Charysse Tia Harper

"12 Months" (2014) - an award-winning documentary about a Los Angeles man who rents his three-bedroom home for $1 per month to help a family - he has never met - get on their feet. Told through the eyes of Felicia Dukes and her four children, the project puts a personal face on homelessness and encourages individuals to take personal responsibility for helping address societal concerns. This film has won Best Documentary at the Sunrise Film Festival in Nova Scotia, Canada, in October 2015, as well as has been screened within film festival in seven countries and 15 locations!

Slavery may have been the catalyst, but culture and passion formed this sound in Trinidad & Tobago. The steelpan can take the claim of being the only acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century. However, this sound not only moves people today, but it paralleled the island’s history of colonization and the demand for independence. The first section of this two-part film highlights the precursors of the steelpan and the creation of the instrument until it gained international recognition in Britain in 1951. Interviews from steelpan legends, such as Ellie Mannette, Sterling Betancourt, Cliff Alexis and Ray Holman, are included.