Sheppard Honored at Cannes Film Festival

(Olympia, Wash.) Evergreen faculty member Dr. Gilda Sheppard's documentary film "Women Together as One" was the first ever short film selected for showing by Fest Afrique 360 at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in France. The film's world premiere was part of the Agora Lumiere Cinema Series showcasing the best work worldwide of filmmakers from Africa or of African descent. Sheppard also served on the series' "African Diaspora Cinema" panel.

Gilda Sheppard with camera "Women Together as One" focuses on work Sheppard did with Liberian women refugees who live at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana, West Africa. She worked with the refugees to organize and design classes for economic sustainability (computer literacy, adult literacy, cosmetology, catering, sewing and tie and dye workshops) and school scholarships for their children. Evergreen-Tacoma executive director and faculty member Dr. Artee Young, information technology systems specialist Luversa Sullivan and four youth from the Intel Computer Clubhouse and Girls and Boys Math, Science and Engineering programs at Evergreen-Tacoma visited the project and helped with the work.

Another of Sheppard’s films, "Theodor Wonja Michael: Interview with a Black Prussian Elder," was presented at the Goethe Institute during the Pan African Film Festival in Ghana, West Africa. The film is a documentary on an interview with actor Theodor Wonja Michael conducted by author and researcher Anne Adams. In this interview, Michael speaks of the choices for survival of black German families before and after World War II, as well as the complications and triumphs of building a life in post-war Germany and into the 21st century.

The Evergreen State College is a nationally recognized public liberal arts college known for its distinctive interdisciplinary curriculum, high level of student/faculty engagement and emphasis on putting learning into action.