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We Are Free Because of Harriet Tubman
The latest project by mother-daughter filmmaking duo Nadine and Marlene Patterson, We Are Free Because of Harriet Tubman, takes viewers on a journey in the footsteps of one of America’s most courageous abolitionists. Grounded by an original haiku poem by literary luminary and educator Sonia Sanchez, the film includes a soundtrack by Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride.
We Are Free Because of Harriet Tubman is a meditation on resistance, history and nature. Professor Sanchez’s words speak to us today as many in America struggle to find their own liberation. The imagery is meant to heal and aid the viewer in reflection upon the text.
The four and a half minute film was shot on location in Harmony Maryland, along the Underground Railroad Trail as marked by the state of Maryland and in Philadelphia, where Harriet Tubman found refuge in a community of Free Blacks and Quakers. Watch it by clicking here.
For this film, supported with a 2019 Leeway Foundation grant, Patterson created a meditation of resistance, history and nature around poetry written and read by Sonia Sanchez, internationally honored poet and scholar, and Professor Emerita of Temple University. The film was shot on location on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, along the UGRR Trail marked by the state, and in Philadelphia, where Tubman found refuge in a community of Free Blacks and Quakers. Locations include Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Harmony, Maryland. Gilpin Point of the Choptank River, is the location where Africans on their way to freedom met boats and ferries that carried them north. The scenes of the farm, wood shed, pine trees and sunset is located on the land of my ancestors.
The list of names of enslaved Africans Harriet Tubman lead to freedom is from a display at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center. The images of Harriet Tubman are housed at the Library of Congress, and used under Fair Use for educational purposes only.
Cameras: Panasonic GH4 & GH5.
Lenses: 5.8mm, 14mm, 25mm, 42.5mm, and 35-100mm.
Screened at the BLACKSTAR Film Festival 2020, Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland Urban Film Festival 2021, Lake County Film Festival , Women of African Descent Film Festival.
Poetry by Sonia Sanchez
Music by Christian McBride
Cinematography by Stephanie Malson
Assoc. Prod: Morani Sanchez
Producers: Sonia Sanchez, Nadine Patterson
Executive Producers: Catalina Bajenaru, Parris Moore, Marlene G. Patterson
Director/Editor: Nadine M. Patterson
If you want to learn more about Harriet Tubman click this Tubman bio by Dr. Linda Clark to learn more about Tubman.
If you are hearing impaired or want to study the text of the film, click this English Text for 5.1 Surround Sound Mix of WE ARE FREE BECAUSE OF HARRIET TUBMAN_June 2020.
2019 Pennsylvania Premiere Screenings of WE ARE FREE BECAUSE OF HARRIET TUBMAN at the Tull Family Theater and the Hiway Theater
2018 Work-in-Progress Screening at the Painted Bride Art Center
We projected on gallery walls a work-in-progress at the Painted Bride Art Center, Friday December 7th, 2018 at “The What’s Happening Happening”. Creative Team – Sonia Sanchez, poet/performer/producer; Nadine Patterson, camera/editor/director; Marlene G. Patterson, researcher/executive producer; Stephanie Malson, camera. Tech – Shot with the Panasonic GH4. Photos by Nadine Patterson and Charline Cravison.
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