Every Mothers Son 2
IDEAL GLASS PRESENTS
EVERY MOTHER’S SON
Award-winning documentary by Tami Gold and Kelly Anderson
Winner Tribeca Film Festival and EMMY nomination
“EVERY MOTHER’S SON”
Screening & Talk
THURSDAY OCTOBER 15 7-10 PM
at IDEAL GLASS
Guest speakers include:
· – IRIS BAEZ, MOTHER OF ANTHONY BAEZ
(KILLED BY NYPD OFFICER)
· – ARTIST SOPHIA DAWSON
· – FILMMAKER TAMI GOLD
· – KING DOWNING, FOUNDER HUMAN RIGHTS – RACIAL JUSTICE CENTER
EVERY MOTHER’S SON profiles three mothers whose son’s were killed by the NYPD and find themselves united to seek justice and transform their grief into an opportunity for profound social change. Winner Tribeca Film Festival and EMMY nomination
In the face of recent killings of unarmed Black men in NYC, Ferguson, Baltimore and the increasing militarization of police forces around the U.S., we hope the film and post-screening discussion can help us think about solutions to make all our communities safer.
“Powerful, heartbreaking, and ultimately transforming! This film portrays victims as real people and makes it impossible to remain indifferent or inactive about the issue of police misconduct and excessive use of force. Tami Gold and Kelly Anderson have created an impassioned portrait of women’s courage and grassroots activism in urban America today.”
– Jill Nelson (Writer, Editor) in “Police Brutality: An Anthology”
IRIS BAEZ is a community activist and organizer around issues related to police abuse and economic justice. Iris is the mother of Anthony Baez who was killed in an illegal chokehold by New York City Police Officer Francis Livoti in 1994. Since then Iris Baez has created the Anthony Baez Foundation and been instrumental in working with families whose sons and daughters have been abused and or killed by law enforcement. She has spoken to thousands around the crisis in aggressive policing though out the United States.
TAMI GOLD is a professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College CUNY and an award winning documentary filmmaker, visual artist and activist. Her films have consistently been at the forefront of social justice, focusing on issues of race, gender, sexual identity, labor and police brutality. Issues of aggressive policing have been central to Tami’s organizing work. She produced and directed EVERY MOTHER’S SON (with Kelly Anderson), which profiles three mothers whose son’s were killed by the NYPD and unexpectedly find themselves united to seek justice and transform their grief into an opportunity for profound social change. The film won the Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award, was nominated for an EMMY and broadcast on the PBS series POV. She has been on WEB and PBS addressing Stop and Frisk and other related issues. Tami’s films have reached audiences near and far, airing on PBS, HBO and on television in Nigeria, South Africa, Germany, France, Turkey, Serbia, Lagos and Vietnam. Films such as SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED: Labor Struggle in the Post Office, JUGGLING GENDER, OUT AT WORK, ANOTHER BROTHER, PUZZLES, PASSIONATE POLITICS: The Life and Work of Charlotte Bunch among others have screened at the MOMA, the Whitney, The Chicago Arts Institute, The Kennedy Center, the American and British Film Institutes, Sundance, Tribeca and The New York Film Festival, and in over 150 film festivals worldwide. She is recipient of Rockefeller and Guggenheim fellowships.
Sophia Dawson, born February 25, 1988, is a talented and self-motivated African American woman. She is a Brooklyn based artist who discovered her gift while painting a portrait of her father as she studied at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music, Art and Performing Arts. At that very young age of sixteen, she witnessed that her work moved and touched people from all walks of life.
She saw that art could be used as a tool to bring people together and to create change. Sophia soon participated in Groundswell Community Mural Project, a non-profit arts organization, as a teen volunteer. In their afterschool program she had the opportunity to direct her artistic skills towards bringing about social change through designing and creating large-scale murals. The mural projects she participated in transformed various spaces throughout the borough. Sophia took on a leadership role among her teen group and was soon asked to join Groundswell’s team of professional artists and staff where she currently works.
Sophia received her Bachelors in Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in 2010 and her Masters degree in Visual Arts Administration at NYU in 2013. She has participated in group exhibitions in both New York and Los Angeles as well as solo exhibitions at the Heath Gallery in 2009 and the Corridor Gallery in 2013. Her work has been featured in the Brooklyn Museum and published in Say it Loud magazine. Sophia also received commissions by performers such as Lil Mama and Tisha Campbell-Martin.
Sophia has given speeches, testimonies and lectures to youth and her peers about her experience as a young black artist and woman. In her talks, she educates on recent black history and emphasizes the importance of overcoming obstacles to achieve one’s goals. Through her art, she aims to raise awareness on the struggles of oppressed people throughout history.
At the age of twenty-five Sophia graduated from New York University with a Masters in Visual Arts Administration. She aims to start an art program that will create an atmosphere where minority youth can address, through art, the issues they face in society. Sophia is currently raising her four-year-old son and is determined to develop her career as both a Professional Artist and Administrator of the Arts.