Reel South

In 1952, gravedigger by day and bluesman by night Henry 'Gip' Gipson opened a ramshackle backyard juke joint in Alabama. Once scattered across the rural South, juke joints have become relics of the past. In the Spring of 2013, Gip's Place, the last juke joint in Alabama, was raided and ordered to shut down. Gip follows the battle to keep the blues alive.

Filmed and Directed by: Patrick Sheehan.

After 25 years of living in the United States, Guatemalan grandmother Juana Ortega is threatened with deportation and soon takes sanctuary in a small North Carolina church. As time passes, and state lawmakers continue to ignore the family's pleas for a stay on her deportation, Juana's spirits slowly sink. And yet, Juana is patient that in God's house, God will answer her prayers.

In the months leading up to the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality, gay families in Alabama were busy fighting discriminatory state laws. "Alabama Bound" chronicles the roller-coaster ride for gay rights in the South, and a resilient community that lives with both frustration and hope in a place where the line between church and state is often blurred.

Directed by Lara Embry & Carolyn Sherer.

Henrietta Boggs, a reluctant Southern belle, finds her way to Central America in the 1940s, in search of freedom and adventure. Instead, she is swept up in political upheaval, when her new husband is elected president of Costa Rica. First Lady of the Revolution portrays a courageous woman who escaped the confines of a sheltered existence to help nurture a young democracy.

Produced and Directed by: Andrea Kalin.

Monuments to the Confederacy permeate the American South. Emotions run high and tensions mount when, in 2015, the New Orleans city council convenes a public debate over the fate of its Confederate statues. As the council prepares to vote, Divided City reveals deep divisions about the history and symbolism of the monuments, and their place in the public space and in the South.

Produced and directed by Katie Mitchell & Andrea B. Scott.

Jonah Bascle was an unconventional mayoral candidate, even by New Orleans standards: artist, comedian, disability-rights activist. Born with muscular dystrophy, Jonah raced against mortality throughout his twenties. Combining humor, political action, and a sense of urgency, Jonah Stands Up challenges stereotypes associated with differently-abled individuals in New Orleans.

Film by Hannah Engelson.