanctioned violence and structural racism. Donkeysaddle Projects (DSP) filmed a performance-reading of There Is A Field at the Peñasco Theatre Collective in 2018, performed by activists, artists and organizers from the Movement for Black Lives. There Is A Field film weaves together their performance with archival footage of Asel, and the activists’ own realizations of the parallels they see between Asel’s story and the experiences of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities in the United States. The film, set in Palestine and performed by BIPOC artists and activists in the US, builds solidarity across intersectional struggles for liberation and decolonization, and is sure to spark conversation and connection. ﻿Please join us on Zoom for a panel discussion about "Filmmaking to Dismantle Supremacy." on Sun, May 30 at 6pm with director Jen Marlowe, filmmaker Ya'Ke Smith and activist Wafic Faour, moderated by WRIF boardmember and Dartmouth Prof. Desirée Garcia. You will be sent the Zoom link if you purchase a ticket to the film, or you can <a href="https://watch.eventive.org/wrif2021/play/607c33fef60a790030b39fc5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RSVP here</a>.

There is a Field

A moving documentary about BIPOC artists drawing parallels between the Black Lives Matter movement and the violence Palestinian peace activists face from Israeli police.

Jen Marlowe is a Seattle-based award-winning author/documentary filmmaker/playwright and human rights activist. Jen lived and worked in Jerusalem from 2000-2004, engaging in dialogue-based conflict resolution with Palestinian and Israeli teenagers. Jen also did conflict resolution work with youth in Afghanistan, Cyprus, India, Pakistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was while working with youth in conflict areas that she first picked up a video camera—at that time, in order to record messages being exchanged between Israeli and Palestinian youth. As the youth themselves pushed the video dialogue project to more complex realms, Jen began to explore the idea of how film can be used, not only as a tool of dialogue, but also as a tool of activism. In 2004, with colleagues Adam Shapiro and Aisha Bain, Jen traveled to Northern Darfur and Eastern Chad to make the award-winning documentary film <a href="http://www.donkeysaddle.org/index.php/darfur-diaries" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">Darfur Diaries: Message from Home</a> and wrote the accompanying book <a href="http://www.donkeysaddle.org/index.php/darfur-diaries" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival</a> (Nation Books, 2006). Jen’s second feature-length award-winning documentary is called <a href="http://www.donkeysaddle.org/index.php/rebuilding-hope" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">Rebuilding Hope: Sudan's Lost Boys Return Home</a>. Jen’s second book, called <a href="http://www.donkeysaddle.org/index.php/the-hour-of-sunlight" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian's Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker</a> (Nation Books, 2011), is co-authored with and tells the story of Sami Al Jundi, a Palestinian man who spent ten years in Israeli prison for being involved in militant anti-occupation activities as a youth and who has spent the last two decades of his life working towards nonviolence and peaceful reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Jen is the playwright of <a href="http://www.donkeysaddle.org/index.php/there-is-a-field" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">There is a Field</a>, which addresses issues faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel. Jen has been the recipient of grants, residencies and fellowships from the <a href="http://pulitzercenter.org/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting</a>, <a href="http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">the Nation Institute Investigative Fund</a>, <a href="http://www.dorot.org/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">the Dorot Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/arts/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">Seattle's Office of Arts &amp; Cultural Affairs</a>, <a href="http://www.hedgebrook.org/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">Hedgebrook</a>, and the <a href="http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(59, 76, 125);">Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace &amp; Justice</a>. Wafic Faour was born&nbsp;a&nbsp;Palestinian refugee in Lebanon.&nbsp;He came to the US to study at Northeastern University. Wafic is a member of Vermonters for Justice in Palestine and is active with the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, Migrant Justice and Richmond Racial Equity. He is also a member of the Vermont Coalition for Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools.&nbsp; Ya’Ke Smith, known for his unflinching and veracious style of storytelling, is a rising voice in independent cinema.&nbsp;His films have received world-wide acclaim, screening and winning awards at over 100 film festivals. The Director’s Guild of America, the Student Academy Awards, HBO, have Showtime have honored him. His short, "Katrina’s Son," screened at over 40-film festivals and won 14 awards. The film was also eligible for the 2012 Academy Award in short filmmaking. His debut feature, "WOLF", which NPR called “an impressive piece by a young director,” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and has gone on to screen and win awards at festivals across North America. Currently Ya'Ke has three projects on the film festival circuit, "Brother," which won top honors at the Alternative Fiction Film Festival, Curators Choice at the Walla Walla Film Crush, and Best Texas Short at the Deep in the Heart Film Festival, "Edwin," which screened as part of the PBS Online Film Festival and “The Pandemic Chronicles,” which has won top honors at several film festivals and will be distributed by Full Spectrum Features. Ya’Ke has been featured on NPR, CNN, HLN, Ebony Online, Indiewire, Filmmaker Magazine and Shadow&amp;Act.&nbsp;Ya’Ke graduated with his B.A. from the Communication Arts Department at the University of The Incarnate Word and received his M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin’s film program, where he is currently an Associate Professor of film and the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Moody College of Communication. Variety magazine named him one of the best film educators in the world. Moderator:&nbsp;Prof. Desirée Garcia is an interdisciplinary humanities scholar, trained in American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Film and Media Studies. Her areas of specialization include the musical film and race and ethnicity in American culture. Her publications range from monographs to scholarly journal articles and online essays about musicals and mediated representations of immigrants, race, and ethnicity. She has also produced historical documentaries for American Experience/PBS, including <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/zoot/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Zoot Suit Riots</a> (2002) and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/alamo/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Remember the Alamo</a> (2004).

Panel Discussion: Filmmaking to Dismantle Supremacy

Jen Marlowe (“There is a Field”), Ya’Ke Smith (“The Pandemic Chronicles”), and Activist Wafic Faour (Vermonters for Justice in Palestine) in conversation

There is a Field, Pandemic Chronicles + Discussion

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The White River Indie Festival celebrates the power of local and global cinema to affect positive change. A majority of the films in our 2021 lineup were directed by women or BIPOC filmmakers, and each one was carefully chosen for its unique lens on our changing wold.

Here's what's coming up soon. Can't make it? No sweat. Recorded conversations with artists will be available for on-demand viewing as well.