On Monday, November 9, the Artistic Activism Team met with Kira Akerman, a documentary filmmaker. They viewed and discussed her short film, Station 15. Afterward, the team had the opportunity to ask Kira questions about her career and how she addresses social and environmental issues in her films.
Kira discussed how there’s a dialogue happening in the film industry about decolonizing the filmmaking process. Instead of telling the story of marginalized people, documentary filmmaking should be about working with them. How can privileged directors, who benefit immensely from the filmmaking process, actually improve the lives of the people they film? Kira said that directors shouldn’t think of their subjects as passive tools. Instead, they should make space for their voice and opinions and create films that directly provide them with opportunities once the filming is over. She also said that she uses filmmaking to challenge people’s thinking and display the intersectionality of issues.
Kira is currently working on a feature-length film.
If you are interested in joining the Artistic Activism Team email Ava Blando at ava05b@gmail.com!