Meet the Filmmakers: Church & Community

Inspired by Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s documentary The Black Church, WUCF invited local filmmakers to produce digital shorts that examine the role of the church in their community. Join us for a preview of their productions and live virtual conversation with the filmmakers, Thamara Bejarano and Ramces Rouzard, moderated by WMFE’s Talia Blake. Sign up here: https://ovee.itvs.org/screenings/1w3f6

Thamara Bejarano’s Rainbow Action explores the social reach within the Hispanic LGBTQ community of Joy Metropolitan Community Church. Thamara is the Executive Director and founder of Open Scene, a non-profit Women BIPOC led organization that seeks to generate unique artistic experiences and engage local and foreign artists to connect people through art, especially to promote and preserve artistic creation in Spanish. Recently she created Prolífica, a twenty-episode series about some of the most essential cultural productions of the Hispanic world and Voices 2021, a digital performance of four monologues based on real-life stories that talk about resilience, coping with pain, and overcoming the tough challenges in women's daily life.

Talia Blake is the Morning Edition Host & Reporter for WMFE. After a brief stint as Morning Edition Producer at The Public’s Radio in Rhode Island, Talia Blake returned to WMFE, the station that grew her love for public radio. She graduated with a double-major in Broadcast Journalism and Psychology from the University of Central Florida (Go Knights!). While at UCF, she was an intern for WMFE’s public affairs show, Intersection.

Ramces Rouzard’s Beyond the 4 Walls examines the foundation of the Black Church that produces fruit for its community - fruit being Family, Social Justice, and Education for all people. Ramces is the CEO/Founder of In/The/Mirror LLC. He is a tv host, producer, director, singer and more. He finds joy in making others better through his talk show The Reflection Show and other platforms.

Our virtual screenings take place via OVEE, a web-based service that allows participants to watch streaming media together and chat live in a virtual theater. All you need to participate is a computer, tablet or other device with a good internet connection. Before the event, we recommend you run a test to ensure OVEE works properly on your device. We recommend using Chrome web browser.