- Global Education Center is excited to be a Screening Partner of the 2024-2025 Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, a film series that brings the best of new independent film to communities across the South. The Circuit takes the audience away from their televisions, computers, tablets and phones to connect them with independent filmmakers – live! Southern Circuit transforms watching film from a solitary experience into a communal one. Global Education Center and other Southern Circuit partners have chosen a diverse array of films that will provide audiences with the opportunity to meet filmmakers and learn about the art of film making; and encourage community engagement using film as a conduit for discussions about social and community issues.
THIS SEASON OF SOUTHERN CIRCUIT DOCUMENTARY FILMS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY SOUTH ARTS, a regional affiliate of National Endowment for the Arts. A list of the films is below - stay tuned for more details on each screening!
We also have additional films that are being screened, which are listed below as well. All films have either a community meal or a reception included as well as a post-film discussion by filmmakers or educators.
FILMS SELECTED FOR 2024-2025 SEASON - Both Southern Circuit and others - All films will include post-film dialogue with filmmaker, director, or cast member
Family Tree - Friday, September 6 @ 7:30 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
Gather - Saturday, October 12 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
Santos: Skin to Skin - Saturday, October 19 @ 4:00 pm at Darkhorse Theater - film trailer here
City of a Million Dreams - Saturday, November 16 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
O Pioneer - Saturday, February 15 @ 4:30 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
Where the Butterflies Go - Saturday, March 15 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
This World Is Not My Own - Saturday, April 12 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
In the Light of Reverence - Saturday, March 29 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
THIS SEASON OF SOUTHERN CIRCUIT DOCUMENTARY FILMS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY SOUTH ARTS, a regional affiliate of National Endowment for the Arts. A list of the films is below - stay tuned for more details on each screening!
We also have additional films that are being screened, which are listed below as well. All films have either a community meal or a reception included as well as a post-film discussion by filmmakers or educators.
FILMS SELECTED FOR 2024-2025 SEASON - Both Southern Circuit and others - All films will include post-film dialogue with filmmaker, director, or cast member
Family Tree - Friday, September 6 @ 7:30 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
Gather - Saturday, October 12 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
Santos: Skin to Skin - Saturday, October 19 @ 4:00 pm at Darkhorse Theater - film trailer here
City of a Million Dreams - Saturday, November 16 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
O Pioneer - Saturday, February 15 @ 4:30 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
Where the Butterflies Go - Saturday, March 15 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
This World Is Not My Own - Saturday, April 12 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here
In the Light of Reverence - Saturday, March 29 @ 4:00 pm at Global Education Center - film trailer here

O Pioneer reckons with and redefines the American pioneer.
This documentary follows three West Virginians—a blacksmith, a seamstress, and a hospital chaplain—as they creatively navigate hardship and call us to champion the pioneer within.
Narrated by lyricist and musician Kaïa Kater, the film weaves verité moments with archival footage, poetic vignettes, and dream-like animation—as Tim Hibbs, Nellie Rose Gundersen Davis, and James Morley humbly answer their calls to pioneer a way forward.
The filmmakers will be joining us for a post-film dialogue over a tasty community meal - all this for just $10!
Clara Lehmann (Director, Producer, and Writer)
Jonathan Lacocque (Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor)
Clara and Jonathan co-founded the creative studio, Coat of Arms in 2010 and serve as its directors and producers. Coat of Arms works with Fortune 100 and 500 brands and is a Webby, Telly, Emmy, Cannes Lion-awarded studio. The directing team completed their first documentary, Born in a Ballroom, in 2019. Their second documentary, O Pioneer, received a Cinequest Film Festival Audience Award, the Appalachian Studies Association 2024 Jack Spadaro Documentary Award, and the Rome International Jury Award. They wrote and directed the multi-award-winning animated series entitled Lullaby Theories. Their work has played at over 50 film festivals world-wide, including Cannes, Doc Edge, DOC NYC, SXSW, and Tribeca. They live in Helvetia, WV and balance their filmmaking with community service.
This documentary follows three West Virginians—a blacksmith, a seamstress, and a hospital chaplain—as they creatively navigate hardship and call us to champion the pioneer within.
Narrated by lyricist and musician Kaïa Kater, the film weaves verité moments with archival footage, poetic vignettes, and dream-like animation—as Tim Hibbs, Nellie Rose Gundersen Davis, and James Morley humbly answer their calls to pioneer a way forward.
The filmmakers will be joining us for a post-film dialogue over a tasty community meal - all this for just $10!
Clara Lehmann (Director, Producer, and Writer)
Jonathan Lacocque (Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor)
Clara and Jonathan co-founded the creative studio, Coat of Arms in 2010 and serve as its directors and producers. Coat of Arms works with Fortune 100 and 500 brands and is a Webby, Telly, Emmy, Cannes Lion-awarded studio. The directing team completed their first documentary, Born in a Ballroom, in 2019. Their second documentary, O Pioneer, received a Cinequest Film Festival Audience Award, the Appalachian Studies Association 2024 Jack Spadaro Documentary Award, and the Rome International Jury Award. They wrote and directed the multi-award-winning animated series entitled Lullaby Theories. Their work has played at over 50 film festivals world-wide, including Cannes, Doc Edge, DOC NYC, SXSW, and Tribeca. They live in Helvetia, WV and balance their filmmaking with community service.

This World Is Not My Own tells the story of Nellie Mae Rowe who was born an artist but had to overcome many obstacles to dedicate herself to her art. Ultimately, she builds the world in which she wants to live, inviting us to consider what she left behind.
Chewing gum sculptures, a wealthy gallerist, a firebrand wrestler, a notorious murder case and the segregated south - it's all part of Nellie Mae Rowe's boundless universe. The film reimagines this self-taught artist's world and her life spanning the 20th century.
For most of her life, Nellie made art in obscurity, propelled by a force she viewed as a God-given gift. As the daughter of a formerly enslaved sharecropper, she made art from whatever she could find. As an adult, she transformed her home into her "Playhouse," an imaginative oasis filled with vibrant drawings, handmade sculptures and dolls, and collected objects. Six years before her death, a wealthy gallerist, Judith Alexander, "discovered" and introduced her work to the art world.
Over four acts and an interlude, This World Is Not My Own traces Nellie's struggles to dedicate her life to art while exploring the personal and political events that shaped her work. The film mixes traditional documentary techniques with animations and scripted scenes shot in intricately detailed sets to bring her story to life.
Opendox created film sets that reimagine Nellie's "Playhouse," and partnered with Kaktus Film to design and animate 3D characters in Nellie's and her gallerist's likenesses. Actresses Uzo Aduba and Amy Warren perform scripted scenes based on Nellie Mae Rowe quotes, bringing the animated Nellie and Judith to life.
In connection with this film screening, we will be hosting an exhibit of recycled art created by students and their families who frequent the Global Education Center. After the film, we will be joined by the filmmakers for a post-film dialogue and a community meal.
Chewing gum sculptures, a wealthy gallerist, a firebrand wrestler, a notorious murder case and the segregated south - it's all part of Nellie Mae Rowe's boundless universe. The film reimagines this self-taught artist's world and her life spanning the 20th century.
For most of her life, Nellie made art in obscurity, propelled by a force she viewed as a God-given gift. As the daughter of a formerly enslaved sharecropper, she made art from whatever she could find. As an adult, she transformed her home into her "Playhouse," an imaginative oasis filled with vibrant drawings, handmade sculptures and dolls, and collected objects. Six years before her death, a wealthy gallerist, Judith Alexander, "discovered" and introduced her work to the art world.
Over four acts and an interlude, This World Is Not My Own traces Nellie's struggles to dedicate her life to art while exploring the personal and political events that shaped her work. The film mixes traditional documentary techniques with animations and scripted scenes shot in intricately detailed sets to bring her story to life.
Opendox created film sets that reimagine Nellie's "Playhouse," and partnered with Kaktus Film to design and animate 3D characters in Nellie's and her gallerist's likenesses. Actresses Uzo Aduba and Amy Warren perform scripted scenes based on Nellie Mae Rowe quotes, bringing the animated Nellie and Judith to life.
In connection with this film screening, we will be hosting an exhibit of recycled art created by students and their families who frequent the Global Education Center. After the film, we will be joined by the filmmakers for a post-film dialogue and a community meal.

Where the Butterflies Go - A comedic nature documentary written by Fraser Jones
After quitting his job and getting dumped, filmmaker and nature enthusiast Fraser Jones decides to spend all his money on a camera and camper van to follow the miraculous migration of the Monarch Butterfly across North America with high hopes of hosting the next great children’s nature show. In a desperate attempt to host a show, this fumbling filmmaker travels 3,000 miles asking North Americans how to save the endangered monarch butterfly, and ourselves, from extinction.
If you love butterflies, especially the Monarch Butterfly, and care about biodiversity, then this just might be the film for YOU!
We will be joined by the filmmaker for a post-film dialogue and a community meal.
Fraser Jones (Director, Producer, Host)
Fraser Jones is a nonfiction filmmaker hailing from Atlanta, Georgia. After studying film at NYU, he directed a comedy feature film called Your Ride Is Here, wrote a show for Nickelodeon, went to clown school, and made a few documentaries about the environment. His work has earned him a Vimeo Staff Pick, The Redford Center Grant, The Spiritual Ecology Fellowship, PBS’ Reel South Award, and numerous awards at international film festivals. Fraser aims to continue combining nonfiction filmmaking and humor in hopes of making people feel less alone.
Where the Butterflies Go is the last film in this season's Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, a project of South Arts in partnership with National Endowment for the Arts.
After quitting his job and getting dumped, filmmaker and nature enthusiast Fraser Jones decides to spend all his money on a camera and camper van to follow the miraculous migration of the Monarch Butterfly across North America with high hopes of hosting the next great children’s nature show. In a desperate attempt to host a show, this fumbling filmmaker travels 3,000 miles asking North Americans how to save the endangered monarch butterfly, and ourselves, from extinction.
If you love butterflies, especially the Monarch Butterfly, and care about biodiversity, then this just might be the film for YOU!
We will be joined by the filmmaker for a post-film dialogue and a community meal.
Fraser Jones (Director, Producer, Host)
Fraser Jones is a nonfiction filmmaker hailing from Atlanta, Georgia. After studying film at NYU, he directed a comedy feature film called Your Ride Is Here, wrote a show for Nickelodeon, went to clown school, and made a few documentaries about the environment. His work has earned him a Vimeo Staff Pick, The Redford Center Grant, The Spiritual Ecology Fellowship, PBS’ Reel South Award, and numerous awards at international film festivals. Fraser aims to continue combining nonfiction filmmaking and humor in hopes of making people feel less alone.
Where the Butterflies Go is the last film in this season's Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, a project of South Arts in partnership with National Endowment for the Arts.

In the Light of Reverence
Devils Tower. The Four Corners. Mount Shasta. All places of extraordinary beauty — and impassioned controversy — as Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist with very different ideas about how the land should be used. For Native Americans, the land is sacred and akin to the world's greatest cathedrals. For others, the land should be used for industry and recreation. Narrated by Peter Coyote and Tantoo Cardinal (Metis), In the Light of Reverence is a beautifully rendered account of the struggles of the Lakota in the Black Hills, the Hopi in Arizona and the Wintu in California to protect their sacred sites.
An Independent Television Service (ITVS) & Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) Co-presentation and a Television Race Initiative (TRI) Selection
Screening is made possible with support from Humanities Tennessee, an independent affiliate of National Endowment for the Humanities and is part of Global Education Center's Indigenous Voices programming.
Devils Tower. The Four Corners. Mount Shasta. All places of extraordinary beauty — and impassioned controversy — as Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist with very different ideas about how the land should be used. For Native Americans, the land is sacred and akin to the world's greatest cathedrals. For others, the land should be used for industry and recreation. Narrated by Peter Coyote and Tantoo Cardinal (Metis), In the Light of Reverence is a beautifully rendered account of the struggles of the Lakota in the Black Hills, the Hopi in Arizona and the Wintu in California to protect their sacred sites.
An Independent Television Service (ITVS) & Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT) Co-presentation and a Television Race Initiative (TRI) Selection
Screening is made possible with support from Humanities Tennessee, an independent affiliate of National Endowment for the Humanities and is part of Global Education Center's Indigenous Voices programming.
SANTOS–Skin to Skin is a film portrait of community activist and seven-time Grammy nominee John Santos, a “keeper of the Afro-Caribbean flame.” Rich in musical performances, Santos links the rhythms of his ancestors to contemporary struggles of identity and social justice. https://johnsantosmovie.com/
Why do we dance for the dead? City of a Million Dreams takes us on a journey to better understand the jazz funerals of New Orleans - a journey into the past, searching for answers in the face of tragedies, both present and past. Film protagonists explore recovery and ancestral roots in the dawn of jazz as well as the danced-memory of enslaved Africans and the burial pageants that mirror the city's history.
For an extra $10, you can stick around for our fun after-party featuring the authentic sounds of Roland Barber and The Righteous Few Brass Band. Music, dancing, film, food, and friends! Join us for the entire afternoon for just $20.
LocationGlobal Education Center
4822 Charlotte Ave. Nashville, TN 37209 Most events will be held at Global Education Center. Street parking is available as well as across the street at Richland Park. We are also on the #10 bus line, with a stop directly in front of our main building and #50 bus, with a stop two blocks away. For any help with transportation or parking, please email [email protected] for more information. |
Contact UsIf you would like to find out more about Global Education Center and our upcoming events, workshops, classes and programs, please join our emailing list. We promise not to send too many emails but just enough to keep you informed and engaged with a organization that promotes, advocates and celebrates diversity in Nashville.
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This program is made possible with support from South Arts, an affiliate of the National Endowment of the Arts, in partnership with Metro Nashville Arts Commission, Tennessee Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.