ROOTED REFLECTIONS
IN THIS ISSUE
THE STORY AFTER THE STORY
What if a story finds its way to the person who needs to hear it the most? Outdoor School (Laugh Cry Love Entertainment, 2025), directed by Ime N. Etuk, tells the true story of 12-year-old Melvin “Vin” Shambry: by day, he’s a regular middle schooler, but by night, he sleeps under a tree in the city park with his mom and sister, fleeing domestic violence – until a week in the Oregon outdoors transforms him.
We had the chance to speak with Ime about an incredible screening in Ashland he’ll never forget. A boy, about 12, was standing alone outside the theater. “We were just trying to figure out, why is he out here by himself?” The crew invited him in to watch the film and help hand out resource guides. At the end of the night, he asked for a ride home. That’s where they met his mom and learned his family was living a version of Vin’s story, and Ime’s team was able to connect her with local partners who could help, that same night. “That’s what makes this all worth it,” Ime said.
Outdoor School is currently on a regional tour. Find a screening and check out our full Q+A with Ime below.
The Land Has Eyes (Te Maka Productions, 2004) was an extraordinary filmmaking experiment: the first (and so far, only) feature film made on the remote Fijian island of Rotuma, with a local cast and crew and entirely in the Rotuman language. Written and directed by Rotuman filmmaker Vilsoni Hereniko and produced by his wife Jeannette Paulson Hereniko, the film premiered at Sundance in 2004.
When Jeannette and Vilsoni brought the film back to Rotuma, many people on the island had never seen a movie before because there were no cinemas on the island. “There was something incredibly powerful about seeing their own people, in their own language, and their own culture on the screen,” she told us. “It wasn’t just a movie to them.” Jeannette’s commitment to transforming communities through stories that reflect our shared humanity and cultural diversity reaches far beyond The Land Has Eyes. She founded the Hawai’i International Film Festival in 1981 and served as its founding director for 15 years. As HIFF celebrates its 46th year, she continues exploring the power of storytelling through her latest project, the Wild Wisdom Project.
Read on to hear Jeannette’s thoughts on filmmaking across cultures, letting go of assumptions, and what stories can make possible.
How much do men really know about menstruation? That’s the question at the heart of Jane Austen’s Period Drama (2024), a hilarious play on words set in 1800s England. The 13-minute comedy, which was nominated for an Academy Award this year, is available to watch for free on YouTube.
We sat down with producer Elli Legerski to find out how audiences have been taking to the film. “I’ve never really been a Jane Austen girlie,” Elli told us. “But I loved the idea of taking this convention, a world that everyone is comfortable with, and mixing it with something a lot of people are very uncomfortable talking about. It felt like such a brilliant way to have really important conversations without making the film feel like a lecture.” And indeed, it works. Elli told us that humor has made it easier for people to open up about taboo topics and share embarrassing stories, sometimes for the first time. “My biggest hope is that menstruation just stops being something we have to be quiet or ashamed about,” Elli said.
Elli Legerski was identified and supported by Greenhouse, a national community change nonprofit that invests in exceptional emerging leaders, surrounds them with expertise and practical support, and partners with them for life to create sustainable, generational change from within.
Check out our conversation with Elli below, and make sure you share the YouTube link with the men in your life.
OUT NOW & COMING SOON
Crime and Punishment in America (PBS, 2026), directed by Lynn Novick and produced by Ken Burns and Sam Pollard, is a four-part documentary series that traces the history of criminal justice in the United States and examines how the intertwined forces of law, power, race and class have come to shape the system we know today as the prison industrial complex.
We spoke with Lynn about what she hopes audiences take away from the series, and why she believes documentaries can create something we desperately need: proximity. “We talk about crime and people who are in prison in very sensational and dehumanizing ways,” she told us. “I hope this film, in all of its complexity and nuance, allows for a much deeper conversation and for people to maybe open their minds and hearts to think about how we can do better.”
Crime and Punishment in America premieres on PBS November 16.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem (NEON, 2026) is a once-in-a-lifetime documentary, 50 years in the making. Built around a 1972 party that the late filmmaker William Greaves engineered to bring together the living luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, the film offers a window into the extraordinary creative period in which these artists lived.
Figures including Aaron Douglas, Arna Bontemps, Eubie Blake and others – many who hadn’t seen each other in decades – gathered at Duke Ellington’s home to reflect on the people, places, and ideas that shaped their work. But the story doesn’t end with looking back. Director David Greaves, who finished his father’s project, said: “My challenge is to preserve the thinking of the icons of the time, recreate their energy, and provide the insights that keep them relevant long after their passing.” As part of the film’s impact campaign, NEON is partnering with Fourth Act to help connect the film with organizations and museums dedicated to preserving and promoting Black culture and the role artists play in keeping it alive. Once Upon a Time in Harlem opens in theaters on October 16 at Film at Lincoln Center and Film Forum in NYC, and at AMC Century City in LA on October 23.
To learn more or to schedule a special screening, send us an email at contact@3rootsmedia.com.
Do you believe a story can make a difference? How To Change The World (World Within Studios, 2026) follows ten social entrepreneurs who are betting that business can be a force for something bigger: taking on some of the world’s hardest challenges while building a different kind of future for their communities.
From restoring coral reefs in the Bahamas to building community-owned businesses, the series asks us to reconsider what success looks like. What if we measured success not by how much money a founder can make, but by what they leave behind? Produced by the nonprofit World Within, the 10-part documentary series is part of a larger experiment in impact storytelling: the organization invests in the projects it features while telling their stories, making the films themselves part of the work of change. The series premiered on YouTube September 10, so head over now to catch up and get inspired by a new episode each week.
FEATURED IMPACT CAMPAIGNS
American Doctor (Watermelon Pictures, 2026), directed by Poh Si Teng, follows three American doctors – Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian – who enter Gaza to volunteer in its besieged hospitals. United by a single oath to save lives, they return home determined to fight for the patients and colleagues they left behind, risking everything to expose the truth.
Premiering at Sundance, the film has screened with solidarity groups including the Palestinian Youth Movement as part of grassroots educational and advocacy efforts. For Poh, documenting what the doctors witnessed is also about truth, responsibility, and the courage to dissent. “Our hope for American Doctor was always to cut through the noise and rhetoric surrounding Palestine and to bring people together in pursuit of peace through accountability and justice,” she told us. “Since our debut into the world, it has been deeply gratifying to watch audiences of every background and generation come together around the film. We’re moving forward, and there’s no turning back.”
American Doctor is now screening in select theatres.
There’s something disarming about watching children discover the world. The Boys and the Bees, directed by Arielle Knight, is a beautiful short film about two young brothers who spend their days learning about bees, animals and the land around them on their family’s Georgia farm.
But beneath its gentle pace and gorgeous landscapes, the film is also about something much bigger: Black boyhood, freedom, masculinity, and the small window of childhood before the world begins to place its expectations on you. We spoke with Arielle about finding the family on Instagram, letting a story unfold, and why she wanted to make a film that doesn’t spell everything out. “I was really thinking about that small moment in time when children get to be just free and unburdened,” she told us. “I didn’t want to make a film that explicitly talked about that. I wanted you to feel that moment.”
The Boys and the Bees won the Short Film Jury Award for Nonfiction at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, and premieres on PBS November 16.
Take Me Home (distributed by Willa, 2026), written and directed by Liz Sargent and executive produced by Ai-jen Poo, follows Anna, a middle-aged Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability who cares for her aging parents. As the family begins to confront an uncertain future, Anna remains determined to build a life where they all can thrive.
The film explores a deeply human experience: caregiving, and the complicated emotional and ethical questions that come with it. “This film comes into the world at a time of enormous uncertainty and change,” Liz told us. “But what we’re most proud of is that the film isn’t just reflecting who we are; it’s imagining a future of possibility. So much of this industry is built around clickbait marketing, but this film was always made to open up conversation and imagination.” The nonprofit Caring Across Generations is leading an impact campaign around the film, using the story to spark conversations about caregiving, disability, and what it means to build systems that allow people to live and age with dignity.
Take Me Home premiered at Sundance and is now screening at select theatres nationwide.
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