I am excited to share I’ve been accepted into the UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art Research & Development summer lab, and I need your help attending. The early development lab is a three-week intensive where I will develop my first feature film Ethereal Rootz with the help of mentors and other filmmakers. 

MFA Thesis project focused on Black spiritual archiving, archival repair, and retrieving, transferring, and preserving memories as they age. My practice has centered on personal stories as a solution to filling the gaps that exist in African American history. The best way to restore and stabilize our archived is to document  How our ancestors, elders, and family members went about their daily lives. 

As I continue practicing memory work, I am excited to develop my first film out of graduate school. Ethereal Rootz will be a hybrid documentary that delves into the connection between African Americans and nature beyond the forced labor that has come to define so much of our history. The film will explore the rich legacy of Black American spirituality in the United States and its deep roots in their ecological history. The project seeks to remind Black Americans of their legacy with the land and contribute to our collective memory. 

Documentaries can take years to make, and the program can provide me with a strong foundation and community as I set out on this journey. My main focus during the lab is to shape the story into an anthological and generational exploration of the topic and define the next steps regarding funding and production. Any donations, no matter how small, will be greatly appreciated. Your financial contribution will cover the cost of my program fee, housing, and transportation to New York City.  

I’m excited to embark on this journey of creating a documentary. It’s a labor of love that requires patience, perseverance, and a strong foundation. The program I’m attending will provide me with just that and a supportive community that will help me along the way. My main focus during the lab is to shape the story into an anthological and generational exploration of the topic and to define the next steps regarding funding and production. It’s a long process, but I’m determined to see it through. Any donations, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated. Your financial contribution will cover the cost of my program fee, housing, and transportation to New York City. Thank you for your support!

Filmmaker Bio 

Amber is an artist based in Ohio.She has recently completed her MFA in Documentary Studies and Production.She has worked for companies such as CNN, Meralata Films, and Winter Pink Films, assisting with various documentary productions. In her work, she seeks to translate her Black experience, revisit the past, and reimagine the future. She is inspired by the collective Black imagination, allowing one to see beyond their present state and dream. She is currently working on her first feature film.

About the Summer Documentary Labs:

The Uniondocs Summer Documentary Lab are a program for a select group of media artists from the US and abroad. Based in one of NYC’s most exciting neighborhoods, Ridgewood, Queens, the Summer Labs offer a platform for participants to spend the Summer making strides and clarify the creative direction of their projects to attract the potential team members, funders and producers they need to find their way to the finish. An intensive schedule of screenings, open seminar discussions, weekly industry “field trips,” and inspiring artist visits from some of the most dynamic voices across the field of documentary, the SUMMER DOCUMENTARY LABS are tightly structured environments that bring participants into a select group of emerging filmmakers to get challenged and encouraged to think through every aspect of their works-in-progress.

Drawing inspiration from across disciplines, this intensive program should not be mistaken for an industrial, journalistic, or traditional documentary training. Scholar Scott MacDonald highlighted in The New York Times that, “UnionDocs has a healthy sense that the older definitions of what constitutes ‘experimental’ cinema and what constitutes ‘documentary’ are up for grabs.” Much emphasis is placed on workshopping lab participants’ writing about their projects as a way to both clarify the creative direction and attract potential team members, funders and producers. Participants receive focused, honest and helpful feedback on their project proposals from prominent documentary artists and industry experts.

The Research & Development Lab is a space for projects to grow while in their earliest stages. When a project is still largely a concept or idea, the lab helps filmmakers solidify the ideas with efforts, assignments, and conversations around best practices for grounding the project in its early stages of writing. This moment of focus can help set up projects for success from these nascent beginnings all the way through from funding to production to distribution.