A documentary short film co-produced by an Arkansas filmmaker premiered at the newly opened Obama Presidential Center in Chicago last month. Paige Murphy from Little Rock Public Radio sat down with the filmmakers to learn more.
"I think community members have a real responsibility in telling the story because it's in their own words."
"All these spaces need to be preserved because it tells the story. It's that evidence of our existence."
That was a clip from Evidence of Our Existence, which is the latest documentary by Little Rock-based filmmaker Antonio Tarrell and Mississippi-based filmmaker Castel Sweet. The two met in Mississippi, and they've since produced four films together. Sweet, who has a background in sociology, says their work tries to highlight communities that don't often see themselves on film.
"I got into filmmaking by wanting to capture some of the things that are happening in communities that people don't know about. So how do we amplify some of the stories and some of the work, some of the people, some of the voices that you may not be aware about, but the world should know about. And so that's what led to this film."
Evidence of Our Existence is about Behind the Big House, a historic site tour in Holly Springs, Mississippi, that tells stories of enslaved people who lived behind antebellum homes. Behind the Big House was created in 2012 to coincide with the annual Holly Springs Pilgrimage tour of historic homes and buildings. It later spawned Arkansas spinoffs in Hempstead County, Chicot County and the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock. Sweet says the project directly inspired the film's title.
"The title is called Evidence of Our Existence because the way that they provide the context and the history Behind the Big House is to talk about the structures, the foodways, the skills, the expertise and the knowledge that we kind of see in material culture, such as buildings, such as food, such as the way that we do things, is evidence of the existence of people that we don't often talk about."
Sweet developed the documentary while participating in a short film lab called How We Heal, earlier this year. The program was launched by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and invited filmmakers to submit films or concepts for films based on the topic of shared humanity. Sweet and Tarrell had been filming at the annual Behind the Big House tour since 2023, but they didn't have specific plans for the footage until Sweet was accepted into the program. Sweet says she was drawn to the program's theme.
"It was exciting to have the film selected. One to be selected for the theme of how we heal. So that's a lot of the work that we do. A lot of our films center around communities, around healing, around work that still needs to be done around things that people are doing to heal their community. Again, that may not be on the front page of a newspaper, that may not be mainstream news."
Sweet was one of 10 semifinalists to participate in the lab, which provided filmmakers a four-month-long virtual mentorship with industry professionals to develop their projects. Sweet was then one of five finalists chosen to premiere her film at the Obama Presidential Center in June. Tarrell describes the moment he got the news from Sweet.
"Chills kind of went through my body, to be a part of something and working with her again. She's an amazing storyteller. And also, it kind of confirmed all of the hard work that you're doing is paying off. And also, to be from a small town, being recognized for that work."
Tarrell's and Sweet's other films have been recognized at film festivals around the country, including in Arkansas. The two hope to screen Evidence of Our Existence here soon. Like their past projects, Evidence of Our Existence is rooted in Southern Black history, Tarrell says. Storytelling is crucial to preserving this history.
"For me, just continue telling those Southern stories, that rich history. Because without people like us, filmmakers and storytellers, if we don't do that, then those stories become lost."
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
