Kafi Dixon dreams of starting a land cooperative for women of color who have experienced trauma and disenfranchisement in the city of Boston. By day she drives a city bus. At night she is enrolled in the Clemente Course in the Humanities, a tuition-free college-level program for those who have experienced homelessness, transitioned out of incarceration, or faced barriers to a college education. Her classmate Carl Chandler, a community elder, is the class's intellectual leader.
White suburban filmmaker James Rutenbeck documents the students' engagement with the humanities. As he looks for transformations in their lives, he's awakened to the violence, racism and gentrification that threaten their very place in the city. Troubled by his failure to bring the film together, he enlists Kafi and Carl as collaborators. Five years later the students arrive at a new place, and with their support, James does too.
Selected Screenings & Awards
Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival, Colorado, 2024
Nationwide Broadcast on PBS's Independent Lens, 2022
Video Librarian's Best Documentaries of the Year List 2022
Best Feature, Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival, Washington DC, 2021
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Missoula, MT, 2021
BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, GA, 2021
Hamptons Doc Fest, New York, 2021
Human Rights Watch Film Festival, San Diego, CA 2021
Independent Film Festival of Boston, Massachusetts, 2021
Roxbury International Film Festival, Massachusetts, 2021