Introduction and Purpose of Fundraiser

Hello! My name is Roxana Walker-Canton, and I am an independent filmmaker. I use my work to grapple with and give voice to social, political, economic, and cultural issues that affect how we live. I am raising funds to help complete a documentary titled One Town At A Time.

The Documentary

One Town At A Time explores how one town attempts to address a history of racial and gender inequity, economic injustice, and white privilege in town politics. It is a story about transplants and homegrown residents becoming politically active so that they can have a say in how their community functions. One Town At A Time is a story about a community pursuing happiness- a journey toward a Beloved Community.

One Town At A Time is a documentary for our time. It’s a story about regular people learning to use politics and the ballot to set the groundwork for building a Beloved Community.

In this post-January 6th era of political unrest and economic insecurity, Americans question American cultural and socio-political identity. The documentary contends that political action and the ballot are needed to create Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision of the Beloved Community. The goal is to create a community where everyone can thrive.

Nineteenth and 20th-century African American social justice activists, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black Club Women like Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida B. Wells, fought for the humanity and rights of the oppressed.

They demanded that America live up to the values it flaunts in the Declaration of Independence. They fought against racial and gender discrimination, poverty, disenfranchisement, state-sanctioned violence against Black people and women, voting rights, equitable education, housing, and healthcare. They fought for reforms and laws that helped African Americans and all Americans enjoy the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness along with their White American counterpart.

Many Hamden residents remember living through the era of legal segregation and discrimination.

Some remember their parents fighting for equity during the era of legal segregation and discrimination in their hometowns.

In 1966, King wrote, “I do not think of political power as an end. Neither do I think of economic power as an end. They are ingredients in the objective that we seek in life. And I think that end of that objective is a truly brotherly society, the creation of the beloved community.”

One Town At A Time focuses on progressive Democrats upending years of a moderate Democratic local government in the 2021 local elections in Hamden, Connecticut.

The documentary connects the aims of the 19th and 20th-century activists with 21st-century Americans who want to live in communities where justice and equity are at the center of local government.

According to the 2020 Census, Hamden, Connecticut's population is approximately 61,000. It is the 12th most populated city in Connecticut.

The largest ethnic groups are White (53.5%), Black (24.1%) and Hispanic (12%). The median income is $78,602, and 5.6% of Hamden families live in poverty.

While Hamden has been a racially and economically diverse community, white middle-class and upper-middle-class residents have been the primary beneficiaries of town politics.

Before the 2021 local election, Hamden hired a few Black and Brown town employees - police, firefighters, clerks, public works employees, teachers, and administrators.

New candidates presented a platform addressing police violence and accountability, administrative transparency, fiscal responsibility, diversity, and equity. These concepts had not been the focus of Hamden's local politics.

One Town At A Time calls for regular people to make political engagement an intentional act of self-care.

When my husband and I moved our family to Hamden in 2008, we had similar hopes that most new homeowners have – excellent schools, kind neighbors, plentiful resources, and family-friendly. We imagined our children growing up happy and making family memories. For the most part, a lot of that happened. They happened despite lacking Black and Brown people and women in Hamden politics, educational leadership, entrepreneurial endeavors, and cultural life.

How could the presence of a more diverse leadership enrichen the lives of Hamden residents and create more understanding and compassion?

How can the presence of a more diverse leadership broaden our scope about equity beyond race, gender, and class to include equity for LBGTQIA communities, religious communities, and people with disabilities?

How can the presence of a more diverse leadership address environmental sustainability?

Before 2021, turnout for elections for district representatives was meager because there was little to no outreach informing community members about how to be engaged. Low voter turnout benefited those already serving - they voted themselves back into positions.

One Town At A Time gives the people who played roles in the political shift to tell stories about their involvement in the fight to create a governing body that resembles the actual make-up of the town and to set a new objective focusing on the quality of life for everyone rather than for a few.

There is no main character in this story. This story is told from community voices.

The Sample Video

If you haven't already watched the sample video on the cover of the GoFundMe Page for this documentary, take the time to watch the 10-minute sample. The sample sets the stage for the full 60-minute documentary. The completed documentary will develop more intimate stories about the lives of Hamden residents who became politically active because they wanted to change Hamden's politics. An original musical score that will capture the story's mood will replace the music in the sample. Other visual elements will add to the style and overall tone of the documentary. After watching the sample video, please donate and share the page with all your friends and family! You have the opportunity to help me complete this documentary!

The Creative Team

Roxana Walker-Canton, Director & Producer

Roxana is an award-winning independent filmmaker and Assistant Professor of the Practice of Film & Visual Culture in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Florida. A proud alum of Spelman College, she earned graduate degrees in Black Studies, Creative Writing and Film & Media Studies from The Ohio State University and Temple University. Her work focuses on African American history, culture, social justice, and activism. Award-winning documentaries include Belly of the Basin (2008) and Living Thinkers: An Autobiography of Black Women in the Ivory Tower (2013) which is distributed by Women Movies (www.wmm.com) (www.livingthinkers.com). She is married and has three children.

Tina Morton, Principal Videographer

Tina is a media activist, video oral historian, and an Associate Professor of Film at Howard University. Deeply committed to facilitating members of community groups in telling their own stories in their own voices, she has taught various organizations from Dakar to Philadelphia how to use media for social activism. Her award-winning works focus on documenting the oral histories of families and underrepresented communities and have screened internationally. A sample of her work includes Severed Souls ©2001, Belly of The Basin ©2008, When We Came Up Here ©2016, mBuild Your Own Door ©2018, and most recently, Passtown School: Past, Present, & Future ©2022. Morton has received prestigious residencies and grants, including a Pew Fellowship in the Arts grant, the Leighton Artists’ Colony residency from the Banff Centre (Calgary, Canada), and the 18th Street Artist Residency in Santa Monica, California, and a Leeway Transformation Award.

Valerie Keller, Editor

Valerie is an award-winning and twice-Emmy-nominated film & video editor with a strong background in documentary and educational projects, and a love of story-telling that has driven her career. From the Emmy-nominated dance film Fever to the festival audience favorite Brincando el Charco, to Abortion Helpline: My Name Is Lisa–short-listed in the 2021 Academy Awards for Best Documentary Short–her editing work has helped documentaries win awards and screen in festivals around the world. She has co-produced videos for Mural Arts Philadelphia, Fairmount Park Conservancy and SLAW.me on topics like addiction recovery, environmental stewardship and living a sustainable lifestyle. Her original, experimental short videos have been shown at the Philadelphia Art Alliance and the Philadelphia Art Museum. She is the editing third of Hidden River Films, a collective producing short-form documentary-based videos since 2017.

Carolyn Malachi, Sound Editor & Music Producer

Carolyn is a sound mix engineer, producer, artist and educator. She received a Best Urban Alternative Performance GRAMMY Award nomination for her single “Orion” in 2010. Carolyn teaches audio production courses in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard University, where her research explores the intersection of blockchain technology and data sonification. She is a 2021 Interledger Foundation grant recipient as well as a 2022 Howard University Women’s Center for Gender and Global Leadership research grant recipient. Carolyn holds an MA in Audio Technology from American University. She enjoys working with independent musicians, filmmakers and other creatives. Her upcoming album, Counter Narratives, and eponymously named oral history project will arrive in August.

How The Funds Will Be Used

This much-needed documentary asks viewers to re-think the purpose of local government. It encourages viewers to recognize the connection between their quality of life and their local governments' goals, objectives, and actions. One Town At A Time invites viewers to learn about candidates before voting for them, to run for local office and use their right to vote to pursue happiness.

I invite you to support the completion of this documentary by donating funds to help pay for costs associated with production, post-production, and distribution. The funds will help pay creative personnel, legal and accounting fees, accommodations and travel fees. The funds will help pay other needs, including recording studio fees, archival usage fees, and closed captioning and audio transcription fees to make the finished film accessible.

Your Support

People say that they don't get into politics for so many reasons. Hey folks, we know what is at stake if we don't participate in local, state, national, and international politics. If we don't get involved, if we don't support candidates who have a vision for a Beloved Community that has our interests as the center, if we don't get out to vote, then we lose hope for communities where everyone can thrive.

Help me fund this documentary so that we have this story as evidence to show how communities can change the injustices and inequities in their towns and cities by organizing, politically educating our neighbors, and getting out to vote!

All donations are sincerely appreciated.