Back in September of 2012, when Ken and I had just finished 1913 Massacre, Deanna Kamiel invited us to screen our new film for her graduate documentary filmmaking class in the School of Media Studies at The New School. Like other screenings in the DOC Talk series, it included a videotaped Q & A with the filmmakers, which Deanna moderated and produced.
At the time, we were on our way to Calumet — where we would hold the first public screenings of the film at the Calumet Theatre. We were bringing the film back to where it came from, back to the town and the people it was about. When we mentioned our upcoming trip during the Q & A, Deanna said that George Stoney had done the same thing with Uprising of ‘34 (his film about the General Textile Strike in the south). That was all we needed to know we were on the right track.
Deanna kept in touch throughout our Calumet trip, and encouraged us after that to take the film to Twin Cities Public Television in Minnesota — where it was broadcast on Labor Day of 2013.
Ken emailed yesterday to let me know that Deanna had passed away over the weekend. We will remember her as a teacher, friend, and guide.