Film Screening: "The Big Payback: Fear and Reparations in the American Suburb"

Building 3, 3-133

Repair America Collective has humbly been granted The Community Reparations Project grant and is excited to present “The Big Pay Back” in partnership with MIT CoLab and Amenyonah Bossman.The Community Reparations Activation project is a collaborative effort between FirstRepair and ColorFarm Studies. Building upon their previous work on 'The Big Payback' documentary, which chronicles the journey of Robin Rue Simmons and her community's fight for tax-funded reparations in Evanston, IL, this project aims to support communities and organizations across the country in their pursuit of reparative justice. The program seeks to address the historical systemic biases inflicted upon Black constituents by providing financial resources and facilitating long-term engagement with reparations as a form of social justice and community development.The FilmThe passage of the first-ever tax-funded reparations bill for Black Americans stirs up a debate.A rookie alderwoman from Evanston, Illinois, led the passage of the first tax-funded reparations for Black Americans. While she and her community struggle with the burden to make restitution for its citizens, a national racial crisis engulfs the country. Will the debt ever be addressed, or is it too late for this reparations movement to finally get the big payback?The FilmmakersErika Alexander is an actress and creator, making her directorial debut with The Big Payback, co-directed with Whitney Dow, which chronicles the story of the first reparations bill in American history for African Americans. She is a co-founder of Color Farm Media and serves as a board member for One Fair Wage and Exponent.Whitney Dow is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and educator, whose work has focused on race and identity for more than two decades. His directorial credits include I Sit Where I Want: The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, POV’s Two Towns of Jasper, and the Independent Lens documentaries When the Drum is Beating and The Big Payback.Ben Arnon is co-founder of Color Farm Media. Self-described as the “Motown of film, TV, and tech,” Color Farm's mission is to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to media. Producer credits include The Big Payback (Independent Lens), John Lewis: Good Trouble(Magnolia, Participant, CNN), and Finding Tamika (Audible).Producer Xan Parker’s films and series include The Big Payback, Of Medicine and Miracles, The Holly, Rebuilding Paradise, Tigerland, and Mind/Trip. Working with HBO, PBS, Discovery, National Geographic, and CNN, her films have earned festival awards, a DuPont-Columbia Award, and nominations for Emmys, Academy Awards, and IDA awards.