“WE SHOULD TRY TO PRESERVE HUMANITY”

The films and filmmakers of the Summer Documentary Institute at Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute.

Above: introducing the film “Justice for All” and its creators, Oliver Baker and Aaron Combs. 

This is the final installment in a series of three posts, featuring films produced in collaboration between the youth filmmakers of the 2016 Summer Documentary Institute at Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute and filmmaker Jordan Freeman. The films show excerpts of the documentary projects produced by filmmakers Oakley Fugate, Elyssia Lowe, Josh Collier, Jaydon Tolliver, Aaron Combs, and Oliver Baker, along with interviews about their motivations and processes. Their full documentary films can be viewed here.

For more about the program, read “The Work of Place Keeping in Eastern Kentucky,” an essay by AMI’s director, Kate Fowler. 

The videos were supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a journalism nonprofit devoted to covering inequality in America, and its Puffin Story Innovation Fund.