This week I am joined by Kerra Bolton, an award winning producer and director, as well as a writer.
She is also the CEO/Founder of Woodbine Films, which specializes in first-person, narrative nonfiction that examines the meaning of community, connection, and identity in the Black community.
Her directorial debut, RETURN OF THE BLACK MADONNA, is currently in production. The documentary traces her epic quest to learn to swim, dive, and map sunken slave ships with Black marine archeologists.
She is also working on a book Water in my bones and we discuss both of these projects today.
Kerra and I talk about her commitment to Black joy after a long career in diversity and equity work, transmuting pain and trauma into joy, the process of making a documentary and holding multiple roles in that process, and the research process for the documentary.
We also talked about the importance of endurance during the film making process. In addition, we also discussed - women’s health and Kerra’s experience of fibroids, and the significance of the high prevalence of fibroids in Black women, learning how to swim, fear of open water and epigenetics, and so much more.
This conversation went to so many places, and is a really important testimony to how we can cultivate joy in our lives, even against a backdrop of pain or trauma. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
If you want to support us you can join our Patreon community over at https://www.patreon.com/safiyarobinson
You can check out season 1 and other season 2 guests of Writing Black Joy over on https://www.writingblackjoy.com/
You can donate to The Return of the Black Madonna and also sign up to Kerra’s mailing list over on www.kerrabolton.com
You can follow Kerra on Instagram over @kerrabolton and also follow @returnoftheblackmadonna
If you want to know about working with me, go over to https://www.safiyarobinson.com/
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