Downloads: Press Release
Dallas Millennials Share Views on Race
Intersection of I, the second installment of award-winning filmmaker Whitney Dow’s Whiteness Project, has been released online today. Produced in association with American Documentary | POV, Whiteness Project is an interactive investigation into how Americans who identify as white, or partially white, experience their race. Intersection of I examines millennials’ views about race and identity and aims to further spark debate about the role of whiteness in American society. Whiteness Project encourages white Americans to become fully vested participants in the ongoing conversation about race.
Filmed in Dallas, Texas, during the summer of 2015, Whiteness Project‘s Intersection of I is a collection of 23 interviews with millennials ages 15-27 from varied socioeconomic backgrounds, and with a variety of sexual orientations and gender identities. Interviewees were each asked to discuss their relationship to, and share their understanding of, their own whiteness, as well as consider how their whiteness intersects with the different parts of their identity. Each video interview is followed by a statistic that adds a contextual framework to the views shared and provides an opportunity for self-reflection by the audience.
Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Medium with #WhitenessProject.
For more information and to engage with Whitney Dow’s Whiteness Project‘s Intersection of I, please visit: http://www.whitenessproject.org
Dow’s Whiteness Project brings white Americans, especially those who would not normally engage in a conversation about race, into the racial discussion. Whiteness Project‘s first installment, Inside the White/Caucasian Box, is a collection of 21 interviews filmed in Buffalo, N.Y. Released in October 2014, it immediately generated buzz across traditional and social media. “Provocative and unsettling, the Whiteness Project is straight from the horse’s mouth,” said Tom McKay of Mic, while Gayle King of CBS This Morning called it “fascinating” and Jordan Sowunmi of Vice described it as “complex and original.”
“Intersection of I is my attempt to expand the conversation started by Inside the White/Caucasian Box by digging deeper into the complicated equation that makes up identity,” said Whiteness Project creator Whitney Dow. “I wanted to better understand the role whiteness plays in people with complex identities such as those who are biracial, multi-racial or transgender. I focused on millennials as they are viewed as the group that is driving the rapid change in identity politics and perceptions. As always, I used research to put the views expressed into a broader societal context.”
“We’ve been watching the Whiteness Project reverberate across the web and offline, across the political spectrum and skin colors, and also in a variety of academic settings,” said POV Digital Executive Producer Adnaan Wasey. “With this new chapter about millennials, we are leveraging burgeoning social networks to engage a new generation and facilitate a new set of conversations about race in America.”
An interactive art installation version of Intersection of I can also be experienced as an official selection of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival’s Storyscapes, April 14-17 at the festival’s Hub, 50 Varick St., New York, NY 10013. The installation is a collaboration between Dow, architectural firm LOT-EK, KUDOS Design Collaboratory and ARUP.
About Whiteness Project
Created by Whitney Dow, Whiteness Project is an interactive investigation into how Americans who identify as white, or partially white, experience their race. It is produced in association with American Documentary | POV. Executive Producer for POV Digital: Adnaan Wasey. Executive Director for POV: Justine Nagan. Executive Producer for POV: Chris White. Senior Producer for POV Digital: Emma Dessau. Design and Programming: Studio Kudos. Executive Producer: Michelle Byrd. The first installment, Inside the White/Caucasian Box, a collection of 21 interviews filmed in Buffalo, N.Y., was released in October 2014. The second installment, Intersection of I, a collection of 23 interviews with millennials ages 15-27 filmed in Dallas, Texas, was released on April 13, 2016. Major support for Whiteness Project has been provided by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, TFI New Media Fund and Ford Foundation | Just Films.
About Whitney Dow
Whitney Dow is an award-winning filmmaker and educator whose directing credits include: Two Towns of Jasper, I Sit Where I Want, Unfinished Country and When the Drum Is Beating. His producing credits include: Freedom Summer, Banished, The Undocumented, Toots, and Among the Believers. His films have screened at dozens of festivals, from Sundance to Tribeca, and been broadcast around the world. His work has been recognized with the George Foster Peabody Award, Alfred I. duPont Award and the Anthony Radziwill Documentary Achievement Award, among others, as well as many film festival honors. In addition to his work on the Whiteness Project, he is currently serving as the Story Director for the multi-platform public media project Veterans Coming Home. He is a Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) and teaches filmmaking and interactive storytelling at Hunter College in New York City.
About KUDOS Design Collaboratory
KUDOS Design Collaboratory is an interdisciplinary design and technology consultancy based in New York and Jakarta, Indonesia and handled design and programming of Intersection of I. The firm was founded by John Kudos and Kiki Katahira in 2008, and is now composed of a team of passionate graphic designers, web/app developers and strategists, working with forward-thinking brands, institutions and agencies. KUDOS designs everything from brand identities, exhibitions, websites, digital installations, signages, publications, posters, books and animations. The firm crafts end products that are engaging, coherent, cohesive, and sustainable for the web, on paper, in motion and on location. http://kudos.nyc
About POV Digital
Since 1994, POV Digital has driven new storytelling initiatives and interactive production for POV. The department created PBS’s first program website and its first web-based documentary (POV’s Borders) and has won major awards, including a Webby Award (and six nominations) and an Online News Association Award. POV Digital continues to explore the future of independent nonfiction media through its digital productions and the POV Hackathon lab, where media makers and technologists collaborate to re-invent storytelling forms. www.pbs.org/pov.
About POV
POV is public television’s premier showcase for nonfiction films. Since 1988, POV has been the home for the world’s boldest contemporary filmmakers, celebrating intriguing personal stories that spark conversation and inspire action. Always an innovator, POV discovers fresh new voices and creates interactive experiences that shine a light on social issues and elevate the art of storytelling. With our documentary broadcasts, original online programming and dynamic community engagement campaigns, we are committed to supporting films that capture the imagination and present diverse perspectives. www.pbs.org/pov.
About American Documentary, Inc.
American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia arts organization dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation. AmDoc is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. www.amdoc.org.
