Community Portrait Live Documentaries
Every community is made of stories and histories beyond what mainstream media and history books portray. Sharing these stories can be transformative for both the speaker and the listener.
Our Process
Community Portrait Live Documentaries offer a rare window into the experiences that shape people and the circles of which they are part. Theatrically projected community members' stories combine with GME’s live original score, and live poetic narration from Regie Gibson into a moving multimedia performance.
Making a Community Portrait Live Documentary starts with a Ponder to Page workshop (required), giving participants tools to channel their experiences into resonant stories; and a Listening Lab: Storytelling to Strengthen Communities (optional) in which professionally told multimedia stories open a conversation about the ways issues reflect in participants’ lives and community. Participants are then filmed by director of photography Chris DeSanty (DeSant Productions) with facilitation by Guy Mendilow and Regie Gibson.
Post-filming, the team curates the stories into chapters. And the emerging themes form a narrative arc driving Gibson’s narration and Mendilow’s scoring. Because Community Portrait Live Documentaries are presented in person, and the material used is based on community members’ stories, each performance is distinct and memorable.