Join us for a screening of Family Tree, directed by Jennifer MacArthur, and the short film It Takes a Village, directed by Joshua Kissi.

Family Tree

  • Directed by Jennifer MacArthur (96 min). Not rated
  • Black land ownership and sustainable forestry are one and the same, and two North Carolina families take on the challenge of building intergenerational wealth while raising healthy forests.

 


It Takes a Village 

  • Directed by Joshua Kissi (14 min). Not rated
  • The year is 1965, and the residents of Winneba, Georgia inhabit a community that seems untouched by the rest of the world. A father prepares his son for his ascension to manhood through the hunting of a deer; a rite of passage in this family.

The screenings will be followed by a Q&A.

Please note: Auditorium seating is available on a first come first serve basis for the film screening. An overflow space will be provided once we are at capacity. 

This screening is part of the 50th Newark Black Film Festival!

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Meet the Filmmakers

Jennifer MacArthur

Jennifer MacArthur is a filmmaker exploring the impact of our changing climate through the intersection of documentary and genre film. “Family Tree” is her directorial debut.Previously, Jennifer produced the critically acclaimed feature documentary “Whose Streets?,” which premiered on DAY ONE of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and sold to Magnolia Pictures. She has also produced for TIME Studios, Soledad O’Brien Productions, and Anonymous Content. She is a 2018 IFP Cannes Producers Network Fellow and 2016 Sundance Creative Producing Summit Fellow and a member of the board of directors for Storyline Media, an award-winning multi-platform, participatory, and interactive storytelling company.A recognized expert in media engagement, Jennifer is a 2015 Creative Change Leader and 2015 Rockwood JustFilms Fellow. Over a ten-year period, she helped define the field with impact campaigns for “Traces of the Trade” (POV, 2008) and “Gideon’s Army” (HBO, 2013); engagement strategy for the ITVS social TV platform OVEE; and thought leadership for Doc Society’s “Impact Field Guide” and The Center for Investigative Reporting’s “Impact Tracker,” among others. Her work also took her to Amsterdam, Melbourne, and Guadalajara for keynotes addressing systemic racism, big data, and low-fi transmedia. Jennifer sits on the advisory board for Harmony Labs, a media research institute founded by Buzzfeed co-founder John S. Johnson.Doc Society selected Jennifer for its inaugural Impact Producers Retreat in 2012. With producer Brenda Coughlin (CITIZENFOUR), she established the peer support network Impact Producers Group and launched Impact Socials, a networking event for creative change-makers. Her commitment to artist development kept her active on the festival circuit as an industry delegate, a Lab Leader for IFP Labs (now The Gotham), and an advisor for Sundance Labs, Tribeca New Media, and the Mozilla Foundation.

Joshua Kissi

Joshua Kissi is a Ghanaian-American director and photographer. Growing up in the Bronx, NY, he had a deep affinity for the arts despite the lack of exposure and accessibility to the creative industries.

As a filmmaker, Joshua has an innate ability to find a commonality and connection point with everyone he comes across and each and every character whose story he is telling imbues his films with insights that are completely unexpected, and emotional depths rarely explored.

Joshua Kissi truly is the storyteller of our time. He has directed campaigns for Google, LinkedIn, Hennessy, NBA, New York Times, Chrevrolet and is now looking forward to his dive into the narrative world with his first short film, It Takes A Village.