06/06/2016 Pulp Arts Around Ann Arbor

Preview: Sophia Kruz's 'Little Stones' Sheds Light on Art and Gender

by Juliana Roth (http://pulp.aadl.org/taxonomy/term/93599) Mon, 06/06/2016 - 8:33am

Sophia Kruz's forthcoming documentary, Little Stones, rocks.

Along with being an EMMY® Award-winning documentary ἀ渄lmmaker whose ἀ渄lms have been screened all over the country, Ann Arbor native Sophia Kruz is using her directing skills to shed light on global gender inequity in her forthcoming documentary Little Stones . The documentary is currently in post-production under the working title Creating4Change (http://www.creating4change.com/) .

Kruz, along with Little Stones cinematographer Meena Singh, is a co-founder of the non-proἀ渄t Driftseed (http://driftseed.org/) , an organization that "seeks to empower women and girls through the art of documentary storytelling." United through a mission to use art for social good, the women in Kruz’s Little Stones range across continent and industry: American fashion designer Anna Taylor (http://www.creating4change.com/anna-taylor.html) empowers impoverished Kenyan women; Indian dance therapist Sohini Chakraborty (http://www.creating4change.com/sohini-chakraborty.html) helps heal survivors of sexual abuse; grafἀ渄ti artist Panmela Castro (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/grafἀ渄ti-artists-take-streetsbrazil-combat-violence-women/) uses

her art to advocate for survivors of domestic abuses; and

Senegalese musician Sister Fa (http://www.sisterfa.com/) challenges female genital mutilation. Behind the telling of these narratives of empowered women is Kruz’s own artistic vision. I asked Kruz about her motivation for the ἀ渄lm, the process of making an international documentary, and how members of Ann Arbor’s community can follow in her footsteps to foster positive change locally.

Filmmaker Sophia Kruz (left) and director of photography Meena Singh (right).

Q: Your early work as a lmmaker focuses on immediate stories in the Ann Arbor community as well as within your family. What drew you into these initial subjects?

A: My ἀ渄rst documentary, Time Dances On (http://www.sophiakruzproductions.com/watch-time-dances-on.html) tells the story of my parents, how they fell in love, how their marriage slowly dissolved, and ultimately, how my dad decided to come out as a gay man because of the love and friendship he felt towards my mom. It's a story that I felt really compelled to tell throughout college, ἀ渄rst as a fun get-to-know-you fact in my freshman dorm, then sophomore year as a short ἀ渄ctional essay in an intro to creative writing course, then junior year as the premise of a ἀ渄ctional screenplay, and ἀ渄nally senior year in documentary form. I suppose in some ways I needed to work through that story ἀ渄rst to be able to move onto other projects, but it was also the story that allowed me to discover my passion for documentary.

Q: Little Stones is a study of human rights issues all around the world, jumping between several countries and cultures. Was there a common thread you found within the people you interviewed?

A: Little Stones follows four women in India, Brazil, Senegal, and Kenya who are using dance, grafἀ渄ti, music, and fashion to create positive change for women and girls. There were certainly a lot of themes and similarities between the four artists that I started to see when we went to visit the women in their home countries, the most prominent of which was self-sacriἀ渄ce. All four women have given up something to be an artist and activist. Sister Fa perhaps says it best: "If you just come close to most of the activists, we try to ἀ渄nd solutions for the world, but we don’t have solutions for our own lives.”

Q: What is the function of art in changing norms and attitudes?

A: I think art is hugely important in changing culture. Often, artists are also activists, on the front lines of social change movements. Art can ignite an idea in the collective consciousness, rally a community around an issue, and provide healing for those in need. I do think art is undervalued in American culture and that just saying, as a community, "art is important," really isn't enough—we need to invest in the arts as well.

That said, I think some of the best forms of problem solving come about when artists and creative minds are paired with activists, lawyers, law enforcement, government agencies, philanthropy, and everything in between. The challenges and barriers women around the world face are great, and they take many forms. Our approach to problem solving needs to be equally great and all-

encompassing.

Q: Why does the lm matter to those living in the Ann Arbor area?

A: I would quote Alyse Nelson, Executive Director of Vital Voices (http://www.vitalvoices.org/) , who said in an interview for the ἀ渄lm: "If you look around the world with all the issues women face, the one thing that unites us is that there is not a single culture, community, country, religion that can say violence against women, domestic violence, culturally harmful practices, trafἀ渄cking, rape does not exist. It exists everywhere. It is that thing that all of us face. And really the heart of it is how we value women in our societies, and in our communities, and our cultures, and if culture and values are a barrier, couldn’t we also look at how to use culture, to use the arts, and innovative creative means, and brains, to combat the negative in㰀謄uences of culture?"

That quote certainly rings true in Ann Arbor, where we have a human trafἀ渄cking clinic run by the University of Michigan Law School dedicated to seeking justice for sex and labor trafἀ渄cking victims in our own communities, local women's shelters in constant need of resources to support survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence, local law enforcement dealing with cases of sexual assault on U-M and EMU campuses, and lower rates of female executives and board members in local businesses and non-proἀ渄t organizations. Everyone in this community, not just artists, but women and men, can volunteer at these organizations, ἀ渄ght for gender equity in their workplace, and be an agent of change.

Q: In addition to the local issues affecting gender equity in Ann Arbor, what will be unique about screening the lm in your hometown?

A: We're planning a sneak preview screening of Little Stones at the Michigan Theater (http://www.michtheater.org/) this October, in part because Ann Arbor has played a huge role in making this ἀ渄lm possible. I say that for two reasons. First, I'm from Ann Arbor, and I think the values that launched this ἀ渄lm—that art can create social change, and we all have a role to play—are a product of growing up in a community that values the arts and gender equity.

Second, this ἀ渄lm literally would not have been possible without the moral and ἀ渄nancial support I've received from my friends, family, mentors, colleagues, local artists, women's organizations, business leaders, state government, and the University of Michigan. I want Ann Arbor to get a sneak peek of Little Stones as a way to say thank you to everyone who's believed in the ἀ渄lm from the beginning, and all the new allies we've made along the way.